European Car of the Year 2009

MarkDavis · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:01

Not that this award means a great deal, given some of the dubious cars that have won it previously *cough* Fiat *cough* Alfa Romeo* but the nominees are:-

- Alfa Romeo MiTo
- Citroen C5
- Ford Fiesta
- Opel/Vauxhall Insignia
- Renault Megane
- Skoda Superb
- Volkswagen Golf VI.

Result announced next Monday. My money would be on the Fiesta or Golf.

Car of the year - previous winners:-

* 2008 -- FIAT 500
* 2007 -- FORD S-MAX
* 2006 -- RENAULT CLIO
* 2005 -- TOYOTA PRIUS
* 2004 -- FIAT PANDA
* 2003 -- RENAULT MÉGANE
* 2002 -- PEUGEOT 307
* 2001 -- ALFA ROMEO 147
* 2000 -- TOYOTA YARIS
* 1999 -- FORD FOCUS
* 1998 -- ALFA ROMEO 156
* 1997 -- RENAULT MÉGANE SCENIC
* 1996 -- FIAT BRAVO / BRAVA
* 1995 -- FIAT PUNTO

[TW]Fox · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:03

If the Golf wins it it will be a travesty. It's barely a 'new' car.

Firestar_3x · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:05

Bah, isn't this actually car of the year for less than 20k, i can think of 100's of better cars than all of the above.

SpeedFreak · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:06

I saw an Alpha Mito in Milan last week and I have to say it looked great for a hatchback. As Fox has said, the Golf is barely a new car. I would say the new fiesta is a likely winner.

MarkDavis · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:39

The Mito is utter gash. The headlamps look gogle eyed, the car is is basically a reskinned Punto, the interior is pure Punto but with better quality plastics, the interior even has that damp musty smell you get from a Punto and you can't even see the see the front corners of the car from the driver's seat because the bonnet is so short and steeply raked. The rear roofline is so low that anyone 6ft tall has to crick their neck, and anyone 5'10 or more sitting is then back has to splay their legs so much that it looks like they're about to give birth.

Style and design at the expense of any substance.

Alfa Romeo are in dreamland if they think this car can compete with the mini.

JRS · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:43

MarkDavis said:
given some of the dubious cars that have won it previously *cough* Fiat

Yeah, 'cause the 500 and Panda sure didn't deserve to win awards what with being so rubbish and all. The Peugeot 307 was much more deserving when it won, despite being an unreliable, overweight, unnecessarily cramped and butt ugly heap of French toss....

[TW]Fox · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:45

1996 -- FIAT BRAVO / BRAVA

What was going on there?!

That was the year the worlds greatest car came out as well

Gaygle · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:48

I think it'll be between the Insignia or Fiesta

Muffin` · 10 Nov 2008 at 14:52

2002 -- PEUGEOT 307

ahahahaha!

Morba · 10 Nov 2008 at 15:04

I like the mito :]

OpenToSuggestions · 10 Nov 2008 at 15:12

MarkDavis said:
* 2002 -- PEUGEOT 307

I thought it was common knowledge that the 307 is/was crap :confused:

iirc when it was released the clocks did miles overnight on your driveway, and the turbos on diesels didn't last long

I wouldn't be suprised if the new fiesta won it.

kaiowas · 10 Nov 2008 at 15:23

[TW]Fox;12869274 said:
What was going on there?!

That was the year the worlds greatest car came out as well

Something to do with the way the voting works I seem to recall hearing somwewhere which gives the Italians a fair bit of influence on the outcome. Essentially if FIAT release a new small car in any given year which is good enough to get most of the Italian vote (hardly difficult) it's almost certain to win.

MarkDavis · 10 Nov 2008 at 16:40

JRS said:
Yeah, 'cause the 500 and Panda sure didn't deserve to win awards what with being so rubbish and all. The Peugeot 307 was much more deserving when it won, despite being an unreliable, overweight, unnecessarily cramped and butt ugly heap of French toss....

