The 10 finalists for the Wesbank / South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ) 2012 Car Of The Year have been announced at the Johannesburg Motor Show.
The massive field that saw over 320 new model derivatives bidding for a place, was whittled down to 26 hopefuls, before the members of the SAGMJ cast their votes for the final 10 vehicles seen here.
Only vehicles launched between 1 October 2010 and 31 August 2011 were eligible for this year’s competition, with everything from entry-level hatchbacks to premium brand SUVs vying for the title. At this stage, however, the cream of the crop are listed alphabetically below (click the title to view each car):
Mark Jones, SAGMJ convenor of the competition, says, “The WesBank / South African Guild of Motoring Journalist’s Car of the Year 2012 competition is about automotive excellence and the winning vehicle must score highly in its own class, not against each other as is often thought, but across a variety of categories, including those which reflect value for money, safety, dynamics, technology and aesthetics, to name but a few.”
The winner of the 2012 South African Car Of The Year will be announced mid-March next year.
The SAGMJ, a professional body of qualified motoring writers, has annually awarded the title of SA’s Car of the Year for 25 years.
October 14th, 2011 at 11:58 am
I took delivery of a brand new Jetta 6 Tsi highline (118kw) on 29/09/2011.
On 12/10/2011 I had to take the 2 week old vehicle back to Barons N1 city due to an oil leak!!!!! This car has travelled 1 500km to date………
I noticed my driveway was full of oil spots, so obviously it had been leaking oil for a while (in the 12 day period that I owned it)
The service advisor at Barons N1 city informed me that they are struggling to trace the oil leak. They will have to start stripping in order to get to the cause of the oil leak. Also I was informed that the mechanics have never worked on a Jetta 6 before, so they will have to go read up……..
I was offered, by the service department, a Polo Vivo to drive in the mean time. I noticed the service advisor informing the Sales manager of the problem. I was told by the Customer liaison officer that they would call me with an update!
I then demanded to see Nigel Powis (sales manager) as I felt he should have done his “post sale duty” to reassure a very dissatisfied customer. On my prompting, Nigel apologised and reminded me that the car is a manufatured product and is bound to have some defects!!!! No possible solutions to the situation was offered.
Today Barons called to say they might have the vehicle ready as they were waiting on parts. The turbo charger gasket was blown!!!!
Is the the vw standard? Or is it reasonable for a new car with 1 500km on the clock to have an oil leak?
January 10th, 2012 at 10:59 am
LMAO. On that whole list, from all the sensible choices avaiable, there are two nominations that make absolute sense – The Hyundai and the Kia. The Ford and Suzuki are probably OK too. Who wants to own any of the other cars listed? SA Car of the year just doesn’t make sense.