carsales Car of the Year 2022 finalists announced
Best of the best named as we reveal our 10 finalists and two wildcards for COTY 2022
Last week we announced the 30 contenders for carsales Car of the Year 2022 proudly presented by Bingle. And now, it’s time to reveal the 10 finalists and two wildcards lining up for Australia’s number-one automotive consumer award this year.
Here, in alphabetical order, are the 12 models we’ll put through our vigorous COTY testing regime plus the two wildcards.
carsales Car of the Year finalists:
BMW iX xDrive40
BYD Atto 3 Extended Range
Cupra Formentor VZx
Ford Everest Sport
Honda Civic VTi-LX
Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit Reserve
Kia EV6 GT-Line AWD
Mercedes-Benz C 200
Tesla Model Y RWD
Volkswagen Polo Style
carsales Car of the Year wildcards:
Genesis GV60 Performance Lux
Toyota Corolla Cross Atmos AWD Hybrid
As is carsales’ COTY tradition, the two wildcards are selected at the discretion of our most senior road testers and in this case they’re the two most recently launched models in the Australian marketplace.
However, as is the case when it comes to our 30 contenders and the overall winner (plus two Highly Commended models), carsales Car of the Year finalists are determined by the unique combination of: votes from our 10 judges; and the automotive industry’s best consumer-focused data.
Indeed, each step of the carsales COTY determination process is adjudicated by a combination of expert opinion and exhaustive cost of ownership rankings – including resale values – supplied to carsales exclusively by Australia’s number-one automotive valuation authority, RedBook.
RedBook cost of ownership calculations are based on the entry-level variant of the 100-plus new models released in Australia over the past 12 months. This ensures our 30 contenders – let alone 12 finalists – are the cream of the crop according to both RedBook and carsales experts.
The two exceptions to our normal criteria are the Volkswagen Polo Style – the only manual in the field, so we chose the more popular auto – and the Toyota Corolla Cross Atmos AWD Hybrid, because the base GX 2WD variant was unavailable for testing and will be less popular anyway.
As usual, the carsales Car of the Year proudly presented by Bingle applies to the entire model range and our eligibility criteria remains as follows:
- All-new or substantially upgraded model
- Series-production model on sale this year
- Available for testing by October 31
- Priced below $250,000 (at least one variant)
- Fitted with autonomous emergency braking and a reversing camera as standard across the range
In addition, each vehicle was scored and then ranked in the below noted six areas as part of RedBook’s cost of ownership calculation methodology:
- Price: Compared to other models in the same market segment
- Depreciation: Average retail (non-private) value of a ‘good’ three-year-old example with 45,000km under its belt
- Running costs: Fuel, tyres, insurance and finance over three years
- Aftersales: Service costs, warranty and roadside assistance
- New technology: Score based on nine safety features designed to protect occupants and other road users
- Bonus points: Selected stand-out features standard across the range
No vehicle received a perfect score in any category and no vehicle topped all categories.
We’ll announce the carsales Car of the Year for 2022 proudly presented by Bingle on November 16, but once again you’ll get to decide the 2022 People’s Choice via an online poll.
Watch out for the poll to open on November 2.
Related: carsales Car of the Year 2022 starts here
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