Every year, the readers of 15 european car magazines vote for their favorite cars in different classes.

Here are the results of the Auto, Motor & Sport 2003 vote:

Minicars:

1. Mini
2. VW Lupo
3. Smart

Compact cars:

1. VW Polo
2. Ford Fiesta
3. Peugeot 206

Lower middle-class:

1. VW Golf/Bora
2. Audi A3
3. Mercedes A-Class

Middle-class:

1. Audi A4
2. BMW 3er
3. Mercedes C-Class

Upper middle-class:

1. Mercedes E-Class
2. BMW 5er
3. Audi A6

Luxury class:

1. Audi A8
2. Mercedes S-Class
3. BMW 7er

Sports cars:

1. Porsche 911
2. Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
3. Mercedes CL-Class

Convertibles:

1. Mercedes SL-Class
2. BMW Z4
3. BMW Z8

SUVs:

1. BMW X5
2. Porsche Cayenne
3. VW Touareg

Vans:

1. VW Caravelle (uhm...?)
2. VW Sharan
3. Opel Zafira

Who in hell voted vor the Caravelle ???

[Edited 2003-02-06 12:13:54]

The best cars in 2003?......the best car in 2003 is a 1977 Caddy!

Signed, Superfly

Best SUV,

Gee, am I meant to be surprised that a German magazine couldn't give a non German SUV that accolade - ahwell, it's only the readership  

Volvo's XC90 has been scooping up pretty much every award it's eligible for, and that's a great thing, because it's probably the only SUV out there that at least tries to be responsible, not a social menace. An "SUV haters SUV" you could say  

Is it true that not a single BMW X5 was sold in December in the USA? I find it hard to believe, but I was nevertheless told that.

Cheers,

Justin

So German or German owned cars get 27 of 30 votes (Peugeot 206 and Ford Fiesta and Enzo Ferrari are the exceptions)?
Get real...

VW Golf is best in class? You've got to be kidding! The Golf is certainly popular, but there's a whole host of cars that are better. The Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Vauxhall/Opel Astra, Toyota Corolla, Peugeot 307....and on and on. The NEW Golf might be up there, but honestly! Ridiculous. The other categories are similarly daft.

Hasn't there been a thread on this forum like "Are You A Nationalist About Cars? (No Germans!)" I guess polls like this might be a clue to why Germans were "not invited"!  

KROC:
You should know better! 
I don't drive a Caddy, I drive a Lincoln.  

The problem with these kinds of "Customer surveys" is that each customer votes for his own car, which is not the best objective vote ...

Sebolino, have you ever owned a FIAT? If so, would you seriously vote for it?  

"I don't drive a Caddy, I drive a Lincoln"

We have a Lincoln LS  

"The problem with these kinds of "Customer surveys" is that each customer votes for his own car, which is not the best objective vote ..."

Given that that the VW Golf is Germany's top selling car, it's not rocket science as to why it's done well. I guess too, given that the Peugeot 206 is Europe's top selling car, it had to make it somewhere  

In a sense, perhaps it's like some of these questionable airline surveys. How many of the voters have driven enough of the competitors to really make a fair evaluation of which car is the best.

Golf as the best in its class, bah! The only thing that does best is having quality, in particular in the interior. In every other respect, it's very much yesterday's car. The NA petrol engines are largely quite poor for performance and fuel consumption, handling is dull, ride is underdamped at times, less roomy than contemporaries, etc, etc, etc.

I've got a question for the Germans. Why is Opel so poorly regarded in Germany these days?

Who ever told Skystar that the X5 hasn't sold one unit in the USA in December needs their heads checked. The X5 remains very popular even after being on the market for so long and also with the introduction of new products such as the "socially responsible" XC-90. Honestly though, the XC-90 is not really that much more responsible compared to the other premium European SUV's. Besides their advertising campaign, what's the difference between it and the X5, ML, Touareg, etc etc?

It's interesting that others mentioned that it's only because it was a German car magazine that the German cars did so well. That is true, but only to a point. Do a similar survey in other European countries, and the Germans will do very well. Similarly, do a survey in the United States, and you will still see a large German presence as the top vehicle choices.

1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Cabriolet.

8.2 litre fuel-injected V8.

5,300 pounds.

What a beast!

I owned several FIATs, I drive a Punto right now, and, guess what? I don't have any problem in voting for it!

Ciao ciao.

T_a

"Why is Opel so poorly regarded in Germany these days?"

Because they had several quality problems in the last years. They were not as reliable as they were used to be, and not as reliable as other cars in their class. And their model policy was really boring and off-market, just take a look at the current Omega, that's not how a car designed for the european market should look like.

Opel has improved their quality issues and their models (The new Corsa and the new Vectra do better), however once your reputation is screwed up it takes a long time until people forget it.


About the Golf IV, well don't forget that it's at the end of its lifetime, it's currently competing with younger cars. The Golf V should be presented this year, and will probably put the car in the position where its reputation already is: on top. Why the Golf is so popular in Germany? There are many people who just have their own history connected with the Golf, they've had different Golf's all the time and the neat little car is nearly a member of the family.

The fact that Germans prefer German car is surely true to some degree, however the problems Opel currently have show that we don't blindly buy anything built here.

"Is it true that not a single BMW X5 was sold in December in the USA? I find it hard to believe, but I was nevertheless told that."

Data from autospies:

BMW sold 2,694 X5s in the US during Jan '03, and an average of 3,145 per month during 2002.

Off-topic, but I didn't want to start a new topic:

New Audi A3:




New Mercedes CLK Cabriolet:




New Porsche SUV:

Ahhhhh, nice to see some fellow FIAT owners here!!  

Or as we FIAT owners say, FIAT; Fix It Again Tony!!!

Boeing nut, I'm no FIAT owner... Sadly, I'm not the owner of any car.  

Anyway, I love one FIAT-joke my English teacher once told in class: "They may be cheap when you buy them. The pain is to keep them working...."
Another one: FIAT - Für Idioten Ausreichendes Transportmittel = Idiot Appropriate Mean of Transportation

Just to level the "anti-FIAT" stuff:
BMW = Bayerischer MistWagen = Bavarian Crap Car
VW = Völlig Wertlos = Totally Trashy
GM = Großer Mist = Big Shit

lets see decisions decisions

Jaguar XK 8, Yep

Jaguar X type, Yep

Jaguar S type, hell yeah

Land Rover Range Rover, starting to drible

Astron Martin, The winner always no contest