It’s a tradition for motoring magazines to hold an annual awards ceremony and so we thought it would be only fitting for Driven Women Magazine to do so as well.
So based on the judging panel consisting of my family I give you our best picks from the 24 press cars that I have driven in 2018. So without further ado, let’s kick things off…
My Daughter’s Car of the Year
I asked each of my children to nominate their favourite car we have driven this year and my daughter chose the Mercedes-Benz A 200. She liked it because of its small size and the ease of reaching things in the car. She also liked the ambient lighting (as did I) and I have a feeling she had some flashbacks of the A45 AMG that we drove in 2017 that she also quite enjoyed.
She gave a Highly Commended Award to the Honda Odyssey, strangely again because she liked the large size of the car and the relaxing back captain’s chairs.
My Son’s Car of the Year
My son chose the Jaguar F-PACE as his favourite car of the year. He liked the exterior and interior colour combinations, the small screen at the base of the rear of the centre console and the ambient lighting.
He also gave a Highly Commended Award to the Honda Odyssey for the same reasons as my daughter.
Youth Elixir Award
This Award goes to the car that most made me feel young again. I’m happy to say I drove a few cars this year with a manual gearbox, so this was quite a tough one to choose.
But I decided to go with the Nissan 370Z NISMO, not just because of the manual box, but also analogue dials and naturally aspirated V6 engine. It was a joy to drive a car like that again. My review of the NISMO features in Issue Three of Driven Women Magazine.
My Highly Commended Awards go to the Honda Civic Type R and the Toyota 86 GTS (review to come next year).
Fun Car Award
This was a very easy choice and the award goes to the Jaguar F-TYPE SVR. I really loved this car and it made me smile every time I looked at it and every time I drove it. I would really like to have one in my garage permanently.
The Highly Commended Award goes to the Lotus Evora GT430, which features in Issue Three of Driven Women Magazine.
Surprise Packet Award
The car that surprised me most this year was the Kia Stinger GT, I still can’t believe you get so much car for the price. It’s fun to drive, it looks great and it goes well.
I need to win Lotto Award
I only drove one luxury car this year, the Bentley Bentayga V8 and it was epic and it should be considering is cost more than half a million dollars on the road! If I had that kind of money to spend on a SUV then I would definitely have one of these in my garage.
My review of the Bentayga features in Issue Three of Driven Women Magazine.
Car of the Year
Drum roll please, as we get to the most prestigious award of this post, the Driven Women Magazine Car of the Year.
This is car was almost perfectly suited to the modern urban dweller and did everything incredibly well and that’s why I’ve decided that the Volvo XC40 T5 R-Design Launch Edition is our car of the year.
The Highly Commended Award goes to the Kia Sorento GT-Line for the standard features it comes with and the all-round good package that is.
What do you think of our choices? What is your car of the year?
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.