[motorsportnerd]

However, the main Australian Car of the Year Award is the Wheels Magazine award.
To be eligible for Wheels Car of the Year, a car must meet certain criteria. These are listed on this page: Wheels - COTY opts for ESP.
The reason that there are no supercars in the Wheels award is due to the sales criteria. Hence no Audi R8 or Porsche 911 GT3. However, they are eligible for Motor Performance Car of the Year Award (Motor is Wheel's sister magazine).

Wheels has narrowed down its list of candidates for this year's award, with some rather surprising rejects.


And rejected were (see: Wheels - COTY 2007 - NOT NOMINATED for full details)
BMW 3-series CC
Chrysler Sebring
Citroen C4 Picasso
Dodge Avenger
Dodge Nitro
Ford Focus CC
Holden Epica
Hummer H3
Jeep Compass
Jeep Patriot
Mini Cooper
Peugeot 207
Peugeot 207CC
Proton Satria
Skoda Octavia
Ssangyong Actyon
Suzuki SX4
Volvo C30.

Some surprising omissions there. The Skoda Octavia in particular should be in the main COTY testing. Also surprising that the Peugeot 207, Holden Epica and Volvo C30 missed out. The failure of the Epica to make it to the final round means there are no Holdens in this years Wheels COTY (note: utes are not eligible for the Wheels COTY since they are commercial vehicles, hence no VE ute).

The full list of cars to reach the final nomination stage are (see Wheels - COTY 2007 - NOMINATED for full details):
Audi A5/S5
BMW M3
BMW X5
Ford Mondeo
Honda Civic Type R
Honda CRV
Hyundai i30
Land Rover Freelander 2
Lexus LS
Mazda2
Mercedes Benz C-Class
Mitsubishi Lancer
Nissan X-Trail
Nissan Dualis
Skoda Roomster
Subaru Impreza
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Kluger
Toyoa Landcruiser 200 Series
Volkswagen Eos.

The field isn't as high quality as previous years. Its hard to nominate a winner from that lot.
Mazda2 seems most likely. Other strong contenders seem to be the Mercedes C-Class, Mitsubishi Lancer, Lexus LS, BMW M3, Ford Mondeo and Subaru Impreza. Though the Land Rover Freelander and VW Eos may just surprise.
Wheels does place a premium on dynamics and safety, with value for money also important. That would suggest that the Mazda2, Mondeo and Impreza will fight it out as all three score well on the dynamics/safety/value for money fronts. However, the Mondeo suffers problems with having too much weight for the engine. Its fine with the turbo-diesel, but is by all accounts less impressive with 2.3 litre engine. The Mazda2 may struggle slightly on refinement. The Impreza seems to be more mature than the previous model and by all accounts the whole range drive well - not just the WRX. On the downside, it is certainly more polarizing in its looks and some reports suggest that the RS model is not necessarily better than the Mazda3 in the compact class.
Also, I won't be at all surprised to see the Lexus LS, BMW M3 or Mercedes C-Class take the award - provided they are viewed as value for money and in the case of the M3 not too narrowly focussed.

For me though, logic suggests that the Mazda2 will win, with the Mondeo keeping it honest depending on how detrimental the judges determine its relative lack of performance to be. The Subaru Impreza will keep these two honest. I think that the others to make the final ten will be the Lexus LS, BMW M3, Mercedes C-Class, Mitsbuishi Lancer, Toyota Kluger, VW Eos and Land Rover Freelander.