2008 Australia's Best Cars Finalists

The ABC awards in 2008

NRMA has been part of the Australia's Best Cars program since 2000. In 2008 it has grown to encompass over 280 vehicles. Recently the three finalists in each class (see table below) were taken to Anglesea in Victoria for final judging across the 12 categories at the Australian Automotive Research Centre.

Helping you make an informed choice

Today's new car buyers have a wide range of cars to choose from and an ever wider range of considerations that they need to take into account when choosing their next new car. The Australia's Best Cars Awards, in which NRMA has two judges, aims to reflect those considerations. The Best Cars program is the only judging system that chooses a winner in each category based on the wide range of factors which people take into account when considering their next car purchase.

Our Members want sound, independent and reliable information to help them in making their next new car purchase. The Best Cars program gives them the ability to make an informed choice against a number of criteria that includes safety, pricing, running and repair costs (over 5 years), fuel consumption, standard features, security, environment, comfort, build quality, performance and ride and handling amongst others. All up there are 12 different car categories - including small cars, mid-sized under $28,000, mid-sized over $28,000, family, luxury and sports to name a few - which are judged on the above criteria.

The Best Car Awards are categorised in this way because, realistically, you can't judge a $15,000 small car against a $180,000 luxury sports car. Every eligible new car sold in Australia is judged and, of these, only one winner is chosen in each category.

The finalists

The best thing about the Australia's Best Cars program is that the scoring process is transparent and all results are published in the Australia's Best Cars magazine, available from 3rd December 2008. There are scoring tables for every eligible new car judged, so if the car you are interested in is not the winner you can see how it rates against other cars in its category and make an informed decision.

The judges, who represent all of Australia's motoring clubs, have had a tough job settling on the top three finalists in each category this year. With so many good cars on the market, it was hard to choose 36 finalists from over 280 eligible new cars available on the Australian market.

Winners will be announced on 3rd December 2008, so be sure to check back soon.

Australia's Best Cars Finalists (in no specfic order)
Best Small Car   Honda Jazz GLi  Hyundai Getz SX  Mazda2 Neo	Best Mid size Car under 28k  Honda Civic VTi  Hyundai i30 SX (Petrol+Diesel)  Mitsubishi Lancer ES
Best Mid size Car over 28k  Ford Mondeo TDCi  Mazda6 Classic  VW Jetta TDI	Best Large Car  Ford FG Falcon XT  Honda Accord V6  Toyota Aurion AT-X
Best Luxury Car  Audi A6 TDi Quattro  Lexus GS 450h  Mercedes-Benz C320 CDI	Best Luxury Sports Car  BMW M3  Audi S5 FSI Quattro  Audi TT-S TFSI
Best People Mover  Honda Odyssey Luxury  Hyundai iMax  Mitsubishi Grandis VR-X	Best Sports Car  BMW 135i Coupe Sport  Mitsubishi Evolution MR  VW Golf R32
Best Recreational 4WD  Renault Koleos  Subaru Forester X  VW Tiguan 2.0 TDI	Best Luxury 4WD  Audi Q7 TDI Quattro  BMW X5  Lexus RX 400h
Best All Terrain 4WD  Landrover Discovery 3SE TDV6  Mitsubishi Pajero VRX CDi - Diesel  Toyota Prado GXL - Diesel

NRMA Motoring, November 2008.