In this regular column, CarGurus’ motoring expert and Car of the Year Juror, Vicky Parrott, has her say on the burning issues in the automotive world. This week, it's Car of the Year...
Here’s a question, then: what should be the Car of the Year? Well, just days ago, perhaps the most influential new car awards of all – European Car of the Year – announced that the Renault 5 had scooped the title.
The award works by taking votes from 60 jurors from every European country, all of whom are experienced journalists that drive the vast majority of new cars in their everyday job. As a member of the European Car of the Year jury myself, I can reveal the inner workings of this event, which is not much more complicated than this: we all get together in the autumn, drive some cars, have a polite but heated argument, and come up with a shortlist of seven models that we can then vote on for the overall award. It’s great fun.
Now, I don't so much want to dwell on Renault's (well deserved) victory here, but instead highlight why I believe this was a vintage awards in terms of the seven models that rose to the shortlist. These were the Alfa Romeo Junior, Citroen C3/e-C3, Cupra Terramar, Dacia Duster, Hyundai Inster, Kia EV3 and Renault 5/Alpine A290 (the Alpine being the hot hatch version of the Renault).
Looking at that list, the real joy for me is that there are so many great value cars. The fully electric Citroen, Renault and Hyundai all offer 200 miles of range or more, in a properly brilliant small-but-useful package, for under £25,000. The Kia EV3 is also fantastic value, offering a WLTP range of 372 miles from under £36,000.
Away from the EV side of things, both the Duster and petrol Citroen C3 are cool-looking, spacious, cushy delights from under £18,000.
The Alfa and the Cupra are the outliers - for me, at least. They’re great, but they don’t feel like game-changers and I always hope to give the overall Car of the Year award to something that really moves things on for the consumer, whether that’s in terms of value, tech, comfort, performance, efficiency or otherwise.
