The
Vauxhall Insignia is the current European Car of the Year, winning after beating the second placed
Ford Fiesta by just one point. We felt the runner-up should have taken the prize, but no matter, for it's about to be usurped by one of these young upstarts anyway:
Citroen C3 Picasso
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Vauxhall Astra
Peugeot 3008
Skoda Yeti
Toyota iQ
Volkswagen Polo
So, vying for the title we have a French box, a cock-eyed executive saloon, a yet-to-be-released middle rung hatchback, an aesthetically challenging French crossover, an aesthetically challenging Czech crossover, a Japanese supermini rescued from a car crusher mid-cycle and a Volkswagen supermini designed using a picture of a Golf and a photocopier.
We're kidding, of course - these are some highly decent cars. Each will be scrutinised using the same formula as last year, which means the 59 judges spanning 23 countries will each allocate 25 points across five cars with a maximum of ten per car. The scores will be totalled to get the winner; it's a formula that saw the Insignia get 321 points last year and the Fiesta 320 in a result as close as it's possible to have (obviously). There's no telling what will happen this year, but our money's on the E-Class.
Mark Nichol - 2 Nov 2009