Imagine the life of a lowly automotive journalist… flying around the world, attending exotic car shows, driving expensive and unusual vehicles, being wined and dined by manufacturers. Ah yes, it is living the dream for sure. It is a dream that mostly falls to Editors and Editorial Directors and the occasional Publisher.

It does, however, create a unique – if unrealistic – view into the world’s automotive offerings. Not every day is spent in a low, two seater car whose name ends in a vowel. There are also the uninspired C-list models that must be as thoroughly vetted as any other. At the end of a year, it comes time to sit back and consider what one (or couple) of those cars you would most like to not have handed the keys back to.

At Edmunds.com, that list is called the 2011 Editors’ Most Wanted Awards. Ed Hellwig, Editor of Edmunds’ InsideLine.com explained, “Our winners are chosen for one simple reason: they’re the cars, trucks and vans that we like the best. These are the cars we would buy for ourselves, the ones that we remember even after getting behind the wheel of hundreds of vehicles throughout the year.”

The half dozen selections are based on the impassioned presentations of those who nominate their choice and convince a majority of ten other Editors to agree. According to reports, no blood is shed during the process, but we really have to wonder. Still, the InsideLine Editors have done it again and published their Award list. Interestingly, two of the recipients are LS-powered.

Of the Cadillac CTS-V wagon, Senior Editor Josh Jacquot, said “There’s not another machine on this planet that will at once liberate your manhood with gratuitous powerslides and satisfy your domestic needs by carrying a toddler, a ladder and a dog. Cars like this only come along once in a generation.”

The other winner? Perhaps surprisingly, they chose the 2011 Corvette Z06, but it had to have the Z07 Ultimate Performance Package. Nothing less would do. Senior Editor, Erin Riches, laid it out. “It goes from being a scary-fast sports car with squirrelly, unpredictable handling at the limit to being a scary-fast sports car that’s buttoned-down and trustworthy at 10/10ths. The upshot is that you can push a Z07-package Corvette Z06 much harder on a road course or back road…”

The ZR1 lovers among you need not be affronted, as the Editors readily acknowledge the ZR1’s superiority in straight line competition, but they were prepared to trade off some E.T. points for a lighter car with more direct feeling steering.

Certainly, it must have been a difficult process to undergo, but getting there was a year’s work. In case you’re wondering the other vehicles that made it to their particular grail, they were the Kia Optima, Honda Odyssey, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. Certainly, there’s something for everyone on that list.