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Women's car website chooses Audi A3 as Car of the Year

Friday, 22 Aug 2008 16:31
The Audi A3 Cabriolet is very popular with women
A women's car website has voted the Audi A3 Cabriolet as its Car of the Year, topping the shortlist of 27 cars across eight categories.

Alex Jenner-Fust, the editor of evecars.com, commented: "The Audi A3 won over all the judges with its impressive combination of talents. It looks great: it's neither too feminine nor flashy, but classy and well styled.

"It's easy enough to get a child seat in the back and the soft-top roof leaves more boot space than a folding hard top. Drivers will be rewarded with almost 40mpg, too. It's a great all round no-compromise package and truly deserves our top accolade."

Jenner-Fust was present on a six-strong panel of judges, including Eve magazine deputy editor Rachael Ashley, Vicky Parrott from Autocar magazine, Eve publisher Jessica Gibson, Eve reader Sarah Thane, plus Steve Fowler, editor of consumer champion, What Car?

The 4x4 award was taken by Land Rover's Discovery, while the Jaguar XF drove away with the Executive award.

The BMW 318d won the Green award for its combination of energy-saving technologies including 'Auto Start-Stop' that switches the engine off when the car comes to a halt. When the driver's ready to drive again, merely putting the car into gear starts the engine again.

"The BMW 318d is a great car; it's kind to the environment, and huge fun to drive as well as being practical," said Alex Jenner-Fust.

Fiat's retro-inspired 500 won the City car category: judges found it surprisingly roomy and were impressed by the thousands of optional extras available to help owners personalise the car.

The MPV category was topped for the second year running by the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso, which still leads the pack for its combination of style and versatility.

Audi's TT scooped the best Sports car award, while the Hyundai i30 was the Small family car category winner.

Every car was given a thorough inspection and judges looked at how easy it was to find a good driving position, get into and out of the back seats, fit a child seat and pack the boot.

The cars were then put through their paces on winding country lanes and fast sections of dual carriageway, as well as being manoeuvred around a couple of tight parking spaces.

What Car? provided information about resale values, service costs and reliability to help complete the picture.

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