2017 Best Auto Tech Awards
2017 Best Auto Tech Awards
Where driving dynamics, comfort and safety are concerned, modern vehicles are steadily marching down a path toward parity. As such, technology has blossomed into one of the last great differentiators amongst competing models, and we at Kelley Blue Book have constructed an awards program around the cars that continue to push the digital envelope.
Winners are divided into two distinct categories: a mainstream set emphasizing the highest degree of tech-for-dollar, and another honoring the luxury car with the most innovative-yet-useful tech currently available. Though many cars today offer loads of cutting-edge technology at increasingly attainable prices, one critically important measure helped catapult the Honda Civic and Mercedes-Benz E-Class into their respective winner’s circles: execution. The systems featured in both models delivered on their promise of enhancing the driving experience and safety quotient without adding complexity. And when distilled down to its essence, that’s what in-vehicle tech is all about.
Value Award Winner
2017 Honda Civic EX with Honda Sensing
Our perennial Best Buy winner also happens to be a technological powerhouse. Wrapped in a value-intensive, fun-to-drive package is a compact car laden with cutting-edge features once reserved for vehicles costing three times as much. Aside from more conventional equipment like a moonroof, automatic transmission, capless fuel filler and automatic climate control – all for just under $23,000 including destination fees – includes intelligent gadgetry like passive entry with push-button start, automatic headlight control, an electronic parking brake with an auto hold feature that holds the brakes for you at stoplights, a fully digital driver information display, a multi-angle backup camera, and an 8-speaker audio system tied to a quick-witted 7-inch capacitive touchscreen infotainment center with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay integration.
Active safety comes in the form of Honda’s exclusive Lane Watch system, which employs a small camera mounted in the passenger-side mirror to display a view down the right side of the vehicle onto the infotainment screen, as well as full-range adaptive cruise control that maintains a user-defined distance behind the vehicle ahead, automatic pre-collision braking, lane departure warning, and lane keeping assist, which gently and seamlessly nudges you back to the center of the lane if the car begins to drift.
It’s hard to imagine that one of the most recommendable cars in the industry also happens to offer the latest infotainment, convenience and safety technology at a remarkably affordable price. But Honda made it so with the 2017 Civic, thus earning it a Best Auto Tech award in the area of value.
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