SA 2011 Car of the Year

[Pine]

The nominees for SA's Car of the Year for 2011 were announced this week and the winner will be chosen in March next year. With this thread you as Forum member will have the opportunity to nominate your favourite, and once again we will compare our results with the 'official' results, based on voting results

Oh, yes - don't be biast towards our 'favourite' marque - although there are no less than TWO of them

1. BMW 5 Series 530d




2. Citroen DS3 1.6 THP Sport




3. Ford Figo 1.4 Ambiente




4. Honda CR-Z 1.5 i-VTEC Hybrid




5. Hyundai iX35 2.0 CRDi GLS Automatic AWD




6. Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GLS Automatic Exec




7. Kia Sportage 2.0 VGT Diesel AWD Auto




8. Opel Astra 1.4T Enjoy Plus




9. Volkswagen Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 Double Cab




10. Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Comfortline TDI 77kW

[Pine]

...uhm perhaps I should just add the prices of each car before voting catches speed



BMW 5 Series 530d - R 634 000

Citroen DS3 1.6 THP Sport - R 255 000

Ford Figo 1.4 Ambiente - R 115 000

Honda CR-Z 1.5 i-VTEC Hybrid - R 300 000

Hyundai iX35 2.0 CRDi GLS Automatic AWD - R 370 000

Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GLS Automatic Exec - R 300 000

Kia Sportage 2.0 VGT Diesel AWD Auto - R 320 000

Opel Astra 1.4T Enjoy Plus - R 263 000

Volkswagen Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 Double Cab - R 390 000

Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Comfortline TDI 77kW - R 210 000

[ChrisG]

lol @ the 530d makes me laugh every time

[Pine]

lol @ the 530d makes me laugh every time

I never see a 530d in front of me without thinking 'turn it around to get the driver's name' too!

Anyway, this is also a BUMP for this thread.. so



now!

[JohnHoffe]

The way I undestand it is that it is the first time ever that these is an LDV in the finalists.

[karmakoma]

In the current economic climate, my vote goes to the Figo, well specced not only in it's class but even compared to more expensive machinery. Not bad looking, even "funky", reliable, great buy.

That said, I really wouldn't mind the Honda CR-Z, looks fantastic, and the "cockpit" would not look out of place in a spaceship.

What no VW I hear you ask ? Yes, no AC in the VW engine bay, no soul, sorry.

AND

R210K for a POLO, you gotta be kidding.

[Pine]

[Pine]

The winner(s) were announced last night!

Johannesburg - The winner of the 2011 SA Guild of Motoring Journalists' Car of the Year title was announced in Johannesburg last night.

And it was... well, two cars tied for the first time in the long history of the competition - the VW Polo 1.6 TDI and BMW's 530d. Which was a rather unsatisfactory end to the long process and will no doubt cause much controversy over coming weeks.

VW won the competition outright in 2010 with its Golf 1.4 TSi Comfortline. BMW has won five times, 1988 with its 735i, 1990 with the 525i, 1993 with the 316i, 1997 with the 528i and 2001 with its 320d.

The 10 finalists for the 2011 South Africa’s Car of the Year honours were announced in October 2010 but the final judging took place only in February this year with two days of testing at the Gerotek vehicle testing centre, west of Pretoria.

THREE DAYS TO VOTE

The judges, all motoring journalists of long standing, for the first time relied on their memories of driving the cars either at their launch or in a road test but they also had the opportunity to refresh their thoughts on the various tracks at the vehicle testing centre.

Thereafter they had three days to cast their votes via the internet on a specially created computer program.

All of which replaced what used to be three days of concentrated driving over an identical course involving track and public roads, extended periods of static evaluation and hundreds of ticks in a questionnaire whose data was pooled with that of the other judges to produce a winner.

Eight manufacturers were represented among the 10 finalists; Hyundai and VW had two entries each.

The finalists were BMW’s 530d, Citroen’s DS3 1.6 THP Sport, Honda’s CR-Z Hybrid, Kia's Sportage 2.0 CRDi GLS 4x4, Opel's Astra 1.4T and Ford’s Figo 1.4 Ambiente, VW’s Polo 1.6 TDI and Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 bakkie and Hyundai's iX35 SUV and Sonata sedan.

Strong candidates for the title included VW’s Polo (currently World Car of the Year) and Ford’s high-value Figo, while the Amarok makes a long-overdue case for representation of the bakkie market – a key volume segment in the terms of outright vehicle sales.

Interestingly, the list of candidates included three Korean cars – a state of affairs that would have been unfathomable a decade ago...