Forgot about the 307 - that was utter gash too

The 500 is supposedly a poor car to drive with particularly poor ride/handling. Take the Ford Ka for example - based on the 500 - but it gets great reviews and reviewers comment on its excellent ride/handling and how completely different in feels to drive compared to the 500. Just goes to show that Ford know how to tune suspension and Fiat don't ie Ford Focus, New Fiesta, New Ka v Fiat Stilo, Brava, Panda, 500 etc. Grande Punto is alright though.

Everyone knows eCOTY is biased towards European manufacturers, and politically motivated.

Killa_ken · 10 Nov 2008 at 16:43

BMW 335d

JRS · 10 Nov 2008 at 17:02

MarkDavis said:
The 500 is supposedly a poor car to drive with particularly poor ride/handling.

There's a 1.2 500 Pop sat on the driveway outside this house. It's a great little car to drive - ride is perfectly good as small cars go (it's never going to be a bloody Rolls-Royce), handling and grip are both very good. Have you driven one?

MarkDavis said:
Take the Ford Ka for example - based on the 500 - but it gets great reviews and reviewers comment on its excellent ride/handling and how completely different in feels to drive compared to the 500. Just goes to show that Ford know how to tune suspension and Fiat don't ie Ford Focus, New Fiesta, New Ka etc

I want it to be known that I ******* called this. I just knew that when Ford announced the Ka would be based on the 500 that the motoring journalism world would end up praising it to the hills and knocking the 500 down. Clarkson hasn't yet, but he's pretty much the only one.

The Ka is good to drive. It has to be - it's not that different to the 500/Panda underneath. Which is what makes it all the more amusing when no-account hacks (Andrew Frankel of The Times, I'm looking at you) say that the Ka is lightyears ahead of the 500....it just isn't. It's practically the same car.

MarkDavis · 10 Nov 2008 at 17:11

Lol. I haven't driven the 500 but would love to take one on a holiday and give it a proper run out over 1000 miles or so to see what the fuss is all about.

Obviously, I'm only going by the reviews of the 500/Ka so I admit that I don't have a personal or definitive opinion, but I am suprised that the general consensus seems to be that the 500 rides badly whereas the Ka is significantly better in terms of ride and handling. Maybe the reviewers have a Ford bias, who knows? But the 500 is based on the Panda, and that's always been a bouncy riding car.

It reminds me of the situation when people slate the Saab 9-3 when it doesn't drive anything like a Vectra.

mjt · 10 Nov 2008 at 17:53

[TW]Fox;12869274 said:
What was going on there?!

That was the year the worlds greatest car came out as well

i remember renting a brava when we were in portugal the summer it came out. I remember thinking the rear lights were really futuristic as they werent all in one cluster. but other than that, it was ****

K.C. Leblanc · 10 Nov 2008 at 18:25

[TW]Fox;12869274 said:
What was going on there?!

That was the year the worlds greatest car came out as well

Yeah but Fox, the Chrysler Neon isn't European.

Since there's a new smallish Fiat/Alfa it'll probably win. Even the Fiat Teapot was car of the year.

JRS · 10 Nov 2008 at 19:15

MarkDavis said:
But the 500 is based on the Panda, and that's always been a bouncy riding car.

Really? 'cause there's one of those outside on the drive an' all. And that isn't bouncy in the slightest. Not even on the run from Burton-on-Trent, England down to Villelongue de la Salanque, France. And you can't get much further down France before hitting Spain....

Maybe the diesel Pandas do ride a lot better than the petrol ones. I know the head honcho at the Tamworth Fiat dealership thinks so. I never thought the difference was that huge (until you get to the 100HP, which is a bit on the rough side for the roads around here), but that could just be me.

MarkDavis said:
It reminds me of the situation when people slate the Saab 9-3 when it doesn't drive anything like a Vectra.

To be fair, though, the Saab 9-3 is a lot better than the Vectra because.....um.....er.....the ignition barrel is on the console rather than the steering column! Yeah, that'll do.

Minxy · 10 Nov 2008 at 20:46

I reckon the Insignia might just do it. Everyone seems to be raving about what a great car it is. (Unusual for Vxl!)