You’re going to want to set aside a solid 45 minutes to watch these videos. We continue to reap the benefits of YouTube paying good money to car magazines for original content to rival traditional TV shows. Motor Trend’s latest installment is their 2012 Best Driver’s Car compilation. I like the way they do this annual comparison because a lot of people tend to misuse the term “driver’s car,” but Motor Trend has got it right and they stick to their guns. What makes a good driver’s car goes way beyond the numbers of the performance statistics. The 0-60 time doesn’t say anything about the car’s balance, feedback, fun or driver engagement. Those things are much harder to describe, but thankfully we have Johnny Lieberman, Carlos Lagos and Randy Pobst here working together to convey the driving experiences of this dream car lineup. This year they rounded up the Jaguar XKR-S, Subaru BRZ, Lamborghini Aventador, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Ford Shelby GT500, Nissan GT-R Black Edition, Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series and McLaren MP4-12C. The boys start out by doing winding road introductions of each car and then they turn them over to Randy for hot laps around Laguna Seca. They finish up by choosing a top 3 and then driving them some more to pick an overall winner.

Keeping with Motor Trend tradition, tall of the cars get lined up for a massive drag race once all of the testing is done:

If you want to see the hot laps for your favorite cars in their entirety, Motor Trend has got you covered there as well:

1. 2012 McLaren MP4-12C: 1:34.5
2. 2012 Lamborghini Aventador: 1:35.4
3. 2013 Nissan GT-R Black Edition: 1:36.3
4. 2013 Ford Shelby GT500: 1:38.7
5. 2012 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series: 1:38.9
6. 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1: 1:39.2
7. 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S: 1:39.3
8. 2012 Jaguar XKR-S: 1:42.9
9. 2013 Subaru BRZ: 1:51.3

Source: Motor Trend on YouTube