I have a feeling that tomorrow, we will hear that the Ford Ka, as driven by Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace, will be European Car of the Year. It has a good chassis, it’s a subcompact car that ?ts modern European sensibilities, and it has cross-Europe appeal. Our second pick would be the Alfa Romeo MiTo, based on the Fiat 500, a previous winner—but Ford has a habit of making better chassis. Both are on our Car to Be Seen in shortlist, but we have very different and less objective criteria than the European motoring journalists.
PS.: That was a buggy post and the gremlins crept in big time. Not entirely sure how—maybe I am looking really far into the future with the 2009–10 picks! There were two errors, as pointed out by commenters: the Alfa Romeo MiTo is on the Fiat Grande Punto platform (this was a regular brain-faster-than-fingers typo). Secondly, the Ford Fiesta is on the shortlist, not the Ka (no explanation on how the error got in). In which case my money is on the B409 Fiesta.
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U’mm the Ka & 500 share platforms, the MiTo is based on the Grande Punto.
Sorry, my mistake: you are absolutely right.
Although I love the look of the new ka, but IMO it won’t win European COTY. The journalists were kind to it at the press launch in Ibiza, but it didnt drive them wild with excitement in the way that (for example) the Fiat 500 did a year ago :-)
kevinb
myka.org
Thank you for your contribution, Kevin—may I ask whom you think could win? I always wonder about COTY because of the scoring system—hence cars like the Simca 1307 have managed to win in the past.
I’d reserve judgment on the MiTo ’till seeing it “in the metal”. From the Fiat Group and Car mag shots it looks a bit odd, Micra’esque, from some angles.
Given the Golf is dull*, I think it will be the Megane or C5.
* Designed solely to make more money for VW, like a driver cares about that!
Its the Ford FIESTA which is in the COTY lineup the Ka is not in the list of finalists so kevin knows the ka cant win. He is pulling yuor leg, but he was good on the ChildrenInNeed programme the other night so I forgive him
Oh well, then the Fiesta. Boy, that was a buggy post.
Robin, totally agreed on the Golf. But I don’t think it’ll be a big car like the C5 or Superb.