TestDriven Cars of the Year 2007
28 December 2007
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As 2007 staggers into the Gents to vomit itself quietly into oblivion, we take a look back at the cars that have defined the year for us. As with last year, we've highlighted not just the models that impressed us the most, but also our biggest disappointments - and this year, there were quite a few. Let's get to it.
Small Car
With the government's increasing desire to tax us for breathing, small cars with low CO2 output are becoming big news. We expect this to become the sector with the greatest innovation over the next couple of years, but 2007 left us a little unfulfilled.
The new Mini Clubman was probably the biggest let-down for us - ugly to look at, somehow completely lacking the eagerness that its small brothers are full of and, in practical terms, poorly thought-out with a huge pillar blocking your rearward view, and a single rear door on the wrong side of the car. Nil points.
The Fiat 500, while cheeky and full of character and wonderful design ideas, ended up being too expensive and, bizarrely, a lot less fun to drive than its Panda sibling on which it's based. We couldn't work that one out.
Honourable mention must be made of the Vauxhall Corsa's ingenuous Flex-Fix bike carrier that pulls-out from inside the rear bumper.
But for us, the only small car of 2007 we warmed to was the new Skoda Fabia - an honest little package with a good range of engines and willing dealers.
That said, we'd probably still have a Suzuki Swift by choice.
Family Car
It's been a complex year for Ford. Questions over the future of its Jaguar, Aston Martin and Land Rover brands as well as not inconsiderable money worries were no doubt rather uncomfortable distractions. Despite that, however, they managed to turn out a blinder - the new Ford Mondeo.
We'll quickly gloss over the ridiculous James Bond product placement, and for the moment we'll turn a blind eye to the slightly tacky silver fascia in the hope something a little less 'Argos' will appear on the options list. With that out of the way, it's easy to focus on the excellent chassis, the willing range of engines, and the surprisingly handsome exterior design.
Everything seems well-made and well-built, too, so hopefully buyers won't have to spend too much time in their local Ford dealership (we've yet to find one we like). Figure in depreciation carefully before shelling out, though.
Honourable mention must also go to the stupidly-named Nissan Qashqai. We're not a fan of these pseudo-4x4s - we just can't see the point in making a small hatchback look like the target of social derision - but there's no doubting the Qashqai does a great job of carting family stuff around without costing the earth.
Biggest disappointment in this category, though, is the Volvo C30. It was our most anticipated new model of last year. That all changed when we got our hands on a copy of the price list - it is galactically over-priced. We specced up a D5 version (which is saddled with the wrong gearbox, by the way) with a comfortable yet restrained number of toys and ended-up with a hernia-inducing price of nearly £28,000. Frankly, Volvo are taking the piss with that one.
Estate Car
If you're still in the market for a traditional estate car, your options just got a little wider, thanks to the new Ford Mondeo. It wins this category for all the reasons given above, plus the sheer volume of its well thought-out load bay.
Our favourite, the Honda Accord Tourer, gets a mention here because we find it amazing that a car in its last year of production (the new Accord Tourer arrives in the summer of 2008) should still be so competitive.
4x4
Nothing wins the 4x4 category this year. Zip. Nada. Anyone who buys a 4x4 now is setting themselves up as a target of social hatred, an ever-increasing tax burden and plummeting resale values once these factors take hold, and nothing arrived in the market to convince us otherwise.
If you simply must, try the Skoda Octavia Scout.
We will award a special 'Last One to the Party' award to the Audi Q7, which managed to make its debut as this whole sector prepares to implode. With the added bonus that it's rubbish.
Executive Car
Difficult one, this. We like the styling of the new Mercedes C-Class (well, the sportier models, anyway) but hate the Vauxhall-inspired interior. We're loving the new range of BMW diesel engines, but can't stand the looks (inside or out).
