Hhhmmmmm..... Just seems like the SVR would be in the mix.
CRS

Choosing the 2017 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car - Motor Trend

 

Possibly Jaguar does not direct enough advertising dollars to their magazine.
Lawrence

 

Last year 9th place:
2016 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car - Motor Trend

 

Unfortunately I suspect that you are correct. All too often magazines, newspapers, websites, etc., offer ONLY pay-to-play or, in these cases, pay to publish. It's endemic across the board and proves you often, or rarely, can trust anything you read. I don't. I don't even trust what I just wrote!

In the end, all that matters is where we rate and rank our cars. I do not need confirmation from any other source.

 

Did you miss my post above yours???

 

I NEVER MISS YOUR POSTS! (Caps intended). And your point is?

 

Interesting theory on the results being related to the advertising. Counted the Ferrari ads did you.

 

Could be jag didn't provide them with a car. I don't see why they would.
They aren't likely to go up in the rankings bringing the same car, although iirc they lost some points due to a mechanical problem. Motor trend generally haven't been overly kind to the ftype. I don't think they're biased against it, but they have disagreed with the latest design updates (and I disagree with mt on this) and have rightly criticized the cars weight. It's very possible Jaguar marketing just said: nah, we're good ( but with a snobby accent)

 

It sounded like you were agreeing with the others that the F-Type wasn't included in the 2017 run b/c maybe Jaguar isn't sleeping with the magazines. But my point was the F-Type was included in the 2016 run (SVR #9), as the reason it wasn't included in 2017.

 

There's not much to be gained by Jaguar entering a car. It would end up somewhere near the bottom of the pack, not great PR for them.

The F Type, much like the Aston isn't the most driver focused machine out there. Its too heavy, lacks the finesses of a fine handling sports car. People buy them for different reasons though, the overall ownership proposition and feel good factor rather than just outright performance and handling (Boxster rightfully claimed a high place based solely on those criteria). So the Motor Trend test is a lose-lose for Jaguar really.

 

My dear Ryan. I was [agreeing with mulmur].

Naturally I do not know any of the particulars with this but I do know all too often I read about something (could be car, restaurant, etc.) which I know is, lets just say, less than stellar, but if you believe the press "it's" the best thing since Swiss cheese.

 

It's mostly this. Manufacturers are invited to submit cars. They sent the V8S in 2013 and got 4th, the R coupe in 2014 and got ninth, in 2016 they sent the SVR and got ninth again. If you don't have a new model, trim, or redesign to send a lot of manufacturers won't.

 

If I recall the video, they said it would have been near the top driving car had it not had mechanical issues. Thus it got ninth. Otherwise, they seemed to have loved it.

 

Which really invalidates their results as far as I'm concerned. They said something like: the first day it had a problem but the car was replaced/ fixed so now it's better. However, we're still going to criticize it's performance while it was faulty.

That's illogical. A cars reliability, while important, doesn't relate to its performance. That's best left for car&driver or kbb, not best drivers car.
I feel similarly annoyed when they give one car the edge over another, while admitting the losing car would have been better if it had/didnt have an available factory option. I kinda see their point sometimes, but definitely not with the way they judged the svr. I'm personally happy jag didn't send them a car.
I like their videos though. Very high production quality, and despite the above, I don't actually suspect their integrity.

 

In earlier years, I think the idea was to limit best drivers cars contenders to new models or at least new trim levels.

But I saw this from a previous year BDC write up, and its much like the above posts have suggested:

"There are plenty of reasons a car might not make it to Best Driver’s Car, the most common being that the automaker simply doesn’t have one in its press fleet during the two weeks we need it. Other reasons include not being on sale in the U.S. yet, a last-minute breakdown or damage, and scheduling conflicts. Sometimes an automaker just says no.

If your favorite new sports car wasn’t in Best Driver’s Car, there’s likely a good reason. When we begin planning (usually in January), we make a long wish list of cars we’d like to see participate, but we know many won’t make it. We invite everything anyway, and sometimes we get lucky and an automaker moves heaven and earth to get us a car. Sometimes, though, it just doesn’t work out."

 

I don't think there's much to the criteria other than being new or interesting and somewhat performance-oriented, otherwise they wouldn't be throwing in sedans or 4400lb+ cars.

Saddest part is we don't get to see how the Jag drags against the field (although.. spoiler alert, it'd probably finish in the bottom 3 or 4):

 

mid pack here; Watch 12 Cars Throw Down in World?s Greatest Drag Race 6 - Motor Trend

Dave

 

I disagree that it is illogical. Reliability would determine ownership experience. Best of lists are not the same as 0 to 60 or lap times lists.

 

While your premis has some logic IMO, one failure on a single car hardly makes a case for overall reliablity expectations for a future owner. IMO, a mention of the failure and required repair would be reasonable, but not a placing based on one isolated occurance.

Dave