ABDC: Game on for Australia's Best Driver's Car 2016

Australia's Best Driver's Car (ABDC) takes a unique approach in determining its winner. While there are other sports and performance car shoot-outs elsewhere, motoring.com.au stands alone in focussing on the purest elements of driving, and excusing (for the most part) all that is secondary.

It's for this reason we test such a variety of cars. Our price cap serves only to keep ABDC relatable. In no other test will you find cars ranging in price from $25,000 to just north of $250,000 compared side by side. We strive hard to single-out those cars that have impressed our critics most during the year, and bring only these to our premier comparison. In that way, the cars assembled here are already winners.

In the lead up to ABDC, our senior road testers debated the pros and cons of every sports and performance car released in the past 12 months, carving and culling the list until a field of 13 competitors arose. As we've stated previously, the field will always be determined by availability, and considering the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider was not available – and the Ford Focus RS was yet to arrive – this year's field comprised an otherwise stellar mix of hot hatches, cool convertible, muscular sedans and svelte coupes.

motoring.com.au’s 2016 Australia’s Best Driver’s Car

At the entry-end of the price spectrum the 2.0-litre-powered Mazda MX-5 Roadster GT ($39,550) – the first convertible to enter ABDC – kicked off proceedings ahead of a trio of front-wheel drive hot hatches. In price order they are the Renault Clio RS220 Trophy ($39,990), MINI John Cooper Works ($47,400) and Peugeot 308 GTi 270 ($49,990).

In the middle reaches was the Aussie-American muscle car brigade with the willing Holden SS V-Series Redline ($54,490), hard-charging Ford XR6 Sprint ($54,990) and imported Ford Mustang GT Fastback ($57,490). HSV's stromping ClubSport R8 LSA ($80,990) was next up.

Sentimental favourites sit in this quartet. The final appearance of a locally-produced car at ABDC is just around the corner.

At a similar price to the HSV, but in a totally different segment, was the Audi RS 3 Sportback quattro ($78,900). Then, the much anticipated BMW M2 ($98,900).

The German pair were the last to slip under the $100k mark, and are topped at the pointy end of the field by the bahn-storming Mercedes-AMG C 63 S ($154,510), Jaguar F-TYPE S AWD ($172,080) and Porsche 911 Carrera S ($252,800) [Ed: although just over the price cut-off, the Carrera S was included owing to availability issues of the standard Carrera].

To determine the overall winner for 2016, our judges spent a week assessing the field over a challenging series of Tasmanian roads. We enlisted the service of our two favourite Australian race-car drivers along the way -- motoring.com.au regular and V8 Supercar race, Luke Youlden, and just-retired Australian GT and TCM regular, and two-time Targa Tasmania winner, Greg Crick.

Tasmania's Targa roads don't lie, and neither does our GPS-based lap timing system. Crick and Youlden thoroughly examined the dynamic performance of our 13 entrants in the car coliseum that is Baskerville Raceway.

There are no special imports here, no kit cars, and no tuning shop specials. These are production cars available from the showroom floor, right now.

Combining the unambiguous interpretations of Crick and Youlden, the hard data from track (and dragstrip), and most importantly the feedback of our road test team, we've ranked the fabulous 13 in order of how they perform in responding to and communicating with the driver. It's the crucial part of the driver's car recipe.

And now, a winner sits in waiting...

Join us throughout the week as we pull apart 13 of the very best driver's cars on the road today to find Australia's Best Driver's Car.

ABDC frequently asked questions answered here