Choosing a winner is easy in sports where the most points wins. However, when it comes to cars and trucks, picking the best in the group requires careful analysis, vigorous debate, and a team of experts who know the car world inside and out.

This year, the Daily News Autos team took this assignment head-on, to determine the best cars, trucks and crossovers in 16 different vehicle categories. The voting included everything from electric cars to supercars, family sedans to SUVs, and sun-loving convertibles to cargo-hauling trucks. Mazda came up big all around, with five overall wins.

The Mazda MX-5 took the win in the Fun Car category, Small SUV went to the Mazda CX-5, while Mazda CX-3 came top in the City SUV category. Mazda3 was voted best Small Car and Mazda6 was the winner for Family Car.

The United States based Daily News Auto Awards honour best-in-class vehicles for a wide range of consumers with the intent to help consumers make a better choice for their next car purchase. The team of voters consisted of 9 automotive journalists with over 100 years of combined experience testing and reviewing cars all over the globe. From Baby Boomers to Millennials, this varied team of experts chose the car or truck that best represents the ‘automotive DNA’ of their respective segment.

The 2016 Daily News Autos Awards will be formally presented to the winning manufacturers during the New York International Auto Show media preview on March 23-24.