ALV Concept

Active Lifestyle Vehicle of the Year Program

In today’s competitive market, a car’s best asset may be the cyclist, skier or triathlete who endorses it.  The reason is that automakers can no longer compete solely on the basis of quality.

The situation was quite different twenty years ago, when I first started writing about cars. Shoppers would read up on which models had the most warranty claims or safety recalls, and as much as budgets would permit, buy something that didn’t make the black list.

Today there are very few bad cars. Electronic controls are more reliable than the mechanical parts they replaced, and production lines are closely monitored for quality failure. This isn’t to say that some cars aren’t more reliable than others. But it’s a far cry from the time when mechanical parts would fail on  thousands of cars, leaving their owners stranded.

The Land Rover LR3 is a multiple ALV luxury off-road winner.

Whereas most car of the year competitions focus on various aspects of vehicle performance, we are more concerned with how well the vehicle helps to enhance our performance as athletes. So we evaluate how easy it is to load bicycles into the cargo area, or to clean the upholstery after an especially muddy trail run. We want to know if a sport-utility vehicle designed to go off-road can ford water, and if it can maintain directional control when one or more wheels is off the ground.

As athletes, safety is very important to us. Active lifestyle vehicles have to meet certain criteria, such as having antilock brakes, side curtain airbags, and electronic stability control. Pedestrian safety is also important. A body structure designed to minimize injury to a pedestrian involved in a collision always gets our vote.

The competition started out with two categories: best value and best luxury car. Best value cars are priced under $30,000; while luxury cars and trucks are $30,000 and over. Since the first year, we’ve divided the pool further, separating on and off-road vehicles, and adding minivan, super value and green car categories.

The minivan category is self-explanatory: we decided to give minivans their own award, to encourage manufacturers to submit vehicles that we believe make excellent active lifestyle vehicles.

Green ALV includes all types of alternative fuel vehicles, from hybrids and electric cars to clean diesel and biodiesel. We look at fuel economy, sustainability, and emissions, as well as the same criteria we use to evaluate other active lifestyle vehicles.

The super value category is designed to help the first-time buyer find a quality car that meets the needs of active lifestyles. Though the average price of a new car is over $25,000, these vehicles are priced at or below $16,000: they offer the safety, comfort and convenience features today’s new car buyers want.

The Judging Process

Thirteen automotive jurors evaluate the initial field of entries: our jurors include men and women aged twenty-five to eighty-one. Each juror brings to the table a special area of expertise within the automotive field. Many are also athletes. We have among our ranks two runners, two cyclists, an adventure racer, a skier, and two competitive race car drivers.

Unlike some competitions, there is no judging template for ALV. We ask each of the jurors to bring his or her individual perspective to the table. As a result, we have a lot of tie breakers, but that’s what makes this competition more interesting.

After the automotive jurors narrow down the field to four finalists in each category, the cars come to San Diego for a second round of evaluations by a team of elite and local athletes. Over the past five years, our athlete evaluators have included elite runners and triathletes, professional football players, surfers, cyclists, beach volleyball players and adventure racers.

In 2008, we had sixty-six entries, making that program the most competitive in ALV history. We look forward to a bigger program this year, and in the years to follow.