Wheels 2005 Car of the Year Nominees - what will be Australia's Car of the Year?

[Blitz_]

Well the yaris, it's over-hyped and doesn't live up to the hype and all of the advertising. The swift looks far better, more modern and i'd actually own one if i had the money. Even in small reviews, it has superior handling, refinemnent and build quality. So stick that where the sun dont shine

[henk4]

Does Australia get the C4 with the 2 litre 138 BHP FAP-diesel engine?

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Nope, Just the Petrol ones.

And the C4, although a design classic, was slated by Wheels for being ill-suited to the rougher conditions of Australian Roads.

Strange, considering 30 years ago many French cars were vehicles of choice for those wanting a good ride........

I'm also VERY surprised that the Boxster managed to scrape through the Newness criteria, and it certainly won't win because of the Value question mark, especially when compared to the MX-5, where the thrill of driving comes at almost $60,000 cheaper.

[motorsportnerd]

Doubt that the Boxster will win due to its rather narrow role in the marketplace. More a contender for performance car of the year.
MX5 is a possibility - though again a sports car has to be pretty impressive to take the award (MX5 did in 1990 and NSX in 1991 though).
As to the IS250 - a dark horse. The January issue of Wheels only really criticises the very poor rear seat space - which could cost it against the intended function criteria.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

I don't think the intended function part will affect the IS - the BMW 3 has pretty terrible rear space as well, but serves it's purpose as a compact exec; there meant to be occasional seats

And i've heard nothing bad about the MX-5 so far; the main criticisms seem to be ironed out the longer the Tester has spent with the car, really; which bodes well for owners.

It's going to be a tight race.

[jimeegee]

Yay Mx5 Wins!

Oh yeah and Blitz, I would stick a Swift where the sun don't shine...in a garage locked away forever where no one can touch it. Looks are an opinion...while the Yaris is not my cup of tea nor is a Swift. Get some taste and buy a nice second hand car instead.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

MX-5 is Car Of The Year
2 hours ago


And the winner is ... Mazda's dynamic MX-5. Yes, the third generation of the world's favourite sports car has swept Australia's longest-running and most prestigious motoring award.


Australia’s most prestigious motoring award – Wheels’ 2005 Car Of The Year – has been won to Mazda’s dynamic MX-5.

It is the second time Mazda’s giant-killing sports car has won the coveted award – the first MX-5 was crowned COTY in 1989. Yet the 10-strong Wheels judging team proclaimed the third-generation MX-5 a worthy repeat winner.

In doing so, the judges described the MX-5 as a demonstrably better car than both its illustrious predecessor and the 21 other models assembled for this year’s intensive, week-long judging process.

In Wheels’ February Car Of The Year issue – on sale tomorrow – deputy editor John Carey says: “The MX-5 is so perfectly balanced, so intuitively agile, so thoroughly thrilling, that it cannot fail to make the spirit soar.” Carey also describes the MX-5’s value for money equation as “unrivalled”.

Similarly, the MX-5 stacked up best of all against the other criteria in the world’s longest continuously-run award of its type (Wheels’ Car Of The Year was established in 1964). Judges included Wheels staffers, contributors and invited experts.

Describing its performance against one of the other criteria for the award, John Carey said: “Perfect fulfilment of intended function”.

The MX-5 claimed the prestigious Wheels Car Of The Year 2005 trophy after an extensive elimination process which involved the use of Ford’s You Yangs proving ground, near Geelong, Victoria, together with three days of exhaustive testing on public roads.

Woot. Excellent Choice.

[motorsportnerd]

Not a surprise.
The top four (in no particular order) were Mazda MX5, Ford Focus, Mercedes ML and Lexus IS250.
Apparence of the ML in the top four did surprise me. Also, I note that neither the Swift or Yaris made the top four. If they're not in the top ten I would be very surprised and disappointed. Wheels shouldn't acknowledge just the enthusiast cars, it should acknowledge any car, of any price, that is a very good car - which Swift and Yaris assuredly are.
Also, worth noting that this is the fourth year in a row that a car from a company owned or partly owned by the Ford Motor Company has won:
2002 Ford Falcon (Mazda6 was second), 2003 Mazda RX8, 2004 Ford Territory, 2005 Mazda MX5 (Ford Focus in top four). Something of a trend there.
Now is there any Mazda, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Range Rover, Jaguar or Volvo due to be released in 2005 which can make it five in a row? I can only think of the Jaguar XK8 at this stage.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Mazda has always been a favourite manufacturer of Wheels, partially because of the slightly enthusiast way in which they go about things. That and Bob Hall, a previous contributor, had a hand in the creation of the original MX-5.

The Volvo C70 is due for launch in Aus this coming year, and maybe the Mazda CX-7, This is a question i'm going to have to look into.

[motorsportnerd]

The current favourite all round cars of the Wheels staff appear to be Mazda6 (won a dynamics test last year), Ford Falcon, Ford Territory, Mazda RX8 and Mazda MX5. The only other (sub 100K) non Ford/Mazda products they have really raved about in recent years have been the Golf Mk5 and the Liberty 3.0R.

[fpv_gtho]

Worthy win IMO and only hightens the appeal around the new MX-5.

Well if the EVO9 got in this year, the XR5 Focus and 6 MPS should be eligible next year so thats an outside chance, but i dont know how many times they'll go around the rule where they award a WHOLE model range.

[motorsportnerd]

The 6MPS would've been in this year if it was eligible - it wasn't.
The XR5 Focus isn't any different to the Focus range than the VW Golf GTi is to the Golf range, so unless Wheels changes its criteria it won't be in.
Perhaps if the XR5 Focus had been available this year it might have helped the Focus win. Just as if the Golf GTi was available last year, it probably would've given the Golf a much better chance against the Territory.
2006 is shaping up to be a great year for new car releases - and the VE Commodore will, even now months from release, be the sentimental favourite.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

almost every new Commodore has won CoTY on it's year of release.

It's a tough precident to stand up against. especially if they only make it better than the BF.....

[motorsportnerd]

Every new generation Commodore (VB, VN and VT) has won along with one of the major upgrades (VR). I'd be surprised if VE isn't already short priced favourite.

[fpv_gtho]

I think it could get let down technolgy wise. Theres not much it can really have that isnt affordably already on the market. Maybe DoD on the V8's will be enough, although the 300C has its MDS i think it is