CAR SA reveals best cars of 2007

Winner of New Car Design of the Year 2007 / Audi

Audi and Honda take top honours in annual survey

CAR, the biggest-circulating auto magazine in Southern Africa – read by around a million people – has released its best cars of 2007 in the March 2008 issue. Known as the CAR Top 12 Best Buys Awards, the 9th edition of the event used the 8-man CAR editorial team to determine a winner in 12 set categories that generally cover just about every vehicle segment.

Honda Motor took the top honours when it was named Motor Company of the Year, while the Audi R8 took New Car Design of the Year. The winners in the categories section were:

Best Budget Car: Chevrolet Spark 1.0 LT
Best Light Car: Mazda2
Best Compact Car: Honda Civic
Best Compact Executive: Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Best Executive Saloon: Lexus GS300
Best Grand Saloon: Mercedes-Benz S-Class:
Best Hot Hatch: Audi S3
Best Sports/Performance Car: Porsche 911
Best MPV/Station Wagon: Nissan Livina
Best Compact SUV: Honda CR-V
Best SUV: Toyota Fortuner
Best Double-cab/Pick-up: Toyota Hilux

Source: CAR

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Joe_Limon

it's weird how the only "North American" brand car on this list is one that isn't sold in North America... come to think of it, the only cars I have ever seen on the streets over here are the civic, cr-v and the4runner.

February 16, 2008 8:15 pm

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skychao

haha no no, in NA there are c-class mercs, lexus gs300s, s-classes, audi a3, 911, in adition to the civic, crv and 4runner. we just dont have the spark, the mazda 2, and the livina

February 16, 2008 8:59 pm

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Joe_Limon

They may sell c-class mercs, lexus gs300s, s-classes, audi a3, 911 in north america. But that isn't what I said, I said that I do not see them on our streets. In other words they do not sell well... mostly dodge/ford/chevy/gmc trucks, or small to middle class cars like civics, camrys or calibers.

February 17, 2008 5:38 am

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dom6698

if you read the comment properly, the guy was saying the only American brand car (the Spark) is not made or sold in America. i think that theres alot to be said for the fact that, most of North American Chevys and Fords are not sold far overseas - perhaps they don't import Euro Fords and Opels because they think they'll have to raise the quality of the American range to match the European

February 16, 2008 9:03 pm

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un_peacekeeper

And to add to Dom's comment on Skychao...Skychao, NO the S3 isn't in NA.

February 16, 2008 9:11 pm

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3Iceman

Congratulations to all of them! The most important thing is, that there are no BMWs on the list. Copy-paste doesn't pay off BMW!

February 16, 2008 9:18 pm

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Bremen_Koenigsegg

The R8 was named Canadian Car of the Year for 2007, which should come as no surprise to anyone with half an understand of how amazing it is. =D

February 16, 2008 9:30 pm

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cayenne

"in NA there are c-class mercs, lexus gs300s, s-classes, audi a3, 911, in adition to the civic, crv and 4runner. we just dont have the spark, the mazda 2, and the livina" Yeah!that right in NA i dont see Mazda and Nissan just somtimes in states of USA important Honda and Mercedes.

February 17, 2008 12:52 am

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Get_real

A bit strange that the R8 wins the 'Best New Car Design' award while the 911 still wins the 'Best Sports/Performance' trophy...

February 17, 2008 11:22 am

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Vlad27

GPKH, you are wrong. The CAR Top 12 is not chosen by the public, but by CAR's eight-man editorial team, which includes Jake Venter (an engineer on the World Engine of the Year) jury, the editor John Bentley, and Hannes Oosthuizen (deputy editor, on the World Car of the Year jury). The competition run on the website is merely for readers to see if they can predict the winners, and win prizes! This is not a survey at all. CAR also ranks a number of "runners-up" in each category.

February 18, 2008 3:58 am

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andy

best ugly car of the year : BMW X6

February 18, 2008 4:24 am

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cpa11420

You must live in Michigan...Toyota is top 2 in the US.

February 18, 2008 7:01 pm

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Moviestar

R8 not sure how this made it car of yr ... Andy agree with you X6 is but ugly, never seen something so yuk!!