Australia's Best Cars Awards! Is there any damn point?

[Luciferous]

I laughed my ass off when I saw the Mitsubishi 380 won the oh-so-prestigious "Best Large Sedan" award in the ABC awards this year.

The judging process: "Hmmm, gee this Sonata is pretty good, but on the other hand.... Mitsubishi is almost bankrupt... WE HAVE A WINNER!!!"

Basing awards on buyer ignorance is getting damn tiring. The fact that the Commodore even ranked in the awards is proof enough of its pointlessness. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Holden man through and through (even though I"m now the proud owner of a Valiant), but even Holden knows the Commodore's starting to stretch its friendship with the Australian buyers.

Hell, Wheels may still be biased but for the ABC awards to even be named in the same breath as the COY awards is a crock of shit. Its just a pity that the average car buyer (or even Ford it seems) doesn't know the difference.

Every new car should be competitive and I have no doubt the 380 is. But because the company will go under if it fails shouldn't affect peoples perceptions of how good it really is. Hell, the Australian car industry was given a free ride for 30 years before the import taxes were lowered, why should we bring back those days?

[SlickHolden]

Commodore is still number 1 selling car

But the 380 award is a joke, I havent seen one on the road or even a show room atleast let it get on the roads first. And if it's on the road allready there not being sold lol j/k's

[Luciferous]

I've seen a grand total of 1 on the roads so far...


Nice knowing you Mitsubishi, thanks for the Scorpion....

[SlickHolden]

1 You are so lucky i herd there is only 2 on the roads j/k's

[Luciferous]

Haha, hey apparently there's only 6 BMW 650CI's in Australia and yet I see an average of 4 of them in every issue of Unique Cars every month...

[syko]

What was really stupid was that they compared the ba markII against the 380 not the bf, which makes no sense.

[Vindesh17]

I wish they would sell holdens here.

[Spastik_Roach]

I've seen about 10 380's or so. More popular in NZ than Aussie? Or perhaps just not as widely strechted over all dealerships...

[SlickHolden]

I wish they would sell holdens here.

I think there might be 50% your way includes the U.S that would like a Commodore. But when they get there (Monaro-GTO) It's rejected for being to soft and not aggressive enough, But that is how it was made to look beautiful good looking smooth, Not ugly but ugly to be different.
You could slam on GM's door and demand a commodore
You might get a chance soon i hear a VE Commodore will make it's way into Buick's lineup in 07-08.

I've seen about 10 380's or so. More popular in NZ than Aussie? Or perhaps just not as widely strechted over all dealerships...

No that just means you don't give a toss what car you drive

[motorsportnerd]

Question: what is it that everyone here has against the 380? Has anyone actually driven one yet?

[nota]

.. Hell, the Australian car industry was given a free ride for 30 years before the import taxes were lowered, why should we bring back those days?

Those days under tariffs were good days, as I remember them

Good for local industry. Good for employment. Good for investment, and good for our Balance of Payment

Since the reduction of tariffs, what are we being left with? A big reduction of manufacturers, in market share, to industry employment, and retained-wealth. Those previous warnings from local industry & observers are becoming reality, with worse yet to come

Our top-selling car (Corolla) is now completely foreign built - even the air in its tyres is fully imported - and our best selling local effort (Holden) contains a pitiful 55% local content. There are now only two locally produced vehicles left which have their engine blocks cast in this country

Contrast this with 'those days' of the approx 98% local content that Valiant once delivered

[nota]

Question: what is it that everyone here has against the 380? Has anyone actually driven one yet?

To be anti-380 is a faith-based prejustice so why risk bringing reality into this?

[motorsportnerd]

Now, I'm surprised that people here have been critical of the 380's win in the class it competes in in the Best Car Awards. That win was no surprise, and the 380 remains a leading contender for the Wheels Car of the Year as well.
More interesting was the Sonata's second place in the large car section. Really? Its a great car in terms of value for money, refinement and quality, but let down against the four Aussie made sedans when it comes to dynamics. Also, Hyundai's depreciation tends to be worse than Mitsubishis. As pointed out above, the fact that the judges didn't have a BF available to test may have resulted in the Sonata finishing second.
Now, the result in the family car class wasn't a surprise. More interesting is the results in the best small car class. Hyundai Getz? What have the judges been smoking? Every other small car class comparo I've seen recently places the surprisingly good Suzuki Swift at the top with the Ford Fiesta and Honda Jazz also highly rated. Personally I wouldn't buy a Hyundai Getz over the better cars in the small car catagory.
Also, while the Focus is a worthy winner in the sub $28,000 mid size car catagory, how come the Sonata finishes only fifth in this catagory whereas it finishes second in the large car catagory? Surely the four clyinder Sonata's competition is the Mazda6, Honda Accord, etc, not the smaller Focus, Mazda3. Lead's me to question why they think the V6 version of the Sonata should be in the large car class, rather than the over $28,000 mid size class.
Classes based on price don't work as well as classes using criteria based on vehicle and engine size. After all, I see the VW Golf as a more expensive rival to the Focus, rather than as a rival to the Honda Accord Euro, yet the Best Car Awards put the Golf in the over $28,000 mid-size catagory.
Now there was one other result that may be controversial in some quarters. The VW Golf GTi was awarded the Best Sports Car under $57,000. Beating Subaru Impreza WRX, Mits Evo 9, Mada MX5 and Citroen C4 (huh? how is this a sports car?). And no mention of the Falcon or Holden sporty variants, or the Mazda RX8. While the Golf is an excellent car, and certainly the best HOT HATCH available, its not in any way a legitimate rival to the Evo 9, WRX or the Mazda MX5. MX5 buyers in particular wouldn't consider a Golf.
Perhaps there shouldn't be a general under $57,000 sports car catagory - since the cars in it aren't really rivals.
Anyway, the rest of the catagories don't throw up any particularly controversial or surprising winners. Full details can be found here: http://www.mynrma.com.au/aust_best_cars.asp

[motorsportnerd]

To be anti-380 is a faith-based prejustice so why risk bringing reality into this?

True. Sometimes we should look beyound our faith though. There is more to the automotive world then Ford or Holden (or BMW, WRX, Evo, GTR, Porsche, etc for other faith based worshipers). I'm a Ford person myself, but I guess my faith isn't super strong since I believe that an open mind should be kept regarding non-Ford vehicles. And the bad Fords should be eqully slammed.
The 380, to me, is a car offering high quality and refinement, with decent dynamics and performance wrapped up in a boring sedan body and likely to suffer high depreciation. But the base 380 seems to be roughly the equal of the BF XT and well ahead of the other class contenders, and the 380 VRX seems to be just slightly behind the BF XR6 but well ahead of the other class contenders. The main problem for me is that the 380 isn't the revolution that it needed to be for it to sell well. It needed to be a couple of generations ahead of the BF in all areas, not merely matching the BF, especially with the new VE Commodore just around the corner.
However, all said and done, I'm keen to drive a 380 as soon as I can (next time I'm looking for rental car hopefully one will be available) and if given the keys to one as a company car I'd be happy to drive it and it wouldn't bother me which badge was on the grille.

[clutch-monkey]

i've actually seen at least 6 380's on the road. suprisingly, i've seen the same amount of new wrx sti's.... go figure