Seven cars shortlisted for European Car of the Year 2014

SEVEN very different cars have all been shortlisted in a contest to find Europe’s favourite automotive arrival from the past year.

Judges of the European Car of the Year award confirmed this week the Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda3, Peugeot 308 and Skoda Octavia, which are all family-friendly and focused on value, would be going up against the eco-orientated BMW i3 and Tesla S and the luxurious new Mercedes-Benz S Class.

The winner will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

Happy Christmas from Life On Cars

AS a special Christmas treat for everyone who enjoys Life On Cars and its coverage of motoring news, reviews and events I'm happy to share this, a magazine looking back at some of the automotive highlights of 2012.

Not only is it the moment when I finally get to announce what my favourite car of 2012 is but it's also a chance to look back at some of the best bits of a cracking year for car enthusiasts, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've agonised over which events and cars deserve a second look in the 20 pages of this rather special edition of the magazine.

If you're bored of your presents already or you've had a little too much wine and turkey, then sit back and enjoy this Car of the Year edition of the Life On Cars Magazine.

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from Life On Cars

AS a special festive treat for both our readers a Christmas edition of the Life On Cars magazine to choose the car of the year is finally ready!

This bumper 20-page edition not only looks back at some of the best new cars, but memorable events, roads and shows from across the north west and further afield. Car and bike nuts are already looking forward to a great 2012, and Life On Cars is looking forward to reflecting that, but if you just can't wait until then put your Christmas turkey down and take a look back at some of the motoring highlights of 2011.

Sit back and enjoy the read...

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A Christmas gift for all you readers

CHANCES are if you're a car fan you'll like this a bit more than Mistletoe and Wine.

Yes, the not-at-all-prestigious Life On Cars Car of the Year Award is back, and as usual it comes gift-wrapped in a Christmas special edition magazine. With so many great cars launched this year it's been a right old nightmare trying to pick a favourite, but after a lot of agonising I've finally picked a winner which I reckon is just as impressive as Honda's CR-Z was this time last year.

If you liked the effort I came up with last Christmas then you'll be pleased to know all the additional awards - best road, best event, and so on - are all back as well, in what should be an enjoyable read once you've polished off your pigs in blankets and got tired of eating turkey.

The new edition will be ready in time for Christmas. Hope you like it...

A special Christmas present for both our readers

THIS time last Christmas Toyota's tiniest offering got robbed of a not-at-all prestigious award, and it's all my fault.

Regular readers might recall that last year I offered up some honours to the good, the bad and the ugly of 2009, and that Toyota's radical little IQ got pipped to the post by Ford's Fiesta at the very last minute, largely because I wimped out and said the oriental city car's boot was too small.

Yep, it's time to revive the Life On Cars Awards, in a time-honoured tradition dating back to, oooh, this time last year. Only this time the job of working out what this year's best car was is even harder, because there's no less than five motors to mull over.

For starters, there's the Citroen DS3, which not only got shortlisted for the official European Car of the Year award but was also named by Stuff Magazine as the nation's trendiest car. I still think the clutch is a little lighter than I'd like but in every version I've tried is fabulously crisp through the corners, the interior gives off an air of quality and it looks great. It is that rare thing; a Citroen that's cool.

But it's got competition in the surprising shape of the Suzuki Swift, which I wasn't expecting to be anything Earth-shattering but it bowled me over by being a small sports car in disguise. I still think it's not quite as funky as its predecessor and that the boot lip's too high, but everything from its slick gearchange to its sense of fun when you drive it proved hugely impressive.

The car, I reckon, everyone at The Champion offices loved was Skoda's Yeti, which offers much more than just distinctive styling. It's like a Land Rover Discovery, but usefully smaller and much, much cheaper. If you like taking your dog for walks in the countryside, I cannot think of a better car for the job.

Certainly its roomier than the Honda's CR-Z, a sporty and slightly cramped coupe I drove and fell in love with on a couple of occasions this year. It achieves the historic feat of being the first hybrid car you'd actually want to buy because it's a nice car, and not as an eco-friendly statement. Good looking, revvy and fun to drive, it's a real contender.

It's only matched in the style stakes by our final contender, the Peugeot RCZ, which I've already had several arguments with readers over because I reckon it is truly beautiful. Striking, sporty and surprisingly practical, I'm not surprised Peugeot has had such a hit on its hands with this coupe.

It's a special treat for Champion-reading car lovers, and my way of saying Merry Christmas.

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Nissan Leaf is European Car of the Year 2011

FOR a change I actually agree with fellow Champ columnist Jim Sharpe, of One Man and His Dog fame. Because, judging by this latest evidence, the tree huggers and greenies have won.

In order for the Nissan Leaf to be chosen as this year's European Car of the Year the judges, who are expert road testers from across Europe and therefore know far more about cars than I do, had to do something spectacular. They had to overlook the sporty Citroen DS3, the quirky Dacia Duster, the fun and frugal Vauxhall Meriva, the stylish Volvo V60 and S60, the spacious Ford C-Max and the gorgeous Alfa Giuletta.... and choose an electric hatchback costing £23,000 as their winner.

Regular readers might remember that last year I disagreed with the experts' opinion that the Volkswagen Polo, a worthy-but-dull supermini, was better than the radically packaged and intruiging little Toyota IQ, but this year really is proof that the official contest is a waste of time. For anyone who thinks this moment of madness is a one-off I refer you to the Talbot Horizon and Renault 9, which weren't particularly worthy winners either.

The Leaf might be built in Britain and boast of a greener, cleaner automotive future, but it's still a car which asks you to stump up the price of a Golf GTi for something which can't get you to Glasgow for that all important meeting because it'll run out of battery power and has all the visual appeal of a piece of lettuce.

