The VW Polo has been voted World Car of the Year 2010, beating off competition from the Mercedes E Class and the Toyota Prius.As you may have realised from some of the stories coming in, the 2010 New York Motor Show is in full swing in the Big Apple. Not the most exciting car show on the planet – and pretty US-Centric at that – but a few nuggets have piqued interest. One of these is the announcement that the latest VW Polo has been declared the 2010 World Car of the Year.
The new Polo beat off competition in the final from the latest Toyota Prius and the 2010 Mercedes E Class to take the honour. And that’s about right. The E Class certainly deserved to be in there and maybe even the Prius too (not because it’s a good car – it’s not – but because Toyota was the first to market with the hybrid which – in forms other than those peddled by Toyota – is offering the motoring Holy Grail of more for less).
The Polo is a cracking car. It’s well conceived, beautifully put together and offers a model to suit just about every need you can conceive of for a small car – and then some. It’s also good to drive and has great residuals. Which all adds up to a very desirable little run-around.
Also up for grabs was the World Performance Car of the Year Award, which was a showdown between the Audi R8 V10, the Porsche 911 GT3 and the Ferrari California. The award went to the R8 V10, which is also probably the right decision. We’re not all that sure the final entrants were the best final three possible, but we can’t deny the R8 V10 is an astonishing car, especially from such a mainstream car maker as Audi. The Porsche GT3 is probably a bit too extreme to win and the California is a bit of a cynical car.
So the awards were about right. If a bit safe.