Drive's Car of the Year Awards 2023: A Guide for Buyers
Buyers in the market for a new car are presented with many choices in the vast Australian motor vehicle market. While supply issues have been an issue over the past few years, they appear to be easing, making availability less of a deciding factor for buyers. But buyers may still be unsure of which is the best vehicle for their purposes. To assist new vehicle buyers, the experts at Drive conduct their annual Car of the Year awards and the 2023 program is now underway.
This program has been running for 17 years and is renowned as one of the most authoritative awards programs for consumers. The final stages of the judging is being undertaken and winners are announced over a few weeks. Some winners have already been decided but the finale - the overall Car of the Year for 2023 will be announced later in March.
We cover off on what these prestigious awards are all about, the announcement so far and what finance options buyers can consider to purchase a finalist or a winner with the cheapest car loan.
Car of the Year Awards
The team at the Drive Car of the Year Awards is continually updating the program to reflect the market. But they still adhere to their same strict judging procedures. For 2023, there are 19 categories and reflecting market trends, the EV categories have been expanded from two to three with another for hybrid medium sized SUVs. This special category reflects the growing popularity of the medium SUV.
With many buyers considering the move to an EV or some type of ‘green car’, the experts comments around why they made their choices could be extremely helpful.
While new categories have been added for this year, a number of others have been retired. There are 11 motoring experts on the judging panel with very impressive experience in the motor vehicle industry. The judging process covers a year of testing the more than 500 vehicles which are launched into the Australian market in the previous calendar year.
From this massive field, judges decide on the finalists and eventually the winners for each category. The criteria for any awards program is very important for buyers to appreciate. With Car of the Year, the criteria include being a completely new model or seriously update. The model must also get a good rating when tested and reviewed.
Then it comes down to the final evaluation of the finalists. A process which is undertaken in great depth with static inspections, drive loops, braking, special tests and many other testing procedures. Judges assess finalists based on safety, affordability, efficiency, driveability, tech and practicality. The issues that most buyers are looking for in a new car.
First Category Winners Revealed
The category winners already announced include:-
- Off-Road Dual Cab Ute: Winner is the Ford Ranger Raptor with Toyota’s Rogue HiLux second and the SL Warrior from the Nissan Navara line-up a finalist. This is a very popular vehicle and buyers can read why judges came to their decision.
- Medium Hybrid SUV: The Mitsubishi Outlander was declared the winner with the RAV4 from Toyota second and finalists – Ford Escape ad Haval H6.
- Small SUV: Nissan’s Qashqai is the winner with Toyota’s Corolla Cross the runner-up and finalists – Skoda Kamiq and Honda HR-V.
- Medium SUV: The Nissan X-Trail was decided as the winner Kia’s Sportage the runner-up ahead of finalist, VW Tiguan Allspace.
- Large SUV: The Toyota Kluger takes the honours in this category, ahead of runner-up Nissan Pathfinder and the finalists, Ford’s Everest and the Sante Fe from Hyundai.
- Small Passenger Car: Winner is VW Golf, the Peugeot 308 ahead of the three finalists – Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and Skoda Fabia.
We’ll reveal more categories in our coming blogs along with the latest car sales data. In the meantime, buyers may like to start thinking finance and talking to us about cheaper interest rate motor vehicle finance.
Financing a Car of the Year
Affordability is a crucial factor when evaluating the finalists for the Car of the Year award. The affordability aspect of a winning car can be enhanced by securing cheap car loans in Australia through Jade Car Loans, especially when considering business car finance rates. For many buyers, affordability implies a low monthly car finance repayment, while others focus on the overall total cost of the finance.
To achieve the best results, the goal is to find the cheapest car loan interest rate. The motor vehicle lending market is vast, and sourcing the most affordable loans can be simplified, expedited, and made more reliable by using our broker-style lending services. We offer access to over 60 lenders, enabling buyers to make just one call to compare a wide range of cheap car loans Australia, including business car loans with poor credit, options on how to refinance a car loan, and car personal loan products.
Our full portfolio of motor vehicle finance products is available for both private and business buyers, catering to a diverse range of buyer types and financial situations.
Speak with Jade Car Loans 1300 000 003 for finance quotes on your preferred finalists or winning Car of the Year.
DISCLAIMER: IN REGARD TO MISREPRESENTATIONS AND ERRORS CONTAINED IN THE MATERIAL AS PRESENTED, LIABILITY IS NOT ACCEPTED. THE DETAILS AND CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR CAR BUYERS AND INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESS SEEKING FINANCE PURELY AS GENERAL INFORMATION. THIS IS NOT PROVIDED AS THE ONLY SOURCE OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION. ANYONE THAT CONSIDERS THAT NEED FINANCIAL ADVICE ABOUT THEIR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS SHOULD SEEK THEIR OWN FINANCIAL ADVISOR.
