99 cars worth no more than $110K took brutal 14-day test to see which come out on top

99 cars, each costing no more than $110,000, were recently subjected to a 14-day test in Michigan in order to determine the best cars of 2025.

The test was conducted by car magazine Car and Driver, as part of their annual 10Best evaluation.

The testing took place on a loop of public roads near Gregory, offering a mix of surfaces, corners, and elevation changes to simulate real-world driving.

With nearly 100 models available on site, editors were able to make immediate back-to-back comparisons, a critical factor in such a large-scale review.

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The 99 cars are chosen very carefully

This 14-day test was serious business.

Participation in the evaluation is limited by strict criteria.

Eligible vehicles must be available for sale by January 31 of the following year, priced under $110,000, and offer significant updates compared with their prior model.

Vehicles that won in the previous year, like the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing and the Tesla Model 3 Long Range, are automatically invited back.

The price ceiling is intended to spotlight engineering excellence in attainable vehicles, rather than focusing on ultra-expensive supercars that cost a fortune to own.

Over the 14 days, editors assessed each model using three measures: overall value, how well it fulfills its intended purpose, and the level of driving enjoyment it provides.

Objective data such as acceleration times, fuel economy, and cargo capacity were collected separately by dedicated staff.

Still, the bulk of the evaluation centered on how the 99 cars felt to drive in everyday conditions.

Each car contained a notepad where impressions were logged after test drives, ensuring that feedback could be compiled consistently across the fleet.

At the end of the 14-day test, the team met to assign scores to every vehicle.

To minimize bias, the highest and lowest scores were discarded, before final tallies were calculated to determine the best cars of 2025.

The results will be published early next year

As you may expect, coordinating such an event is a logistical challenge.

Rather than working directly with automakers, organizers rely on fleet management services such as Driveshop and North American Vehicle Services to source cars from across the country.

Once testing concludes, weeks of editorial work follow to prepare the final report.

The results of the 2025 evaluation are expected to be published early next year.

The original pool of 99 cars will be narrowed down to a select group, which will be crowned the industry’s best cars for the year.

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