THIS MOTORING YEAR 2016: Readers' choice

When it comes to deciding what sort of article to publish – what will appeal to our readers and generate discussion – we apply years of experience with weird science and the dark arts to arrive at a choice.

And after the fact, online statistics tell us whether that story was popular or not.

Sometimes, though, it's nice to find out directly from readers which articles they enjoyed over the course of the year. So we put the question to a bunch of highly esteemed site dwellers… Readers and commenters who don't actually get paid for their opinions – but in an ideal world, they would.

Here's what they came up with...

Ron Burgundy
In a year dominated by #Dieselgate one would think choosing a favourite story would be easy. But schadenfreude aside, and with apologies to the professional purveyors of auto-related prose from the motoring.com.au stable, my affections are drawn to articles with a strong ‘audience participation’ section.

For that reason I’m not choosing one article but many – anything relating to Tesla.

Why? Because rarely does any other vehicle/marque elicit such a response, from both sides of the fence. While many of the reviews are of machines more accurately described as a ‘conveyance’ than a car, I see motoring.com.au ultimately as a site for enthusiasts, and the evolution of the automobile seems to draw out highly passionate responses.

My favourite article of 2016 is the group of articles about the obsessive compulsive’s nightmare, the ABDC.

Not only was it a hotbed of hot metal, it was a source of wonderful discussion and only the occasional verbal fisticuffs.

From the incredulity of the Falcon XR6 Sprint finishing last to the unsurprising claims of rigging because the best car happened to win (or didn’t win depending on whether your preference was the M2 or the 911), it was an entertaining and informative week and a bit.

Whilst most motoring journalism has degenerated into dramatic music, breathtaking camera pans and massive skids, the majority of car buyers are left with little guidance (unless they’re shopping for a new Ferrari). For this reason, my favourite article of 2016 on the carsales and motoring network goes to ‘The best new and used cars for school leavers’.

motoring.com.au produces this type of comparo about once or twice a year. And while drag racing a Porsche and Lamborghini is fun, comparing the running costs and safety ratings of a 2007 Honda Civic and a 2008 Mazda 3 is a genuine public service.

JWM
There were a lot of great reads this year, and that's not even counting the stuff I wrote! (MS: Get on with it John!)

ABDC is always hard to forget. Hanging out each morning mashing 'refresh', waiting for new articles to land, getting closer to finding out which was number one... good times.

But, there was one article that really got me excited, reminded me of what it's like to discover a car you love to drive, and that was Feann's early review of the Focus RS.

It was impossible not to feel the enthusiasm for a truly game changing car. Even though it was only January, you just knew this was going to be one of the cars of the year, and a must drive.

The 2016 article which ranks at or near the top for me is the "Grudge Match: HSV GTS v Ford Falcon XR Sprints".

The reasons for my choice are a combination of a degree of nostalgia at the passing of an era of high performance vehicle manufacture by the main Australian rivals over a period of more than 50 years and the detailed nature of and the number of comments which this type of comparison once again generated.

The historical degree of 'Red' versus 'Blue' bias was much less evident in the comments on this article, making for a much more interesting read.

Ken G writes: A big round of applause for these and our wider group of regular commenters from the motoring.com.au staff – and we trust that Santa brought each of them their heart’s desire.