carsales Car of the Year 2018: The nuts and bolts

The carsales Car Of The Year 2018 has been named, following an exhaustive process combining hands-on judging and RedBook data to arrive at our verdict.

An essential component of the judging process is, of course, the experts who cast their votes for one vehicle over another.

For the this year’s carsales Car of the Year award, eight judges worked their way through 24 finalists to whittle the field down to one winner for 2018.

Cumulatively boasting decades of experience, the team was led by carsales.com.au Managing Editor Marton Pettendy, supported by News Editor Sam Charlwood and Technical Editor Ken Gratton. The remaining five judges were noted journalists and long-standing carsales.com.au contributors Andrea Matthews, Tim Britten, Paul Gover, Bruce Newton and UK correspondent John Mahoney.

Over four days of testing the judges assessed cars for numerous criteria – firstly at three 'testing stations' at Wodonga TAFE's Logic Campus in Victoria's north and then on a drive program around Lake Hume.

The Logic Campus has been the headquarters for carsales Car of the Year testing for several years. It's a modern facility with a handy test track on the same plot of land.

Lake Hume provided scenic backdrops for video and still photography – and, most importantly, the drive program. The route passed through hamlets with names like Bellbridge and Bethanga and was chosen to offer up a mix of coarse-chip bitumen, bends and elevation to test the cars thoroughly for on-road refinement and driveability.

From the outset the plan was to determine the winner through a three-stage process, with the judges taking part in the second and final stages.

By the time judges arrived at the Logic Campus, 24 vehicles had already been corralled for evaluation.

Those contenders were shortlisted from the scores of new vehicles released in 2018 by the carsales editorial team.

Basic eligibility requirements for our awards are as follows:
• Vehicles must be series production available via dealers or similar distribution chain
• Must be substantially updated or a new variant within this calendar year
• On sale before December 31 and available for testing (eligible late arrivals will be carried over to the following year)
• At least one variant with a price under $250,000
• Reversing camera standard on all models
• AEB available

To expand on the last point, AEB needed to be offered on at least one variant (even as an extra-cost option) for the entire model range to be eligible for carsales Car of the Year 2018.

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In 2019, AEB will be mandatory across all variants if a new vehicle is to be considered for carsales Car of the Year. Yes, we believe AEB is that important!

For the second stage, judging was 'hands on' across three key testing stations.

Assessing vehicle dynamics and safety, in addition to an abbreviated on-road test loop, the Pettendy/Newton duo drove every vehicle through a number of exercises on the track at the Logic Campus.

The Charlwood/Gover/Mahoney team evaluated 'innovation and technology' – assiduously poking and prodding infotainment systems for the fastest Bluetooth connection or raising vehicles on hoists in the hunt for the odd alloy suspension member underneath.

The Britten/Gratton/Matthews trio filed through the cars to test 'packaging and presentation' – which included ergonomics and build quality while rewarding each car for full-size spare wheels on matching alloy rims, rear seat spaciousness or third-row seating flexibility and luggage capacity.

And all that was just the second phase of the testing... The judges were yet to drive the cars on our formal test loop.

Before the third and final phase, it was time to cull the also-ran contenders from the finalists. Points scored by the judges at the three 'testing stations' a day earlier were added to RedBook points for pricing and value for money (see below) to settle on finalists.

For the final stage of the 2018 carsales Car of the Year selection process, our judges paired up to subject each of the finalists to the Lake Hume drive loop.

Here the finalists were assessed for road noise, handling, performance and comfort – factors not easily ascertained from a brochure, a spreadsheet or even by laying hands on a parked car at the TAFE campus.

Hands-on judging determined 60 per cent of the final score.

Finally, all the judges' scores were submitted and combined with the RedBook dataset (see below) to calculate a total score. The car with the highest aggregate score was named the winner.

Value, warranty, after-sales support and projected cost of ownership are key factors considered when determining carsales Car of the Year.

This data, provided by RedBook, helps set our annual award apart from competitors but, more importantly, delivers real insight into information important to new-vehicle buyers and owners.

To determine a vehicle’s data score, RedBook calculates cost to run and retained value based on an ownership period of three years and total mileage of 60,000km. Cost to run includes fuel, tyres, insurance, servicing and the like. Cost to own includes finance costs and depreciation.

RedBook also evaluates warranty coverage and allocates safety bonus points for the inclusion of standard equipment such rear cross traffic alert and lane departure warning and assistance.

The retail price and value for money (calculated compared to segment rivals) provided by RedBook is factored into in the selection of the finalists for carsales Car of the Year.

The full RedBook data suite then constitutes 40 per cent of the score in the final stage of carsales Car of the Year judging.

All expert evaluation and ownership costs and affordability calculations are based on the price, packaging and equipment of the respective top-selling private-buyer variants.

In simple terms the carsales Car of the Year involves the following steps:

carsales.com.au editorial staff consider all new releases subject to eligibility and select a short list of contenders for testing (model based on best-selling private variants).

RedBook assembles data for the contenders and calculates value based on pricing and options averaged across VFACTS segments.

Judging commences with assessment of each contender across dynamics, technology and packaging areas.

Judges' aggregated scores (90%) and RedBook value-adjusted data (10%) decide the rankings of the finalists.

Judges then individually assess each finalist on the road and score each vehicle based on performance, comfort, driveability and other criteria.

These scores (60%) are added to RedBook data (40%) including cost to own and run and standard safety features.

The car scoring the highest number is carsales Car of the Year.