Kizashi takes out AA Car of the Year

Toyota, Lexus, Audi, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Skoda, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Hyundai, Ford, Kia, Holden, BMW, Mini and Mercedes-Benz all entered vehicles in this year’s awards, but it was ultimately the Suzuki Kizashi 2.4 GLX manual that was crowned supreme winner, as well as best medium sized car.

Judged by a panel of motoring writers and experts, the 60 cars were put through their paces over five days and some 8000kms on local roads, around the Taupo racetrack and, for some vehicle categories, off road as well.

AA General Manager of Motoring Services, Stella Stocks, says “The $35,990 Supreme Winner is a very good affordable vehicle, suitable for a wide range of people and all their motoring needs. The judges said it has astonishing attention to detail both inside and out; that it is refined, quiet and comfortable; and dynamically it was easily the best in its medium car class.”

Read our review of the Suzuki Kizashi here.

The Toyota Corolla was awarded Car of the Decade, having been incredibly popular over the past 10 years, continually topping sales charts and proving a reliable workhorse.

Other winners were:

Small Car – VW Polo TSI 77KW

Compact Car – VW Golf TSI 77KW

Large Car – Skoda Superb Combi TSI 118

Luxury/Executive Car – Mercedes-Benz E250 CDI

Small Crossover – Skoda Yeti TDI 4×4 DSG

Large Crossover – VW Touareg V6 TDI

Performance Car – VW Scirocco R TSI 195KW

Safest Car – BMW 5 Series

Environmental Car – Toyota Prius