It’s the Time of the Year for Car, Truck of the Year

First, let’s just get this out of the way: The 2012 Hyundai Veloster is distinctly lacking in velocity. But while critics have complained about the car’s lackluster acceleration, the fact of the matter is that it has a power-to-weight ratio that’s notably better than that of a Ford Fiesta and right in line with the naturally aspirated Chevy Sonic. It’s just that the Veloster’s radical design and fairly enthusiastic suspension write a check that its engine can’t cash. But that’s no reason to ignore an eye-catching three-door hatchback that starts at $17,300 and is capable of 40 mpg highway with both its automatic and manual transmissions.

That hidden third door, located on the passenger side, is more than a gimmick, too. It provides easy access to the Veloster’s rear seats for kids or cargo, although no amount of assistance is going to make it any more comfortable for adults forced to sit back there.

The key here is to think of the Veloster as one of the very few remaining traditional three-door hatches—that is, with two passenger doors and the hatch itself, like the VW Golf. And compared to the VW, the Veloster starts almost $700 lower and has combined EPA ratings that are about 27 percent higher.

Although not quite a full makeover, the significant refreshing applied to the Chrysler 300 returned the car to its place as the top traditional U.S. sedan (i.e., with rear-wheel drive). The segment isn’t exactly a huge one, but that probably wouldn’t matter much now that the 300 lineup offers both 31 mpg—courtesy of a breakthrough eight-speed automatic transmission—and 470 hp—thanks to the hi-po SRT8 model, which also brings along an equal amount of torque. And while the latter version isn’t known for its fuel economy, the car’s highway mark of 23 mpg does represent a healthy increase of 21 percent as compared to the previous 300 SRT8.

The 300 also showcases a particularly impressive range of audio options, including an industry-first “Beats with Dr. Dre” setup designed by the good doctor himself and a Harman Kardon system that delivers 900 watts of power to 19 (!) speakers boasting high-efficiency GreenEdge technology. As a result, the system delivers superior sound quality with minimal energy consumption—and was the key to the 300 being named among this year’s top 10 cars for audiophiles by Popular Mechanics.

The 2012 Chrysler 300 is priced from $27,170 for rear-wheel-drive models and $33,170 for AWD versions.

My thinking here: The all-new Honda CR-V didn’t do much for the right side of my brain, while the all-new Ford Escape is likely to be relatively pricey when kitted out with all the good stuff—and technically, it’s not even on sale yet. On the other hand, the Kia Soul starts at $13,900 and raised the funk bar yet a bit higher with its extensive 2012 upgrades.

These included some massaging of the sheet metal—e.g., a new hood and bumpers—and nifty front and rear LED accent lamps. And while I’m generally not a big fan of this design cue, if ever a vehicle were made to wear them, it’s the Soul.

Kia also modified the Soul’s powertrain choices by adding a new 2.0-liter I4 engine with direct injection and deploying that same technology on the base 1.6-liter I4. Now mated to the driver’s choice of Hyundai’s six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, the Soul gains both power and efficiency in addition to a couple of extra cogs in the gearbox. The starter Soul currently boasts 138 hp (16 more than in 2011) and an EPA line of 27 mpg city/35 mpg/30 mpg combined (increases of 1 mpg/4 mpg/2 mpg); with its bigger engine, the Kia now delivers 164 hp (up by 22 hp) and EPA marks of 26/34/29 (jumps of 2 mpg/4 mpg/3 mpg).

Hey, it’s classified as a “hybrid” by the EPA, and you can always trust those government agencies, right?

Regardless, GM certainly made a canny move in rebooting the eAssist technology—which did, remember, originally debut on the General’s “hybrids” from the early 2000s—for the 21st century. The system enables the full-size LaCrosse to achieve EPA ratings of 25 mpg city/36 mpg highway/29 mpg combined, and to put those marks into context, just compare them to the ratings for the aforementioned Soul. The eAssisted LaCrosse has the exact same combined rating as the 2.0-liter Soul, and that’s even with the Buick being some 34 inches longer and more than 1,000 lbs. heavier.

You also have to give a tip of the ol’ hat to Buick for making the eAssist powertrain standard equipment on the base LaCrosse, albeit while raising its MSRP to $29,960.

But the Buick remains one of the most sophisticated-looking vehicles on the market, and it’s now caught up to the rest of the near-lux entries in terms of other technologies, too, with the addition of the brand’s new IntelliLink in-car connectivity setup, an eight-inch color touchscreen, dual-zone climate controls and a rearview camera system.

The Nissan Quest has to be one of the biggest surprises of 2011, but unfortunately, I don’t mean that in a good way. Despite an all-new design and a very family-friendly interior, and even with Nissan setting a string of sales records this year, the Quest has been virtually ignored by customers. Last month, when Nissan set an all-time benchmark for November deliveries and even outperformed Honda, the Quest was good for just 1,132 sales—nearly 300 less than the Kia Sedona.

The Quest isn’t the most fuel-efficient minivan either, although its EPA ratings with a 260-hp V6 are exactly the same as those of the Toyota Sienna configured with an I4 that puts out more than 70 fewer horses: 19 mpg city/24 mpg highway/21 mpg combined; the Honda Odyssey, also with a V6, leads the way in the segment with marks of 19/28/22. Nor is the Nissan the least-expensive kid on the block. While Toyota offers a basic Sienna for $25,060, and the Sedona, although from an earlier generation of vehicles, starts at $24,900, the Quest opens at $27,750. Which does happen to be about $500 under the Odyssey, and a staggering $2,245 lower than the price of admission to a Chrysler Town & Country.

But even though it’s in the middle of the pack in many ways, it does shine in an important one: It offers a strong, dynamic new approach to minivan style that should be attracting a lot more drivers.