The motoring industry boom
continues! With so many new models to choose from, picking the
right vehicle has become increasingly difficult. With this in
mind, Car's highly experienced editorial team chose what they
consider to be the Best Buys for 2006.
Nine people comprised the Car Top 12 team, and early on it was
decided that the categories would be limited to 12. These were
separated using various buying criteria, such as price,
practicality, image, performance and so on.
With the team having one thousand, one hundred and sixty
vehicles to consider, the selection process was a long and
windy road, so to speak.
The beauty of the top 12 concept is that it compares apples
with apples. For instance, in the Best Executive Saloon
category the BMW 5-Series had to see off the likes of the Audi
A6 and the Mercedes-Benz E Class.
Moving up a notch, Car defined a grand saloon category to
cater for the top sedans in the world, with distinct
categories for MPVs, SUVs, semi-commercial passenger SUVs and
compact SUVs.
In the pick-up category, the choice was limited to double
cabs, as this remained a passenger car competition in essence.
Honda’s new FR-V took the best compact MPV class, Car citing
innovation as the reason. In fact Honda took the Best Light
Car category as well, with the Jazz, a car that performed
admirably in the recent JD Power quality survey.
In the all-important Best Budget Car category, Kia’s Picanto
took the honours. So with the Kia Rio shaping well in the Car
of the Year competition, it was a great week for the Koreans.
GTi fans will be pleased to know that their favourite had a
presence in the Top 12. However, the Golf range as a whole was
chosen as the best sub-compact car, and not the Gti
specifically.
That other performance icon, Subaru, also had a look in, but
once again not with the Impreza performance car. The Subaru
Forrester claimed the Compact SUV category.
We would go along with Car’s choice here. If money is no
object, there is simply no more useable supercar than a
Porsche 911. Although our resident Ferrari freak may not
agree.
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