The Car of the Year 2023 finalists ranked
One of these seven will be the winner of the car industry’s most sought-after award – and only three are offered with a combustion engine
For as long as any of us can remember, the annual Car of the Year award has been presented at the Geneva motor show during the first week of March. A sign of the changing times, perhaps, but the season-opening Geneva bash is dead if not quite buried – so here, a full two months earlier than usual, my fellow jurors from across Europe and I have already driven the seven shortlisted cars ahead of the winner being announced this Friday.
The organisers of the Brussels motor show have welcomed the award to their more modest and cost-effective event (which, from what I’ve heard, sells a lot more cars than the bloated Geneva ever did). So, on the not-at-all portentous date of Friday 13 January, we’ll hand the trophy to the winning manufacturer – watch the ceremony on YouTube.
While this pullforward makes much calendar sense for an annual award, it also means the 61 judges (including six in the UK) have been charging around during the festive period trying to drive all seven shortlisted cars before the voting deadline, one day before the award is presented.
As usual, the judges have 25 points to distribute around at least five of the seven shortlisted cars, with a maximum of 10 votes for the first choice. There’s a proviso that the same number of votes cannot be given to the first two chosen cars.
Voting needs to consider: general design; comfort; safety; economy; handling and general roadworthiness; performance; functionality; general environmental requirements and driver satisfaction. Oh, and not least, price. Technical innovation and value for money are major factors.
Frankly, this year’s shortlist isn’t exactly exciting. Supply shortages of components such as semiconductors and electrical components have meant that many hopefuls failed the eligibility criteria of being in series production, commercially available across at least five European countries and able to have been driven by the majority of jurors in the judging year.
However, some overlooked cars have passed all those tests, but inexplicably aren’t in the shortlist: Land Rover’s latest Range Rover and Range Rover Sport for example, or the BMW i7, Dacia Jogger, Honda Civic hybrid as well as a number of the budget Chinese manufacturers such as BYD, Ora and Great Wall.
No I don’t understand it either, but what we’re left with is a list containing five family SUVs and a couple of outliers.
So here are my thoughts and voting intentions, in time-honoured reverse order.
7. Renault Austral
We don’t have UK prices yet for this hybrid family SUV, though it is likely to start at £35,000, rising to £40,000 for the ultimate model. Ouch. The UK will only take the top model, which comes with Renault’s clever two-motor hybrid system.
In this form, with the 1.2-litre, 129bhp/151lb ft three-cylinder engine, it’s more responsive and refined than the 1.6-litre unit in the Arkana, but the drivetrain is still quite noisy when you’re inside and frantic when pushed.
The ride is pretty terrible, especially at low speeds where the 1.52-tonne weight and the 20-inch wheels give a crashing sensation over sharp-edged bumps. There’s wind noise inside, too, and although you can throw it around at speed with gusto, that’s not the point of such family haulers.
This is a nicer car to sit in than it is to drive, with a high-quality dashboard, a logical touchscreen, comfortable seats and spacious rear bench. The trim quality does tail off pretty quickly as you move towards the rear though.
With smaller wheels, less aggressive damping and a lower price, this would be a perfectly acceptable family SUV – but not much more.
Read our review of the Renault Austral here
6. Nissan Ariya
The battery-only Ariya is offered in front- or four-wheel drive (e-4orce) forms, with two batteries (63 and 87kWh net). Quoted ranges are quite low compared with rivals and our test of the 63kWh 250-mile range version realised a real-life range of 195 miles, which brings the quoted efficiency down from 3.9 miles per kWh to only 3.1. It’s also expensive, with prices starting at £43,845, rising to £56,290 for the top-spec 4x4.
On initial acquaintance the interior feels nicely designed and thoughtful, with features such as an under-bonnet heating and ventilation system which allows an open floor across the front. The rear seats are comfy but the height of the battery means you can’t get your feet under the driver’s seat. And the trim quality also tails off markedly as you travel back.
While the electric drivetrain refinement is exemplary, the brake pedal feels soggy and the ride quality is dreadful, which isn’t something we normally say about Nissans. It feels undersprung and overdamped.
With the sharp steering, that means you negotiate a bumpy road being flung from side to side, trying not to disappear into a hedge. Where the Qashqai family SUV should have been on the list for last year, I’m not sure what the Ariya is doing here, it simply isn’t class-leading.
Read our review of the Nissan Ariya here
5. Kia Niro
Available with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and a full battery-electric drivetrains, the Niro has been go-to, no-nonsense motoring in the family crossover market for some years, although the styling changes for this Mk2 version have moved it far more into the SUV arena.
Step inside and it’s immediately clear that this is built to a budget due to the choice of materials rather than the way they fit together. The copious piano black trim is going to age rather quicker than Rider Haggard’s Ayesha when she steps through the Pillar of Fire for a second time. And while there’s some of last year’s winner, the EV6, in the dashboard control logic, the rest of it has rather too much “this’ll-do” in its make-up. Typical is the load area cover, which feels as substantial as a pair of discarded tights.
Add in soggy handling, an unsettled ride quality (and in the hybrids a noisy, agricultural engine) plus quite expensive prices – which start at £27,700 but rise steeply from there – and you start to wonder about the enduring appeal of the Niro; it simply isn’t at the top of its class any longer.