I admire Nissan for at least trying to solve the problem of global warming, but the Leaf is a spectacularly stupid car.

Worry not, though, because Life On Cars' own Car of the Year award is on the way soon, and the Leaf isn't anywhere near the shortlist of cracking cars launched in the past year.

A Car of the Year special of the Life On Cars Magazine will be published next month.

Fire up the... Skoda Yeti

SAY what you like about Skoda's strange choice of name for its latest model, but this is definitely one Yeti worth tracking down.

Having already won over rough ‘n' rugged off-roader types with the Scout four-wheel-drive version of the Octavia estate it was only a matter of time before the Czech car company came up with a real mountain goat of a motor and this, a distant relation to Volkswagen's Golf and Audi's A3, is the result. Cute and challenging at the same time.

Clamber into the cockpit and you're definitely not in the driver's seat of a jacked-up hatchback or an MPV with countryside styling cues; if a Land Rover Discovery went on the Atkins diet, chances are this is what it would feel like. Even though the version I drove stuck to powering just the front wheels everything about the commanding driving position, the view along the bonnet and the defiantly diesel noise the 2.0 TDi engine makes screams pure off-roader.

That's the reason why you're not going to find hot hatch handling when you head into the corners a tad too quickly, but both on the backroads and out on the motorways the Yeti performs impressively enough. It's just a shame that with some of the sillier options the version I drove cost almost £22,000, which I'd rather spend on the optional four-wheel-drive system and make it truly capable over tricky terrain.

Almost everyone who came across the Yeti loved it for exactly the same reason; if you have a dog and enjoy going for walks in the muddy countryside, you're going to struggle to better the Yeti without resorting to much more expensive machinery.

Clearly the writers of Auto Express do, because they've just made it their car of the year.

Buy a Yeti and your Labrador is going to love it. Luckily, so will you.

As published in The Champion on August 18, 2010

Life On Cars: Car of the Year 2009

RATHER than the usual motoring fix, I’ve launched the inaugural Life On Cars Car of the Year Awards to honour the good, the bad, and the Susan Boyles of the motoring world.

For 2009, I’ve decided to start with a recurring joke in The Champion office…

The Austin Mini Award for Least Reliable Vehicle goes not to my Austin Mini, which requires you to mend it as you drive it, but to the Vespa scooter it replaced. I know it’s not a car, but any machine badly built by someone with no understanding of electronics means a truly scary reliability record.

The Toyota IQ Award for Best Toyota IQ goes to the Toyota IQ. I absolutely loved the fun factor of this tiny Japanese tot, which lets you get four adults into something no bigger than a Smart. Blend nice dynamics and zany looks and you’re onto a winner.

The Impending Accident Award for Best Road has to go to the Llanberis Pass, which I discovered while popping out for a coffee one morning in North Wales. My brakes probably didn’t appreciate its climbs, dips and bends, but I’m still waiting for my next fix.

The utterly alive sensation from the Morgan 4/4 means it wins the award for Best Drive of 2009, although the sheer speed of BMW’s Z4 and the sprightly handling of Volkswagen’s Scirocco earn them honourable mentions.

The Lady Gaga Award for Questionable Style goes jointly to the Australian-built Skelta, which has looks to scare small children, and the Toyota IQ For Sports, which takes one of my favourite cars and ruins it. Luckily, neither are on sale over here yet.

Best Motoring Event of 2009, for me at least, was the banger race which saw teams from across the North West crucify caravans in the silliest motorsport spectacle in ages. The Woodvale Rally was fun, but it didn’t make me laugh as much.

I could have plumped for the scintillating Ferrari 458 as the Car I’m Most Looking Forward To, but for all its stunning styling it isn’t gracing my computer screen. That honour goes to Jaguar’s upcoming XJ, pictured above, which I reckon I’m alone in thinking looks great.

And last but not least, the not-at-all stunning Life On Cars Car Of The Year Award, which goes not to 2009’s best car but the one I liked the most. It’s a toss-up between the IQ and Ford’s Fiesta, and on the basis that I might have to carry things as well as people, the Ford, pictured below, just snatches it.

Normal service will resume next week, I promise. You can go back to sorting out your New Year’s resolutions now.

If you voted for this car, you're wrong

IT’S like seeing Jedward winning The X Factor.

That’s how I felt this morning when I found out that Volkswagen’s Polo, the imaginatively named replacement for the Polo, had won the coveted title of European Car of the Year 2010.

Naturally – and in keeping with the contest’s fine tradition – the wrong car won.

European Car of the Year is a stupid idea because what works in Germany or Norway doesn’t necessarily work on our roads, and because all too often the winner is granted to something which is boring and unworthy and usually French.

For every Ford Focus or Alfa Romeo 156 there’s a Talbot Horizon or Peugeot 307 that’s somehow wafted its way into the top spot, and the last time its 59-strong panel of judges let themselves go and voted for something soul-stirring was in 1977 (Porsche 928, in case you’re wondering).

Usually I don’t care but this year, the car that should have won lost by just a few points.

Autocar’s Steve Cropley, who led the UK’s judges this year, said:

“The Polo is a very complete, very refined car which delivers all the consistent qualities VW has become so well known for. However, given its unusual layout, controversial looks and premium price, the iQ did amazingly well.”

The IQ didn’t just do amazingly well, it should have won full stop, and taken its place alongside the Rover P6, NSU Ro80 and, er, Fiat Punto as an innovative piece of engineering that genuinely moves motoring forward.

Given that I’m right and 59 of Europe’s top motoring writers are wrong, I’ll be featuring my own Car of the Year award on this very site later this month.

And I promise John and Edward won’t win it.