The South African Car of the Year (COTY) competition is sometimes misunderstood.
“How can you compare Luxury Sedan ‘X’ with Compact SUV ‘Y’?”, many will shout and scream from their social media soap boxes when they see the wide array of finalists being tested together. Or “why didn’t an affordable car win this year?”
Although there are many consumer-focused automotive awards out there, which certainly have their rightful place in the sun, the COTY competition, which staged by the SA Guild of Mobility Journalists, is primarily focused on the overall excellence and innovativeness of newly launched vehicles.
Only models launched in the preceding year qualify to enter, which is why they call it Car of the Year and not Car of the Last Few Years.
COTY is seen as a badge of honour among car manufacturers, a sign that they’ve pushed the boundaries and reset the benchmark in a particular segment, be it the entry-level market or luxury car realm.
And as for the ‘unfair comparison’ argument that many use, the jurors are strictly urged to score each car with their natural and direct rivals as a reference point, rather than the other COTY finalists.
SA COTY is also one of the few national COTY competitions to stage physical test days, something that has been made possible in the post-pandemic era by the sponsorship of Old Mutual Insure.
As one of 27 motoring journalists on the 2025 COTY jury, I made my way to Phahama Lodge in Gauteng this past Monday afternoon, to be greeted by 17 shiny new finalists parked outside the conference venue.
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With score books in hand, we kicked off the static evaluation process, jumping in and out of each car and rating them on aspects such as exterior and interior design, build quality, practicality and user-friendliness of interfaces. Boot space? Quality of the sound system? They're all covered by the comprehensive questionnaire.
The following day we drove in convoy to the nearby Zwarktops Raceway, where each vehicle was put through a dynamic course that included some track driving, slaloms and a skidpan gymkhana to test aspects like wet weather grip and stability. Not forgetting that 4x4 models are also subjected to the challenging off-road trail at the venue.
This, of course, while frantically filling in the score sheet, which has two sections devoted to these dynamic aspects.
A tiring day, for sure, but kid-in-a-candy-shop exciting too, as you could imagine.
But that’s not where it ends..
After a night at the lodge, with much friendly banter and catching up with fellow journalists and other industry players, the third testing day included test drives on public roads surrounding the venue while fine-tuning and finalising our scores for each vehicle.
Should there be any second guessing on a score from the fast-paced track day, another spin along the road test route tends to bring some finality.
Armed with extra perspective, this is also when I filled in most of the ‘value’ related scores that make up the final section of the score sheet, which also has questions on overall excellence and innovation, as well as price competitiveness.
There is a great deal of data to input, through 32 questions on each car, but in the end, much thought and consideration goes into the scoring of each model. A small percentage of the overall score is also determined by automated aspects, such as sales figures and value-related data inputted by Lightstone Auto.
These are the 2025 Car of the Year finalists in alphabetical order
- BMW 5 Series Sedan
- BMW M5
- BMW X3
- Ford Mustang GT
- GAC GS3 EMZOOM
- GWM P500 HEV
- Jaecoo J7
- Mahindra XUV 3XO
- Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance
- Mercedes-Benz E-Class (E 220d)
- MINI Countryman
- Mitsubishi Triton
- Omoda C9
- Suzuki Swift
- Toyota Land Cruiser Prado
- Volkswagen Tiguan
- Volvo EX30
While the overall Car of the Year prize is most coveted, organisers also announce category winners for segments such as Compact/Budget, Family, Premium, Luxury, Adventure 4x4 and Performance Vehicle.
This year's contest feels as closely-fought as ever, and the winners for 2025's competition will be announced at a glitzy event in early May.
And that’s the South African Car of the Year evaluation process in a nutshell. May the best vehicle win!
Previous South African Car of the Year winners
- 2024: BMW 7 Series
- 2023: Ford Ranger
- 2022: Toyota Corolla Cross
- 2021: Peugeot 2008
- 2020: Jaguar I-Pace
- 2019: Mercedes-Benz A-Class
- 2018: Porsche Panamera
- 2017: Opel Astra
- 2016: Volvo XC90
- 2015: Porsche Macan S Diesel
- 2014: Porsche Cayman S
- 2013: Porsche Boxster
- 2012: Hyundai Elantra 1.8 GLS
- 2011: VW Polo 1.6 TDI and BMW 530d
- 2010: VW Golf 6 1.4 TSI Comfortline
- 2009: Honda Accord 2.4i Executive
- 2008: Mazda 2 1.5 Individual
- 2007: Honda Civic 1.8 VXi
- 2006: Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 TFSI
- 2005: Volvo S40 2.4i
- 2004: Renault Mégane 1.9 dCi
- 2003: VW Polo 1.4 TDI
- 2002: Audi A4 1.9 TDI
- 2001: BMW 320d
- 2000: Renault Clio 1.4 RT
- 1999: Alfa Romeo 156 T-Spark
- 1998: Ford Fiesta Fun
- 1997: BMW 528i
- 1996: Audi A4 1.8
- 1995: Opel Astra 160iS
- 1994: Opel Kadett 140
- 1993: BMW 316i
- 1992: Nissan Maxima 300 SE
- 1991: Opel Monza 160 GSi
- 1990: BMW 525i
- 1989: Toyota Corolla GLi Executive
- 1988: BMW 735i
- 1987: Mercedes-Benz 260E
- 1986: Toyota Corolla GLi