Just as they do each year, seven European car publications jointly organized the Car of the Year 2013 competition to find the best vehicle in the world. The 2013 competition resulted in seven nominees and one winner who received the award for "Car of the Year 2013". So, if you're wondering which car should be your next, maybe one of these 8 finalists would interest you:
1) Ford B-Max
2) Hyundai i30
3) Mercedes A-Class
4) Peugeot 208
5) Renault Clio
6) Subaru BRZ/Toyota GT86
7) Volkswagen Golf
8) Volvo V40
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After tallying up the votes, the seventh generation Volkswagen Golf was crowned Car of the Year 2013. The Golf received 414 points, dominating the 202 points that the runner up, Toyota GT86 and Subaru BR-Z received and racing far ahead of the 189 points that the Volvo V40 received.
The VW Golf is no stranger to the winner’s circle, but it’s been a long time since its last win in 1992, just over 20 years ago. It’s not that the Volkswagen engineers have finally done their jobs and produced a super car. The VW Golf has been considered a top car for decades. In fact, it’s finished as one of the top 3 cars in the Car of the Year competition every single year for the past 38 years. An enviable record!
The 2013 Volkswagen Golf is an impressive achievement in style and engineering. The European Car of the Year committee praised the Golf’s fuel efficiency (5 liters per every 100 km for the petrol powered version, and 4 liters per 100 km for the diesel version), passenger comfort, and safety features as the Golf scored a maximum 5 stars in the most recent Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) tests. They also noted the cabin’s classic appearance and style, use of non-digital instrumentation, roominess and quality construction. Simply put, the VW Golf is a great car.
Best cars are safe cars
Speaking of safety features, you’d be right in expecting the Car of Year 2013 to be state of art in this regard, too. Instead of just relying on passive safety techniques such as reinforced construction to withstand crashes, the VW Golf is designed to take an active role with cutting edge features like active braking, driver fatigue detection, and adaptive cruise control. The Golf also includes lane-keeping assistance which alerts tired drivers as they drift out of their lane preventing a potentially fatal collision. So safety wise, it definitely does seem that the Golf VW is the best car in the world.
Similar awards are presented every year by automobile groups and magazines from around the world. In fact, the VW Golf also picked up the 2013 "World Car of The Year" title. The World Car of The Year award is selected by international car journalists from around the globe. Cars must be distributed on a wide basis to be considered – at a minimum, sales must take place on at least 2 continents. Of course, South Africa is represented on the voting committee, in this case by Mike Fourie, Deputy Editor of CAR magazine
Car of the Year 2013 – Fraud and Scandal
What is interesting about the VW Golf is a scandal that took place with a competing award also given to the Golf. As mentioned, there are numerous "Car of the Year" awards around the globe, and one such award is given by the ADAC (the largest car club in Germany). The ADAC award is called the "Yellow Angel." This year, followers of this award were in for a surprise due to suspicions of fraudulent actions. The VW Golf also won this award (2013 was a good year for VW!) with what was thought to be a decisive vote of 34,299 by the participating German drivers (for those of you who are unaware, Golf vehicles are created by Volkswagen, which is a German car company). However, an independent audit by the international accounting firm Deloitte has now revealed that less than 10% of that figure, only 3,271 votes, were indeed cast for the German carmaker. Deloitte even claimed to have uncovered "willful manipulation" of the election procedure.
In response, Volkswagen vowed to return its 2013 award, while competitor Daimler went said that “Awards by the public are of great importance to Daimler, since these reflect the public's opinion. A prerequisite for this is that readership votes are conducted in a correct manner. This was not the case with the Yellow Angel.”
What's the bottom line?
Not all of us can afford buying the best car in the world, but it definitely can't hurt knowing which cars they are. So despite the recent ADAC rigging scandal, car awards are still a valuable source of information that you can use when buying your next car. 2013 clearly was the year of the Volkswagen Golf, certainly one of the best cars in the world. The question is, will it be crowned Car of The Year 2014?
Let us know which car you think is the best car for 2013 in the comments below.
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Main Subject: car of the year 2013
