Cape Town - The 2017 South African Car of the Year (COTY) has been announced and the Opel Astra came out tops.
The Astra has trounced the nine other finalists in this year's competition and solidified itself as the #1 car as voted by the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists.
The announcement was made at a gala event on March 15 in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
Readers' choice
Wheels24 asked readers to vote for the vehicle they believe deserve the 2017 SA title. The results are in...
The Volkswagen Tiguan received the vast majority of the votes to claim the 2017 Readers choice (22%, 1957 votes). The Opel Astra (16%, 1436) and the Toyota Fortuner (13%, 1110) finished in second and third place.
Hyundai's Tucson (875 votes) and Audi's A4 (857 votes) both received 10% of the votes, followed by the Jaguar F-Pace (8%, 697 votes).
The Honda Civic received 6% (528 votes) of the votes, followed by the VW Passat (4%, 338) and Renault Kadjar (3%, 247).
Mazda South Africa withdrew its CX-3 from the competition earlier this year.
READ: Opel Astra wins the 2017 SA Car of the Year
What do you think of the official 2017 SA Car of the Year winner? Tell us via email, Facebook and Twitter.
Here are the 2017 COTY finalists:
COTY judging explained:
On social media
Readers shared their opinions on social media: