Road & Track’s Performance Car of the Year competition is legendary. Most major auto news outlets run some sort of sports car rankings, but the PCOTY (as it’s affectionately known) is something special. The competition lasts four days and the testers drove over 700 miles to put nine high-performance cars through their paces.
The top three sports cars may surprise you. There was a Porsche, a Cadillac… and a Toyota.
The 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 emerged as the top sports car
Road & Track admitted it was an uphill battle to choose just one winner from among the top three cars. But in the end it was the new Porsche 911 GT3 that took home the trophy. This will not surprise many. MotorTrend has named the new 911 GT3 “Performance Vehicle of the Year” and this sports car is raking in prizes and awards.
One of the things that sets the PCOTY apart from other competitions is the focus on the holistic sports car experience. That means a high-performance car doesn’t necessarily have to be the lightest, fastest, or have the most horsepower to win. It just has to have the right soul and a good dose of exhilaration.
The 502 hp 4.0 liter engine of the Porsche 911 GT3 was not the strongest of the bunch. He was only the second fastest sports car. It won hearts nonetheless.
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The 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing was an aggressive competitor
This Cadillac is the most powerful sports sedan the brand has launched, producing 668 hp and 659 lb-ft of torque from a 6.2-liter supercharged V8. It was the most powerful sedan in the ranking, the second most powerful overall, and is possibly the brand’s fond farewell to the combustion engine sports car. Road & Track called it “royal” and “one of the best sports sedans of all time”.
The praise and love for the CT5-V Blackwing was generously applied. There was no question why this Cadillac made it into the last three in very tough competition.
Toyota’s cheap sports car put up a brave fight
It might seem strange to see a cheap Toyota sports car competing against Lamborghinis and BMWs, but the 2022 Toyota GR86 held its own in a surprisingly strong class. Its 228-horsepower engine and $30,000 starting price usually places the GR86 coupe at a lunch table far from the likes of the CT5-V Blackwing and 911 GT3, but the PCOTY welcomes all with a sports car craving breastfeed.
Road & Track called the compact coupe an “ear-to-ear grin on wheels,” and the Toyota GR86 performed strongly both on the track and on back roads. While the other two performance cars in the top three represent the best of the best, the GR86 is the sports car for everyone.
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The Performance Car of the Year is more than a numbers game
If the competition were based solely on raw data, specs and numbers, this list of the top three sports cars might have looked very different. But that is exactly what makes the Performance Car of the Year test unique. Cars are not judged solely on their performance. Testers judge on whether they are the best sports car they can be and whether they can get the heart pumping and the imagination running.
The Porsche 911 was the well-deserved winner, and the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is perhaps the most impressive V8 sports sedan the brand will ever build. But it’s great to see a peppery little Toyota make it to the top.
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