Most Significant Vehicle of the Year

Winner: Mini Cooper

It appears that Edmunds.com readers agree with our choice of the Most Significant Vehicle for 2002. They awarded the Mini Cooper that honor with a total of 324 votes. The next highest vote count (243) went to the Nissan Altima, with the Subaru WRX not far behind at 205 votes. When we voted for the Mini Cooper last fall, we'd had only limited exposure to the vehicle. Recent months have granted us seat time in both the Cooper and the Cooper S versions, confirming our original opinion that this is the single most important automotive development for the 2002 model year. Typical waiting lists for the car have stretched well into the hundreds, and the expected eBay profiteering is in full swing.

Others models worth noting for the number of votes they received include the following:
Acura RSX
Audi A4
BMW 3 Series (if you include all M3 mentions)
Chevrolet TrailBlazer/GMC Envoy/Oldsmobile Bravada
Ford Focus (lots of SVT mentions)
Ford Thunderbird
Mazda Protegé5
Volkswagen Passat (plenty of W8s mentioned here)

We should also note that plenty of votes came in for the Infiniti G35, Cadillac CTS, Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe and Mercedes-Benz SL500, but those are all 2003 models (which we'll be voting on in just a few months).