CarsGuide reveals Car of the Year
The prestigious Car of the Year title goes to the Kia Rio Si Hatch, with the Volvo S60 T4 and Ford Focus 2.0 Trend Hatch receiving finalist awards.
Carsguide managing editor Ged Bulmer said: “At Carsguide we pride ourselves on the best motoring journalists providing the most comprehensive overview of the Australian car market, 52 weeks a year.
“Car of the Year is a natural extension of our efforts to educate, inform and entertain our readers.
“After a rigorous selection, testing and deliberation process, I’m pleased to announce Kia Rio Si Hatch a worthy winner.
“As Australia’slargest automotive brand by revenue, we are the natural choice for buyers, sellers and motoring enthusiasts, with a presence in 128 News Limited metropolitan, suburban and regional newspapers as well as online at www.carsguide.com.au.”
“Delivering an impressive blend of performance, safety and technology at a fair price we are certain it won’t be the last.”
The judges for the Car of the Year awards are motoring editors and senior writers drawn from Sydney's The Daily Telegraph, Melbourne's Herald Sun, Brisbane's Courier-Mail, Adelaide's TheAdvertiser, Perth's Sunday Times and Carsguide.com.au.
Throughout the year, an exhaustive search and culling process of every car launched in Australia is conducted to determine the 10 Car of the Year contenders.
The cars are tested in a variety of conditions including two days of road driving and a full day's examination over proving ground test roads in Victoria.
The final five models remaining after these road tests are deliberated upon by the judging panel to produce the top three Australian cars of the year.
The Carsguide Car of the Year Award follows the announcement of the reader-voted Carsguide People’s Choice earlier in December with categories including best family car, best first car, best prestige car, best SUV, best sporty car and best commercial car.