Meet the eight-member autoX jury — a team of seasoned testers responsible for putting this year’s 50 contenders through the most demanding evaluation in the business. At the forefront is Editor-in-Chief and chief lap-setter Dhruv Behl, whose experience across rally stages and race circuits forms the backbone of our performance testing. On two wheels, Karan Mathur takes charge of extracting the quickest laps from an eclectic mix of motorcycles. Supporting them is a diverse group of specialists — Ishan Raghava, Ashish Jha, Shivank Bhatt, Siddharth, Aakash Paul and Kingshuk Dutta — who collectively bring well over a century of testing experience across cars and bikes. Their combined instincts, scrutiny and mechanical feel are what ensure that every score reflects real-world ability rather than spec-sheet promise. Each machine is assessed across our full range of parameters: quality, comfort, ride and handling, refinement, design, practicality, value-for-money, plus the all-important X-factor and its representative lap time. This is the crew that debates, challenges and ultimately defines what truly rises to the top in 2025.

How are points issued based on lap times?

With 50 vehicles to cover, running a full lap would simply take too long. More importantly, though, we prefer to judge dynamic ability on the shorter – and far more technical – 2.0km loop at the back of the circuit. This removes the long straights, where outright power would give certain cars and bikes an unavoidable advantage. Instead, the loop focuses on what matters most: chassis balance, agility, stability and confidence at the limit. A track map highlights the exact section we use – the red line shows the route for four-wheelers, while the blue line depicts the two-wheel loop, with motorcycles and scooters taking the tighter inside bike loop through Turns 10, 11 and 12. Lap times are recorded via the BIC’s official timing system, with every contender fitted with a transponder accurate to a hundredth of a second. The fastest machine earns the full set of points, with the rest scored on a relative scale based on their deficit to the leader.