Wheels24's Readers’ Coty 2012
2012-03-14 08:31
AND THE WINNER IS... After a near six-month battle, Hyundai's sexy Elantra has been crowned our 2012 Readers' Choice car.
The "official" South African Car of the Year will be announced tonight (March 14) but nearly six months ago already Wheels24 asked you, the readers, to vote for your winner from the 10 finalists.
We'll find out this evening if the motoring journalists who, mostly, drove each finalist during 2011 on either a launch or a road test, then spent a whole seven hours or so of one day revisiting the 10 cars - an average of about 40 minutes each - agree with your choices in the Wheels24 Readers' Choice poll which were:
1 Hyundai Elantra
2 Ford Focus
3 Alfa Romeo Giulietta
The SA Guild of Motoring Journalists' Coty will be named on Wheels24 either tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Wheels24's poll attracted more than 26 000 votes and the Focus and Elantra battled it out for votes throughout our poll but the Elantra managed to hold off all others (except for the Ford) by a seriously substantial number. Eventually the Elantra ( 7474 votes) beat the Focus (6522) by a hefty 952 votes.
The Giulietta (3006 votes) trumped VW’s Jetta (2874), which was quite an achievement for the hot hatch as the Jetta has been in third place for months - seems the Alfisti came to the party only late on...
The Audi A6 (1891 votes) and Mercedes-Benz SLK (1365 votes) came in fourth and fifth place respectively with Kia’s little Picanto earning seventh with 1123 votes.
The tail-enders were Suzuki’s Kizashi sedan (pity, we thought it a smart addition to the family-car world) coming in eighth with 1104 votes, Citroen’s DS4 (803 ) and Peugeot’s 5008 (239) ninth and 10th respectively.
Wheels24 thanks all those readers who participated (along with any automotive PR staff who may have tried to tip the scales).
FULL VOTING RESULTS
1 Hyundai Elantra 28% 7474
2 Ford Focus 25% 6522
3 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 11% 3006
4 Volkswagen Jetta 11% 2874
5 Audi A6 7% 1891
6 Mercedes-Benz SLK 5% 1365
7 Kia Picanto 4% 1123
8 Suzuki Kizashi 4% 1104
9 Citroen DS4 3% 803
10 Peugeot 5008 1% 239
PLEASE NOTE: Our tongue-in-cheek Wheels24 Alternative Car of the Year awards have also been announced. Find out which models came out tops in our Jock, Chop and Frock categories! And who won the Jacques Lemans watch prize.