Read our review of the Kia Niro here
4. Peugeot 408
Another French tilt at the executive class which will end up selling mainly to the French civil service. OK, that’s the flippant way of introducing this sleek-looking and comfortable Peugeot. There’s a brace of hybrids, one a plug-in for business car taxpayers; the only non-hybrid is a weedy £30,765, 1.2-litre 130PS unit, which is a shame as the BMW-Peugeot 1.6 turbo engine would suit this car.
Front-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic gearbox mean the 408 isn’t going to be taking on a BMW 3-series, but dynamically it’s really not bad. The interior is nicely finished although the Stellantis Group touchscreen, while improved for this model, is still tricky to master and the lane-centring system is borderline dangerous.
It’s the abrupt control response of the throttle and brakes, however, which most let the car down. Oh, and the fact that Stellantis has a better executive hatchback based on the same EMP II chassis; Citroën’s C5X. And why that isn’t in the shortlist is another mystery.
Read our review of the Peugeot 408 here
3. Toyota bZ4X
The nonsensical name distracts from the fact that there’s a straightforwardness about the bZ4X, though it’ll cost you, with prices starting at £45,710. It looks pretty zany but the interior is comfortable if borderline stark in all charcoal grey, with weird angled sections like the barge boards on the side of F1 cars leading up to the instrument binnacle.
The touchscreen controls and screen graphics are pretty good, but the driving position obscures the instrument panel for taller drivers.
There’s a 71.4kWh (gross) lithium-ion battery and a choice of front- or four-wheel drive; the former with a single 201bhp motor and a quoted range of 317 miles, the latter with 107.5bhp motors front and rear delivering 215bhp in total with a range of 286 miles (although both range claims should be taken with a pinch of salt).
Toyota warranties a battery capacity of 70 per cent for 10 years and both models will accept fast charging up to 150kW. There’s also a Subaru-badged version, the Solterra, with permanent four-wheel drive, minor trim changes and tweaked steering and suspension settings.
On the undulating and pitted roads around Silverstone, the bZ4x displays good damping control, although the springing is lively and bouncy. The drivetrain feels refined and powerful but not intimidatingly so. Above all, the interior quality continues beyond the front seats, with good size rear door pockets, an almost flat load bed and a place under the floor to store the rear tonneau.
There are moments when you might be inclined to think that Toyota’s first battery vehicle was designed by different teams from various parts of the universe, but for all its disjointed appearance and distinct lack of glamour this is a thoughtful addition to battery electric driving.
Read our review of the Toyota bZ4X here
2. Jeep Avenger
A smaller SUV than its similarly aspirational rivals on the shortlist rivals. It’s based on the second-generation of the Stellantis Vauxhall Corsa/Peugeot 208 platform, with a modest 54kWh battery, giving a quoted range of 249 miles and nippy performance – on a warm autumn day, we saw an indicated range of 217 miles.
There will be a four-wheel-drive version next year but for most folk a front-drive Jeep, while an oxymoron, will be all they need.
The interior is well worked, stylish and comfortable, although the rear seats are cramped. The touchscreen isn’t the easiest to use but at least the heater controls are on a separate panel rather than buried in a screen sub-menu.
Ride and handling are really good, with a direct feel to the handling and steering and excellent body control, but not at the expense of a harsh ride quality. There’s even a modicum of offroad ability (thanks to hill descent control electronics and a raised ride height), to get you off that frosty car park.
The Avenger is well worked and attractive, but not cheap at between £34,000 and £39,000.
Read our review of the Jeep Avenger here
1. Volkswagen ID. Buzz
A feat of retro-inspired styling, but pricey. In the UK it costs from £57,115 for the base Life model on 19-inch wheels to £61,915 for the better-equipped Style on 20-inch rims, or £640 a month for the Style on Contract Hire.
But try to forget that excruciating price and the 258-mile quoted range (which in reality will be more like 200), the 2.5-tonne kerb weight and the fact it’s not the Camper, which comes later and is even bigger and heavier, and just take time to look at it.
OK, most of us might not be able to afford one, but my goodness this is a looker; retro but not cloying, reminiscent but not mawkish, the ID. Buzz is a multi-purpose five-seat van (though there appeared to be third-row seatbelt mounts on our test car) selling in the MPV market segment – which in popularity terms is the equivalent of sub-aqua wine tasting, yet it’s utterly compelling.
And, despite the weight, it’s comfortable and good to drive, with well-worked damping and body control, as well as direct and nicely weighted steering. It is also the best-riding car of these seven.
The interior is charming, with surfaces reminiscent of the original Type 2 Combi of the 1950s. Bad stuff includes the Cariad software system and central touchscreen, which are disgracefully rubbish, but you can learn the major, most-used functions and then write a note how to access them on a yellow sticky note and put it on the dashboard.
Original Combis had similar notes on the dashboard reminding you to top up the oil, so nothing much changes – except the price, naturally.
The right car for as many wrong reasons as you can count, but it’s my car of the year.
Read our review of the Volkswagen ID. Buzz here
Thanks to DFDS for getting us to Brussels for the motor show. DFDS runs regular ferry crossings from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk, Newhaven to Dieppe and Newcastle to Amsterdam: https://www.dfds.com