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By EWAN
KENNEDY
7 December 2009
Given the tough times for car buyers, and sellers, created by the
global financial crisis over the last year, a lot of attention
will be paid to the Australia's Best Car Awards (ABC) for 2009.
The Australia's Best Cars awards tend to lean in the direction of
overall value for money. They are increasingly being regarded by
industry gurus and the buying public, as being the best in the
business by a large margin. The competing vehicles are tested by
experts from the state and territory motoring associations; that
is the AANT, NRMA, RAASA, RACQ, RACT, RACV and RACWA.
The ABC awards differ from others of their type in that any
vehicle currently on the new-car market is eligible, not just the
latest releases. This is a more sensible way of doing things as
buyers of new cars may not necessarily look only at recently
introduced models.
Though technically there is no such thing as an overall winner in
the ABC Awards, the Best Large Car section is often unofficially
given credence as being ‘The’ winner. That’s because Ford's
Falcon and Holden's Commodore compete in this section. Last year
the Falcon took out this award, but this time around the Toyota
Aurion ATX was voted number one in its class. The judges talked
about the Toyota, “... Aurion’s remarkable value for money.
Starting with a list price well below its major rivals and with
sound resale values, it beats all comers.” Aurion had been the
winner in 2006 and 2007 before being pipped by the Falcon in 2008.
Ford Australia may have been miffed at losing that Large Car
award, but its little Fiesta LX, was voted Best Small Car.
Interestingly, the judges said that while Fiesta's rivals, “...
are cheaper by between $1600 and $2650 in what is a
price-sensitive category. But dollars aren’t everything and, in
many other aspects, the challenger in the blue (oval) corner
equals or outpoints the best of its classy opposition to be a
worthy winner.”
In the Best Mid-size Car Under $30,000 category the
built-for-Europe Hyundai i30 CRDi with its economical turbo-diesel
engine was the winner again, following on from 2008. Showing the
importance of the awards to manufacturers, the ABC judges reported
that, “Through the advocacy of Australia’s Best Cars, this
year the base model SX has these additional airbags as standard,
moving the entire i30 range to a five-star ANCAP safety rating,
while remaining at the budget end of the category.”
In the Best Mid-size Car Over $30,000 category Volkswagen Golf 118
TSI Comfortline was the winner in a field that compromised no
fewer than 49 entrants. The ABC guys loved the driving pleasure
this big selling German car offered and saying, “...it's almost
as much fun to drive as its sporty GTI cousin.”
Subaru has long been a very popular marque with those who
appreciate commonsense practicality and in these tough times it's
no surprise the quirky Japanese maker was considered first choice
in two categories. The new Subaru Liberty 3.6R Premium won the
Best Prestige Car category and its close relation, the Subaru
Outback 2.5i took out the winning trophy for Best Recreational
Four Wheel Drive.
The Best Sports Car was considered to be the BMW 135i Sport coupe,
another return winner. We ourselves have praised the outstanding
value it provides and the judges at ABC agree, saying “The 135i
is a fantastic substitute for BMW’s terrific M3 ... but for less
than half the price.”
Audi was the biggest individual winner in 2009, taking out three
awards in a year when no one else managed more than two. The Audi
TT-S in four-cylinder quattro format was judged to be the Best
Luxury Sports car. Audi A6 TFSI quattro was considered to be the
Best Luxury Car. And the Audi Q5 came up trumps in its first year
on the Australian market, taking out the Best Luxury Four Wheel
Drive trophy. The strong showing of its automotive products
vindicates Audi's decision to spend huge amounts of money to
upgrade its facilities on Australia.
‘Proper’ 4WDs, those that are actually designed to be used in
off-road conditions are rare in these days of soft-roaders. The
British Land Rover is certainly serious about building the real
thing. So it came as no surprise that the Land Rover Discovery 4
TDV6 was given the ABC Best All-terrain 4WD award for 2009.The
Disco 4 is really a facelift of the Discovery 3 rather than an
all-new model. The Discovery 3 was the winner in 2008 so the ‘4
continues the tradition.
People movers make more sense than 4WDs, but lag a long way behind
in the image stakes as many consider them somewhat mundane. The
big Hyundai iMax diesel was voted Best People Mover, holding onto
its gong from 2008.
Full details of the Australia's Best Cars awards, including
information on the judging criteria, past winners and a host of
interesting facts and figures, can be found at www.australiasbestcars.com.au/.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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