Astra named car of the year in Europe

Opel's Astra is the Car of the Year in Europe for 2016. Announced at an awards event at the Geneva motor show, the new family hatchback pipped the latest Volvo XC90 to the title.

From an initial list of 35 candidates this year, the 58 jury members had a seven-car shortlist of finalists comprising the Audi A4, BMW 7-Series, Jaguar XE, Mazda MX-5, Opel Astra, Skoda Superb and Volvo XC90.

The general consensus among the jury was that the Opel offered a very impressive balance of cutting-edge engineering and safety technology at a relatively affordable price.

Each jury member had 25 points to allocate, with a maximum of 10 points to award to any one car. All voting is transparent and the scoring published along with the verdict on each car.

The final score was 309 points for the Opel Astra; 294 for the Volvo XC90; 202 for the Mazda MX-5; 189 for the Audi A4; 163 for the Jaguar XE; 147 for the Skoda Superb; and 143 for the BMW 7-Series.

Affordability

As one of the 58 jury members, my votes this year went first to the Mazda MX-5 and then to the Volvo XC90 and Opel Astra. My 25 points were allocated as follows: Mazda MX-5 – 7 points; Volvo XC90 – 5 points; Opel Astra – 5 points; Skoda Superb – 4 points; BMW 7 Series – 2 points; Audi A4 – 1 point; Jaguar XE – 1 point.

For me the MX-5 is fun, pure and simple. It is the world’s best-selling sports car and rightly so. Others have tried to imitate its mix of driving fun and affordability: none have succeeded. Amid the grand plans of autonomus driving, it is worth reminding ourselves what we lose out on when we hand over control to the computers.

Impractical, relatively noisy and not the most eco-friendly choice, yet it is pure driving pleasure and it puts a smile on my face every time. That’s why the MX-5 got my top vote in Car of the Year for Europe 2016.

The Car of the Year prize is an independent operation sponsored by several major automotive titles in Europe including Auto in Italy, Autocar in the UK; Stern in Germany; L'Automobile in France; and Vi Bilägare in Sweden.

Various testing sessions are held throughout the year where the entrants are examined for everything from handling to active safety systems. The finalists underwent a final two-day testing session with the judges in February at the independent Mortefontaine automotive test facility outside Paris.

The competition prides itself on transparency in the voting process and you can read the full breakdown of each jury member's votes and a summary of their opinions on each car at caroftheyear.org