I'm all verklempt...Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic (http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/27/is-the-2008-honda-accord-motor-trends-coty/)...Discuss.

PS: I'm already on record (http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13463) regarding the COY being a complete load of BS. But...meh...an award is an award.:dunno:

I'm all verklempt...Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic (http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/27/is-the-2008-honda-accord-motor-trends-coty/)...Discuss.

PS: I'm already on record (http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13463) regarding the COY being a complete load of BS. But...meh...an award is an award.:dunno:

People posting on that blog keep saying Motor Trend is bias, why can't they look at themselves: bias on American Cars. Its lame how all these people always attack Japanese brands whenever they can or even Euro brands and they hail American brands like if they were gods. The funniest comment was the first two as well as the one about the new ad. These people make me laugh. I hope Honda wins so that they can eat their godly Malibu.

Autospies is another site known to degrade Japanese brands especially Hondas. :thumbsdow

People posting there seem like idiots, as illustrated by this poster:

When the civic won, I disagreed because Honda merely kept its place as a high volume selling appliance, though edgy design at the time for Honda. Meanwhile the Mazda 3 provided a major boost for Mazda, offered options never offered before in the segment, and highlighted the segment to the public. While Honda now looks like a block of cheese, the mazda 3 still turns heads.

The same will happen here. darling honda will win but it will be the Malibu that is the true winner, doing what the Mazda3 did when it came out. major improvement over predecessor, much better styling, long term beauty and short term.

I don't think COTY is given to the car that has the most options, that has the most improvements, best styling, etc. The COTY is a car that blends beauty, styling, handling, comfort, reliability, etc. into one whole package that seamlessly works together. It might not excel in any specific category (e.g. speed or handling) but it is near the top in each category.

Those people wanting the Malibu to win are funny. I'd be willing to be that, while the styling has improved, the Malibu's interior will still be cheap and plasticy and the handling is still going to **** just like the Malibu rental I drove a year ago.

There is a reason why gm and chrysler cars do not sell overseas. They are mediocre vehicles at best when compared to the alternatives. It has been this way for a long time, and I don't anticipate it changing overnight due to the slightly improved styling of the new malibu. Ford has some nice models, though it's too bad that so many of these are reserved for the european markets.

If I were going to buy domestic, the only manufacturer I would even take a second look at would be ford, and even ford is still relatively mediocre. GM and chrysler are the bottom of the barrel imo. It'll be a few years before they are truly competitive brands again. They have some fun neo-muscle cars, but there is always a non-domestic performance type car that I would prefer over those. I would love to be able to buy american and be happy with my purchase, but what's the point in rewarding a company by giving them a sale when that company really hasn't put forth any serious effort in the past 10 years and the end result is that I am left with a low quality car?

As someone else, the new malibus are destined to be rental cars like most other gm's. I'd love to see that change though.

People posting on that blog keep saying Motor Trend is bias, why can't they look at themselves: bias on American Cars. Its lame how all these people always attack Japanese brands whenever they can or even Euro brands and they hail American brands like if they were gods. The funniest comment was the first two as well as the one about the new ad. These people make me laugh. I hope Honda wins so that they can eat their godly Malibu.

Autospies is another site known to degrade Japanese brands especially Hondas. :thumbsdow

I love how a lot of the posts on that site throw insults at the accord calling it a boring appliance car. Are they contending that the malibu and other similar domestics are not a boring appliance cars? The bulk of the domestics that I have driven are 10x more boring than the accord, especially when it comes to how they drive and their styling (These are the only things that make a car boring or exciting to me though). Their styling has never been anything but dull either. The accord has always been a fun car to drive, especially compared to most mid-sized domestics, and 10x more reliable. I think if the accord can be compared to a refrigerator, then the malibu and most other comparable domestics could only be compared to a rusted out broken refrigerator one might find at a garbage dump. They certainly aren't more exciting than the accord or camry, and definately have tons of negatives to differentiate themselves from them.

Mazda and Nissan have some great designs (the mazda3 and mazda6 LOOK great, key word is "look"), but their cars are still only BARELY better than domestics when it comes to quality and reliability, and in some cases worse. I think if I were going to be stuck with an unreliable car, I'd at least want a more pleasant drive while it is running to make up for it and I'd probably spring for an a4 or 3-series and make sure I kept up on maintenance. I love driving audis (especially the A4's), fun cars, good designs, vault-like interiors, I wish I didn't care about reliability so much.

I'm not much for the MT COTY award. I do think the Accord's odds are lower since they just announced the Mazda CX-9 as SUV of the year. They generally like to spread the awards around as much as possible, so COTY will likely be a domestic, most likely the new CTS. The Malibu has some buzz around it, but I don't see the award going that way.