Canadian journalists reveal their top car picks for 2009

If you're looking for a new car, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada just unveiled its top picks for 2009.

Journalists from across the country named 14 of 168 new cars as their top picks. To be clear, they aren't rating reliability or gas mileage, just what they liked in test drives. Here are some of the results:

The number one pick-up truck - the Dodge Ram.

Top SUV under $35,000 - the Subaru Forester.

Best convertible -the Audi TTS.

And the coveted best pick for small car under $18,000 went to the Toyota Corolla. It was built in Cambridge, Ontario.

"This car was designed by Canadians for Canadians and you can fit a medium sized Tim Horton's coffee in the cup holder because we designed it that way," said Sandy Difelice.

And we ship those Corollas to Japan too. There were a few surprises. The best luxury car under $50,000 was the Hyundai Genesis. This loaded rear wheel drive uses regular gas and has the refinement of a much more expensive car. It's a long way from the Hyundai Pony.

Other 2009 category winners are:

BEST NEW SMALL CAR (over $18,000):

Pontiac Vibe

BEST NEW FAMILY CAR ($22k-$30,000):

Mazda6

BEST NEW FAMILY CAR (over $30,000):

Volkswagen Passat CC

BEST NEW LUXURY CAR (over $50,000):

Audi A4

BEST NEW PRESTIGE CAR:

Mercedes-Benz CL550

Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG

BEST NEW SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR (under $50,000):

BMW 135i Coupe

BEST NEW SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR (over $50,000):

Lexus IS F

BEST NEW SUV / CUV ($35,000-$60,000):

Ford Flex

BEST NEW SUV / CUV (over $60,000):

Mercedes-Benz M-Class BlueTEC

The fourteen category winners go on to compete for the honour of being either the 2009 Canadian Car of the Year or the 2009 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year. These overall winners will be announced in February,

Gift Card Scam

He bought a gift card from Craig's list. But what seemed like a bargain went bust -until he turned to Olsen on Your Side.

Andrew Cheung is part way through some home renovations. When he saw some Home Depot gift cards for sale on Craig's list, he thought it was a great opportunity.

"They were 15 per cent off the face value which I thought was fair," he explained.

Fair but not suspicious. He met the seller outside the Richmond Home Depot store.

The cards were real and the store confirmed each card had $500 on it. So Andrew bought them. But after a few small purchases the gift cards stopped working and when Andrew called Home Depot he was told the awful truth.

"The cards were purchased originally with stolen credit cards," explained Tiziana Baccega with Home Depot. The store cancelled them as soon as the credit card company detected the fraud.

"Unfortunately, it is a growing issue that the retail industry is dealing with," said Baccega.

And Home Depot is planning to put a new warning on the back of its cards.

"It suggests if this gift card is purchased fraudulently we are actually warning customers that it will be turned off," she explained.

After Andrew brought it to their attention, Home Depot is also asking websites like Craig's list and E-bay to warn users about the scam. You can find postings on Craig's list from other victims who say they have been ripped off by a bad Home Depot gift card.

Andrew lost $480 --Home Depot won't compensate him for that -- but the company has opted to reward him for bringing the problem forward.

"What we are going to do is reach out to this customer and provide him with a $250 gift card as a thank you for getting the message out to other customers to be careful and ensure you are purchasing gift cards from the retailer like Home Depot or through one of our partners."

"It's a tough lesson to learn for people," admitted Andrew.

He plans to donate the replacement gift card to a soccer team he coaches.

"I took a risk that there was a chance of this happening. I thought I had covered all my basis but obviously not well enough , these guys know the system even better," he said.

The holiday shopping season seems to attract scammers and if you are buying off Craig's list ask to see some photo ID.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen