Driven Women Magazine’s Car of the Year awards are based on the cars that I have driven in the calendar year. The judging panel consists of myself, my husband and my two children and I’m pretty sure our COTY awards are the only car awards in the world that have a 50:50 gender split on the judging panel and representation across generations. What is more authentic than car reviews written by a woman with input from her family?
My family and I reviewed more than 60 cars from 25 marques with a combined price as tested amount of over $8 million.
So, without any further ado, here are the winners!
My Daughter’s Car of the Year
For anyone who has been following my journey over the years it will be of no surprise that my daughter has once again awarded her Car of the Year to the Ford Mustang Dark Horse because she thinks it’s beautiful. To top it off my whole family even joined me at the Australian launch of the seventh generation Ford Mustang.
My Son’s Car of the Year
This year my son chose the Kia EV9 GT-Line as his Car of the Year because he liked the colour and the technology on offer in the cabin. He also liked the head rests a lot, in his opinion they are second only to the Rolls-Royce I reviewed some years ago.
Driven Women Magazine’s Ute of the Year
The Ford Ranger, in particular those powered by the V6 diesel engine and the Ranger Raptor of course, are is still the best ute you can buy in Australia in my opinion. The Ford Ranger Platinum offered a good ride quality, for a ute, and I like that the Ranger has proper rear tether child seat restraint points across the range.
Driven Women Magazine’s Eco Car of the Year
Our Eco Car of the Year goes to not one car, but an entire range, the Kia Hybrids. Kia have introduced hybrid engines across much of their range and I have driven most of them, I think? This includes the Carnival, Sportage, and Sorento in 2024. They are the best hybrid vehicle currently available on the Australian market in my opinion.
A highly commended also goes to the Volvo EX30, which had the best economy kWh/100km of all of the EVs I drove in 2024.
Driven Women Magazine’s SUV of the Year
The Ford Everest Wildtrak is a great SUV for family adventuring and has seven usable seats with child seat restraint points on both the second and third rows. Initially only offered as a special edition the Ford Everest Wildtrak has been re-introduced by Ford Australia, due to popular demand.
The Highly Commended award goes the Aston Martin DBX707 because it makes every journey special and the interior is beautiful.
Driven Women Magazine’s Performance Car of the Year
This was once again by far the toughest category to decide this year for me and my family, but in the end the C8 Corvette Stingray 3LT Convertible won out over the gorgeous Aston Martin DB12. But roof down driving in the naturally aspirated V8-powered Corvette, with its fantastic seat positioning and a feature I think every supercar should have, a soft close boot and frunk made it the winner in 2024.
My other Highly Commended award for the Performance Car of the Year goes to the Ferrari 296 GTS, for its amazing F1-spec hybrid technology.
Driven Women Magazine’s Fun Car of the Year
The Hyundai IONIQ 5 N is an EV that will make even the most ardent motoring enthusiast giggle thanks to its performance. I was even impressed by its energy consumption figures as well!
Highly Commended awards go to my perennial favourite the Honda Civic Type R and the basic, but brilliant, Mazda MX-5 Roadster GT RS.
Driven Women Magazine’s Car of the Year
The Mini Countryman S All4 in Favoured Trim sort of snuck up on my family this year, we did mention when we were driving it that it would be a COTY contender, and then looking back over the vehicles we had driven, it stood out as being our favourite for the 2024. The funky and spacious interior and in particular Spike, Mini’s virtual assistant, were what impressed us the most.
I also drove the Performance version of last year’s COTY winner, the Audi RS 6 Avant, and it’s still one of our all-time favourite vehicles that we have ever reviewed.
Congratulations to all of the winners of this year’s COTY awards. But although we have reached the top, this is not the end…
Driven Women Magazine’s Car of the Century
This year we have one more special award, The Car of the Century! We may be only a quarter of the way through the 21st Century, but I am going to call the Ferrari Purosangue, The Car of the Century.
I’ll admit that I had some quibbles about the tech in the Purosangue, but that naturally aspirated V12 in a four-door family friendly Ferrari, well I’m sorry nothing is topping that for me!
I started my journey as a car reviewer in a Ferrari California T and can say that I would happily end it with the Ferrari Purosangue.
But for now, there’s still plenty of new vehicles for my family and I to review and the line-up for 2025 is looking even more varied than last year and I can’t wait to share these with you.
Stay safe and happy driving!
Photographs by Driven Women Magazine.
