[Auto] The Autocar long-term fleet awards 2020

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Being on Autocar’s long-term test fleet is the ultimate test for any new car. It’s a chance for us to find out what a new machine is really like to live with over an extended period.

Although the sudden – and still ongoing, for the Autocar team – advent of remote working means our office car park has been empty since March, we’ve maintained a fleet of long-termers at our various home offices. But while the need for social distancing and suitable sanitising safety measures has reduced our ability to swap cars quite so frequently, we’ve still been privileged to run some incredible cars this year. And, as is tradition, it’s time to hand out some awards.The Best Innovation (Until a Vaccine) Award - for the most innovative feature

Winner: Jeep Wrangler removable roof and doors; Highly Commended: Mazda Skyactiv-X Engine, Honda E twin touchscreens

Modern cars are kitted out with ever-growing amounts of cutting-edge and sophisticated technology. But sometimes the best form of addition is subtraction – which is shown by our Jeep Wrangler’s removable doors and roof. Effectively, this allows drivers to turn it from largely civilised SUV into a stripped-back off-roader with relatively limited effort.

“This is a car that can tow my Defender home when the clutch goes on a rainy October evening but can also be a fun-loving roofless convertible when the sun shines,” said custodian Matthew Prior.

Still, the Autocar team did also highlight some more advanced tech in this category. The compression-ignition Skyactiv-X engine in our Mazda 3 long-termer drew praise: the improvements in economy may be only relatively modest, but Mazda’s efforts to show the combustion engine still has a future are very welcome.

The Honda E scored for its truly brilliant twin-touchscreen set-up, which both looks good and offers innovative, useful features. Plus, as deputy digital editor Tom Morgan noted: “Any car that rolls off the forecourt and lets me hook up a PlayStation gets the thumbs-up.”

The Socially Distanced Disappointment Award - for the car you most wanted to drive but couldn’t due to Covid

Winner: Toyota GR Supra; Highly commended: Jeep Wrangler, Lamborghini Huracan There are many positives to home-working and also many drawbacks. And, for Team Autocar, the latter category included the difficulty in switching cars around as much as we would like to.

 Some of the team fared better than others, and most fortunate of all was clearly road tester Richard Lane, who found himself stuck with a Lamborghini Huracán during lockdown and then took custody of a Toyota GR Supra later in the year. The rest of the team were well jell, as I believe the kids call it.

“I’ve always liked the Supra’s sporty GT flavour, but I still haven’t done a really long drive in one,” lamented road test editor Matt Saunders.

Meanwhile, staff writer Felix Page really wanted a go in the Huracán. He did note that the restrictions preventing him weren’t just about social distancing and home working but also a healthy fear of driving the Huracán around his speedbump-blighted neighbourhood. With a Skoda Superb Estate having featured on our fleet, there was never really any doubt over the winner of this award. Fact: rule 37b of the car journalists’ rule book makes it a requirement to wax lyrical about the load capacity of a Skoda estate whenever running one.

“Its massive boot is bigger than my entire flat,” said road tester Simon Davis, and editorial director Jim Holder added: “It’s probably big enough to empty the contents of my home into. It’s better appointed, too. I should probably live in the car and leave my rubbish in the house.”

That the gargantuan Volkswagen Touareg garnered some votes wasn’t a surprise, with editor Mark Tisshaw noting that you really had to drive one to appreciate how big it.