13 Nov 06
Car of the Year lineup
Car of the Year. It's the longest-running car award of all, and also the most democratically debated. Every year an assemblage of jurors from all over Europe - currently 58 from 22 countries including Russia and Turkey - cast their votes first for a shortlist of cars and then for the final run-off.
I'm one of the six UK jurors - the number per country is based on annual new-car sales - so I've cast my final votes, the sums have been done and the Car of the Year for 2007 is... the Ford S-Max.
Are you pleased with that result, or disappointed? Personally I'm pleased, because it was the car that I put at the top of the pile after a day's intensive assessment on the roads around Silverstone, and briefly on the track, at the end of October.
In final overall ranking order, then, the S-Max beats the Vauxhall Corsa, the Citroen C4 Picasso, the Skoda Roomster, the Honda Civic, the Peugeot 207, the Volvo C30 and the Fiat Grande Punto. (The Punto, incidentally, just missed last year's contest by not being on sale in sufficient countries come judging time.)
