I'm curious, are there ever any car awards based on how the vehicle holds up and performs over a period of time or are they all just based on new models without any real use context? And I don't mean Consumer Reports, but a real auto centric longer term evaluation and comparison of similar models, the same you'd cross shop when purchasing.

The thread about the 'World Car of the Year' made me think about it again, and how all those new car and engine awards don't really mean all that much ultimately (especially in light of the fact that some prior award winners have been know to have real problems) since it is a rather superficial judgement compared to what real ownership would be like and how the machines really last and how they are to live with.

Are there regular awards/reviews like that for the various classes of vehicles available? After all, if hindsight is 20/20 then the comparos should be quite informative.

 

I know Road & Track does long term auto reviews, and did one on the Mini.

 

Yeah, magazines and shows do some degree of what seems like random long term reviews, but they do not do seem to do it with any regularity or offer competitive comparison reviews (with owner surveys) that I think would offer good information - you know what I mean? It would be cool to go back and see how the 05/06 models stack up in a more complete overview now or something along those lines vs just some driving skidpad and reviewers opinions on brand new cars.