With the sheets now dropped and the debuts now made, it’s time to recap the best of the best from the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. This year saw tons of noteworthy debuts, with fast, opulent, and practical offerings all strutting their stuff in the first big international car show of the year. As such, we put our collective gearheads together to pick out which debuts made the biggest splash.

While SUVs and crossovers dominated the show through sheer numbers alone, the debuts that caught our eye were mostly cars. One truck in particular also gets a spot on this list, as does a Japanese-made van. Both concepts and production models were considered.

So then – we’ve got our list, but do you have yours? Which debuts do you think deserve the title of “Best In Show”? Tell us in the comments section.

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Best In Show

Kia Stinger

Without a doubt, the most popular Detroit debut around the TopSpeed office is Kia’s bright and shiny new sports sedan. Pretty much every one of us TopSpeed staffers mentioned it when we started discussing our Best In Show picks – and what’s not to like? It’s got exactly the right mix for a four-door fun-mobile, with eye-catching good looks, a slick-looking cabin space, and a twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6 engine producing 365 horsepower and 376 pound-feet of torque at the rear axle. Of course, we have to ding it for its lack of a manual transmission (an eight-speed slush box is mandatory), but hey – Kia is kinda new to this whole sports sedan thing, so we’ll let it slide this time.

Our man Kirby Garlitos had this to say – “My best of show has to be the Kia Stinger. Granted, this is more of a ‘potential’ pick because I fully believe that if Kia markets the Stinger properly, it could turn into one of its most important models. The design is there. The numbers are there. Most of all, the ambition is there. I like what I see out of the car and I’m expecting big things out of it once it hits the market.”

TopSpeed

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When you consider just how many units of the F-150 pickup Ford manages to move, even the slightest of updates becomes major news. But the new F-150 is quite new indeed, and thus, we’ve added the 2018 model year as part of this list. Our resident truck-xpert, Mark McNabb, had this to say –

“I might be the truck guy around these parts, but picking the mid-cycle refreshed F-150 was a hard choice that I’m still not sold on. The 2017 Detroit Auto Show had tons of really interesting vehicles that will make a huge splash in the market. But I keep coming back to the F-150 as the vehicle with the most impact.”

He continues, “Ford’s F-Series is the best-selling vehicle marque in America, so that’s hard to ignore. The addition of the 3.0-liter Power Stroke turbodiesel is huge and could sway Dieselgate-weary opinions of diesels back into a positive light. The rest of its engines are new, too, including the base V-6 and 2.7-liter EcoBoost. Even the venerable 5.0-liter V-8 is receiving updates that will surely translate into the Mustang. Of course, the F-150 wears a new face, but that’s just subjective. The real news is in its new powertrains with the 10-speed automatic and the addition of advanced active safety systems. The 2018 F-150 simply pushed the bar further.”

Read the full review here.

Mercedes-AMG GT C Coupe

There’s a lot to like about the new AMG GT C Coupe (never mind the alphabet soup name, that’s just the Mercedes way). First off, it was pretty much the only sports car to debut in Detroit this year, so there’s that. Secondly, it fills the hole left between the AMG GT S and uber-hardcore AMG GT R, and that means when you place it alongside the S, you’ll notice a more aggressive appearance, plus the same high-performance interior goodies as the GT C Roadster. But the best bit is nestled under that hugely extended hoodline, where a 4.0-liter V-8 gets boosted by two turbos for a total of 550 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque, besting the baseline AMG GT by more than 80 ponies. With that much power on tap, 60 mph arrives in 3.5 seconds, while top speed is rated at just under 200 mph.

Like I said, there’s a lot to like.

Read the full review here.

Lexus LS 500

It was about time Lexus introduced its new flagship luxury behemoth, and the fifth-gen LS doesn’t disappoint. Primed to go head-to-head such with German torchbearers like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class, the new LS gains some eye-popping design features that are sure to trickle down to the rest of Toyota’s lineup, while the interior is awash in high-end materials and luxury elements complemented by a longer body. The technology is also on par with what you’d expect from Lexus, with advanced noise cancelation, active safety features, and a 24-inch heads-up display all making the list. Motivation is derived from a new twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6, which produces 415 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque and feeds a 10-speed transmission. Harnessing the grunt is advanced chassis control, which means this boat feels like a cruise liner, but won’t handle like one.

Read the full review here.

Honda Odyssey

Look, we here at TopSpeed can be responsible adults. No, seriously. To prove it, we’re adding the new Honda Odyssey to the list, because although it’s definitely no Pacifica Hellcat, it’s still got the goods for hauling the things, with configurable second-row seating and a huge amount of interior volume. The new Odyssey is also good with people, especially those of the small and easily bored variety, thanks to features like rear-seat entertainment, a ton of USB charge points, 4G LTE Wi-Fi, and a “How Much Farther?” app that tracks navigation info for anxious passengers. And if the little ones start acting up, you can keep an eye on them with something called CabinWatch, which is basically a camera system that feeds the front with video of what’s going on in back.

TopSpeed

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There may come a day when you can talk about VW in an online automotive article without mentioning Dieselgate, and if that day comes, it’ll be because of concepts like this. The ID Buzz doubles down on Volkswagen’s EV ambitions, touting lots of emissions-free range per charge, while also giving a nod to its Microbus-popular past. Throw in some autonomous driving features, and it looks like VW is heading in the right direction.

Read the full review here.

Honorable Mention – Infiniti QX50 Concept

Finally, we gotta give a shout out to Infiniti for its production-friendly QX50 concept. As an evolution of the QX Sport Inspiration concept that debuted last year, this thing is looking mighty sharp indeed. And that’s a good thing, because Infiniti says it’s more or less exactly what we’ll get when the revamped QX50 finally goes on sale, at least as far as aesthetics are concerned. But we like this crossover for more than just the looks – it’s also packing a groundbreaking variable compression engine, which promises V-6 power and hybrid efficiency in a single, compact package. We can’t wait to see it in dealerships.

Read the full review here.