I’m Headed to the Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Awards!!

This post is sponsored by iConnect Influencer Management and Kelley Blue Book.
While travel expenses were provided, all opinions remain my own.

I love to drive! Whether it’s running errands, traveling, or driving around just because – I love to drive! This week, I’ll be traveling to Irvine, California to attend a blogger event where we’ll be learning more about the Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Awards and test-driving cars – woo hoo!

Let’s talk about Kelley Blue Book for a minute. Kelley Blue Book is the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry, and recently announced the Finalists for the 2016 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Awards, which will honor the top new model-year vehicle choices available in the U.S. market. These finalists will undergo head-to-head comparison testing and evaluation by KBB.com’s expert editorial team, and ultimately the winners in each category and an overall winner will be announced in November.

The Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Awards is a premier awards program designed to provide a significant service to American new-car buyers by identifying the cream of the crop of all available 2016 model-year vehicles. The finalist models are chosen on a set of criteria that identify overall vehicle quality and value, based both on proprietary Kelley Blue Book metrics and the expert evaluations of the KBB.com editorial staff. The awards are the culmination of a year-long regimen of expert vehicle evaluation and testing of nearly every new vehicle available in America, along with analysis of a broad swath of vehicle-related data, including vehicle pricing/transaction prices, 5-Year Cost-to-Own data (which includes depreciation, insurance, maintenance, financing, fuel, fees and taxes for new cars), consumer reviews and ratings, and vehicle sales/retail sales information.

“At Kelley Blue Book, everything we do is designed to help car shoppers make smart decisions, and the Best Buy Awards program is the culmination of a wide variety of data and expert vehicle evaluation efforts throughout the company,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com. “While at the conclusion of the testing and evaluation period only 12 prestigious models will be deemed 2016 winners, it is a very high honor for a vehicle to be chosen as a finalist for these prominent awards. The automakers represented among this year’s finalists offer car buyers with top-notch vehicle choices.”

Of more than 300 new-car models available for 2016, Kelley Blue Book’s expert editors have narrowed the field to a total of 49 Best Buy Award Finalists that include 18 vehicle makes across 12 major vehicle categories. At the conclusion of the test-evaluation regimen, winners will be named a Kelley Blue Book Best Buy in each of the 12 categories, along with an overall Best Buy of 2016 winner.

The 12 categories (with vehicles) that will be focused on are as listed below.

2016 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Award Finalists

Small Car                                                              Midsize Car

2016 Honda Civic                                                  2016 Chevrolet Malibu

2016 Hyundai Elantra                                          2016 Honda Accord

2016 Scion iM                                                        2016 Hyundai Sonata

2016 Subaru Impreza                                           2016 Kia Optima

2016 Toyota Corolla                                              2016 Mazda MAZDA6

                                                                                  2016 Toyota Camry

Full-Size Car                                                         Small SUV

2016 Chevrolet Impala                                          2016 Honda CR-V

2016 Chrysler 300                                                  2016 Honda HR-V

2016 Hyundai Genesis                                           2016 Hyundai Tucson

2016 Nissan Maxima                                              2016 Mazda CX-3

2016 Toyota Avalon

Midsize SUV                                                          Full-Size SUV

2016 Ford Explorer                                                 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe

2016 Honda Pilot                                                     2016 Ford Expedition

2016 Mitsubishi Outlander                                    2016 Toyota Sequoia

2016 Toyota Highlander

Minivan                                                                   Pickup Truck

2016 Honda Odyssey                                              2016 Chevrolet Colorado

2016 Kia Sedona                                                      2016 Ford F-150

2016 Toyota Sienna                                                 2016 Nissan Titan

                                                                                    2016 Toyota Tacoma

Performance Car                                                Electric/Hybrid Car

2016 Chevrolet Camaro                                        2016 Chevrolet Volt

2016 Chevrolet Corvette                                       2016 Toyota Mirai

2016 Ford GT350                                                    2016 Volkswagen eGolf

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata

2016 Scion FR-S

Luxury SUV                                                           Luxury Car

2016 Acura MDX                                                    2016 Acura ILX

2016 Lexus RX                                                        2016 Lexus GS

2016 Lincoln MKX                                                  2016 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

2016 Volvo XC90

2016 Honda Civic

2016 Hyundai Elantra

2016 Scion iM

2016 Subaru Impreza

2016 Toyota Corolla

I’ll be sharing about the event on social media, so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram (#KBBBestBuy #ConnectKBB). I will also be sharing a blog post about the event in the coming week.

What is your favorite vehicle nominated above?