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The shortlist for the 2009 Car of the Year award has been announced, and the winner will be revealed at the Autocar Awards on November 17th. Seven cars are still in the running, whittled down from the 40 that were entered for the prize.

The finalists are the Alfa Romeo Mito, the Citroen C5, Ford’s new Fiesta, the Vauxhall Insignia, the Renault Megane, Skoda’s new Superb and the Mk6 VW Golf.

The competition is judged by 59 of Europe’s best-respected motoring journalists from 23 co...Read the full article

I know COTY results are notoriously hard to predict (and not always a reflection on the abilities of the actual car), but here's my reconing on the results....

1st  -  Vauxhall / Opel Insignia

2nd  -  Skoda Superb

3rd  -  Ford Fiesta

 Let's see how wrong I can get it!

1. Fiesta

2. Megane

3. C5

That must be one of the dullest shortlists on record. I know the Italians tend to 'over win' - rumours abound of Eurovision style voting carve-ups, but I'd have to say that the Mito is the only thing on the list that's anything more than bog standard. C5 at a pinch, I suppose.

I think the Fiesta should take the honours for having combination of style, driving ability, saftey, eco friendliness and at the same time raising power, and for reversing a trend by making it weigh less. And it cost less than the old one!

Ford deserve recognition for this...

My top three would be as follows:

1. Alfa Romeo Mito

2. Vauxhall Insignia

3. VW Golf MK6 

I would be happy to drive any of the above, but none of the other four.

 

My guess would be:

1) Alfa MiTo (if there is a FIAT product involved, it will win)

2) Fiesta (fully deserved of the win, but see above)

3) Citroen C5 (a genuinely different choice in an increasingly bland and mundane sector. Insignia? Do me a favour!) 

Car of the Year is a joke, always has been!  Look at the list of winners over the years, some really incomprehensible decisions!  And surprise surprise, what a boring shortlist we have this year from the usual suspects...

Ditto the two other posts, this is a list of future mediocrity.  Car manafacturers who genuinely have a quality product must dread the prospect of getting nominated.  Easy to pick the winner, pick the model closest to the brief of "average car" in every respect.  The most homogenous, dull, tick every box, excel in none, blancmange of the group, that will win.

 

simon_ingram:

Ford deserve recognition for this...

Well, yes, although it is using the Mazda 2 platform which was developed by Mazda. Yes, I know they're a part of the same company, but Ford can't themselves claim all the credit. IIRC the Mazda 2 came second last year...

the shortlist is a farce - there is only one nominee for this year's COTY and that is the Jaguar XF

 It will be

1. Alfa Mito

2. Lancia Delta

3. Ford Fiesta....

Alfa Mito is a worthy winner, if it is. I dont know why we crib about all the fiat group products in the UK while rest of Europe is fine with it.  I think they deserve this award. An italian car, apart from ferrari of course, will get one star less in a British road test. Latest example being the latest Roadtest of Fiat GP, which was branded as "starting to look old" by Autocar. I think, even with the new fiesta, the punto still looks great and very sexy despite being 4+ years old. Italian cars are just not there with the Germans, seems to be the conclusion of every roadtest.

  Just because service isnt very good, or a minor problem somewhere, it somehow reflects in the conclusion part of every roadtest of every alfa, Fiat and now Lancia, we test here. While if you see European reviews, they seem to be totally different  to their British counterparts.. I think its time to accept the facts that Italian cars are equally good, if not better, than the Germans but their pluses and minuses are at different places... as no product can be called as perfect in today's scenario...COTY is a reflection of journo-choice from over the subcontinent, and all of them cant be wrong.... Accept the fact that Fiat has infact won it more than 8 times....which no other manufacturer has been able to match.... and this surely deserve a good round of applause for the manufacturer...