Wheels, one of Australia's premier motoring journals has just announced it's 2016 Car of the Year Award.
The top 10 finalists look like the guest list from "Boring town", where there were 4, count them 4, SUV/crossover vehicles that made the grade. Oh woe is the stagnation of the Australian car industry. I know I'm going to cop some stick over this; but when did exciting, desirable or Car of the Year contenders become 4 wheel white goods?
In all fairness to the Wheels journalists, they have to cover the entire Australian car industry. They also have to represent the Australian consumer. Car sales in Australia tell us that SUV's and Crossovers are our biggest movers and we need to know if they're any good.
In my perfect car world, I'd like to see all cars behave like Ferraris, but clearly that's an unrealistic view.
That being said, we should all thank Wheels for an entertaining read.
With local manufacturing in Australia ceasing in 2017, the writing is on the wall whereby no Australian entrants made the list. And that sucks.
I raised my eyebrows when I finally got to the winner. I can't understand how it was deemed the best.
No doubt it's a fine car, but I would have thought one of the criteria would be 'all round useability', and I can't see it scoring high on that front compared to the rest of the contendors. I can't wait see how I am so wrong, but personally I would have been happier to see the runner up take the award. The Jaguar XE is all class. I hope it goes toe to toe with the 3 series BMW.
Here's the top ten.
10. Suzuki Celerio
09. Suzuki Vitara
08. BMW i8
07. Mazda CX3
06. Mercedes AMG GT S
05. Volkswagen Passat
04. Volvo XC90
03. Audi Q7
02. Jaguar XE
01. Mazda MX-5
Again, thanks to Wheels for keeping Australians in the know. They've been handing out COTY awards since 1963.
