Cars Motoring news
26 selected members of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) chose ten finalists to partake in the 2011 WesBank/ SAGMJ Car of the Year competition.
The following cars made the cut:
• BMW 5 Series 530d
• Citroen DS3 1.6 THP Sport
• Ford Figo 1.4 Ambiente
• Honda CR-Z 1.5 i-VTEC Hybrid
• Hyundai iX35 2.0 CRDi GLS Automatic AWD
• Hyundai Sonata 2.4 GLS Automatic Exec
• Kia Sportage 2.0 VGT Diesel AWD Auto
• Opel Astra 1.4T Enjoy Plus
• Volkswagen Amarok 2.0 BiTDI 4x2 Double Cab
• Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Comfortline TDI 77kW
The next step in the process is to determine the winner from a two-day test session to be held in February 2011 at the Gerotek test facility near Pretoria, where the cars will be assessed independently by the Jury members.
In keeping with the broadened competition the testing at Gerotek will allow the vehicles to be evaluated under the conditions individual vehicles would be expected to perform under.
Routes are designed to evaluate 4x4s or sports cars as the average consumer would use them.
South Africa's Car of the Year competition - sponsored for the past 26 years by WesBank, with additional support from Total and Hollard Insurance - is unique in the world in that the victor is determined not by popular vote as in most countries, but by actual testing of the finalists to determine by what margins they meet criteria for COTY honours.
The winner of the 2011 WesBank/ SAGMJ Car the Year will be revealed in March 2011.
More at Ananzi Motoring