And then there's the Jaguar XF. We're not convinced by the exterior styling - it's a little too Hyundai for our liking - but there are numerous clever touches and we think Jaguar deserves a special award for having the balls to finally dump its old man design language and experiment with something new.
We don't see the fact that it's based on the old S-Type's platform as a hindrance, but more an indication of how well Jaguar's engineers had tweaked and honed the old model through-out its life cycle.
What we would like, though, is an XF with the V8 diesel.
Sports Car
The sports car we're most excited about is the new Fiat Grande Punto Abarth. It's powered by a properly fizzy Italian rip-snorter of an engine, and in white with graphite wheels looks exactly as an Italian hot-hatch should. We can look past the slightly iffy interior quality because, frankly, as long as the wheels stay attached and there's petrol in the tank, we'll be too busy enjoying ourselves to notice.
A special 'Ugly as Hell' award goes to the Subaru Impreza. None of the previous models were lookers, despite receiving an almost endless stream of face-lifts. But the new one is, well, hideous. And it comes fitted with Chav rear lights straight from the factory.
We hear that Subaru UK weren't originally going to import a WRX or STi version into this country, because they wanted to re-position Subaru as a maker of, well, boring under-powered and ugly hatch-backs as far as we could tell. We're pleased they've changed their minds (where would Subaru be without the rally-inspired hot versions?) but we simply can't understand the mentality of a company that visually cripples everything they make (Tribeca, anyone?).
Luxury Car
We debated this category far longer than the others. That's not because we're spoilt for choice - our shortlist features only two models - but more because we just couldn't decide between them.
The Lexus LS won this category last year, and now there's the LS 600h hybrid version to confuse matters further.
And, at long last, Maserati dropped a proper automatic gearbox in their gorgeous Quattroporte.
The Lexus is the 'head' choice, while the big Maser is the 'heart'. We'll let you decide.
Supercar
The Audi R8 feels like the obvious choice in this category. It's so mind-bendingly competent, and must surely force Porsche engineers back to the drawing board to find radical ways of revising their ancient 911 to redress the balance. But it's still an Audi, and that means there's something deeply staid and overly sensible about it. Plus we don't like the fact your spangly new R8 will be taken out for a sound thrashing come service time by the same spotty little oik that changes the oil on Grandma's diesel A3.
Plus we can't help asking ourselves the question: "why did Audi buy Lamborghini, only to launch their own competitor?"
So our winner here is the Nissan GT-R. It speaks volumes that something with a Nissan badge has found its way into the Supercar category, and we'd like to give Nissan a punch in the face for making us wait so long for it (the official unveiling was so long ago we'd almost forgotten it). But to drive, this thing is sublime. It is, quite simply, a pure driving machine. A good supercar should force you to redefine the terms by which all others are judged: the GT-R does exactly that. Just don't called it a Skyline - Nissan gets very upset.
The 'Wooden Spoon' award of this category goes to the Aston Martin DBS. The DBS fills us with two somewhat inconvenient questions that we can't resolve: what the hell is it, and why does it cost so much?
Most anticipated car of 2008
We're not going to nominate a specific car this year. Instead, we're going to throw down the gauntlet to all car manufacturers. We believe there's a growing number of people waiting for a car that's fun, powerful, practical and green. These people aren't interested in ridiculous cross-overs (are you listening, Mercedes R-Class?). They're not interested in shouty designs that get keyed in the station car park.
So here's the challenge: we want to see a car with a powerful diesel engine with low CO2 emissions - think BMW 330d - with a DSG-style twin-clutch gearbox. We want hatchback proportions, like a Golf, but with clever packaging, like a Honda Jazz. We want understated and classy exterior design, like an Audi A4. We want an Italian-styled interior like the Alfa 159. We want a chassis that responds the way Peugeots did when they made the 306. We want Japanese build quality and Lexus customer service. We definitely don't want German rock-hard suspension, run-flat tyres, iDrive, silly doors, or anything French. And we're not spending more than £25,000.
Car makers, get to it.
