FAQs: 2023 carsales Car of the Year

carsales Car of the Year begins many months before our week-long field test of the eventual finalists.

It’s a multi-stage process that importantly incorporates RedBook.com.au cost of ownership data at each step. Indeed, it’s this combination of votes from our experienced judging panel and the industry’s best new-vehicle data that makes carsales Car of the Year proudly presented by Bingle more consumer focussed than any other award.

It's also very different from those award programs that, a little like primary school sports carnivals, ensure everyone wins a prize.

So what data are we talking about, how does it apply to the scoring process and what do the judges consider when voting? Read on to find the answers to these and many other questions below.

carsales Car of the Year awards the best new model released in Australia every year and strict eligibility requirements ensure that (a) no model wins twice, (b) we have time to thoroughly test them and (c) that the winner is freely available and accessible to Aussie buyers.

Therefore to be eligible, COTY candidates must be available for testing on the required dates (usually the second week of October); must be new or substantially upgraded in the prior 12 months; and must be series-production passenger cars or SUVs (so no utes) available via dealers or similar distribution channels. In addition to these requirements, the vehicles must be fitted with a reversing camera and autonomous emergency braking as standard in all variants, and priced under $250,000 (at least one variant at recommended retail price).

No. With the current format for ANCAP testing an increasing number of highly capable vehicles are not ANCAP rated or even tested. For instance, a growing number of Australian-bound vehicles are sourced from US-focussed product programs which do not prioritize Euro NCAP (and therefore nor ANCAP). We will review this in future years but anticipate carsales COTY will require attribute based safety improvements, ie: we will require fitment of key safety features rather than a rating as an eligibility requirement.

RedBook scores and ranks all COTY candidates for total cost of ownership based on a range of metrics (compared to rivals in the same market segment), including purchase price, depreciation (average retail – non-private – value of a ‘good’ three-year-old example with 45,000km), running costs (finance, insurance, fuel/electricity use and tyres over three years), aftersales provisions (service costs, warranty and roadside assistance), new technology (based on nine safety features designed to protect occupants and other road users) and bonus points – selected stand-out features standard across the vehicle’s range.

RedBook rankings constitute 50 per cent of each vehicle’s score, with judges’ votes accounting for the other half.

This formula is used at each step of the COTY process, from reducing the list of hundreds of eligible model variants to 30 contenders, then to 10 finalists and two wildcards – chosen at the discretion of judges – and the eventual winner and two Highly Commended models.

Where possible, RedBook rankings and judges’ votes are based on the volume-selling private purchase variant within each respective model range. In the case of new models (with limited sales data), the manufacturer nominates what it believes will be the volume selling variant. When awarded, the carsales Car of the Year award applies to the entire model range.

Unlike a carsales Best award or a head-to-head comparison, it’s impossible to compare the disparate carsales Car of the Year vehicles directly with each other, so we don’t. Instead, each vehicle is judged within the context of its market segment and peers across four key criteria: safety, practicality and presentation, innovation and technology, and driving performance.

The carsales Car of the Year field assessment week commences with static walkaround presentations of all 10 finalists and two wildcards by the judging team.

Each judge is assigned a vehicle (or two) – typically one they attended the launch of or have reviewed previously – and provides their colleagues with everything they need to know about the model, including context and any strengths and weaknesses to watch out for.

These static interrogations are designed to assess each vehicle in the areas of multimedia technology, packaging (occupant and cargo accommodation), ergonomics, comfort, storage provisions, design and build quality, interior material quality, visibility, etc.

The ‘on-road’ testing phase begins off public roads at the iconic Lang Lang proving ground in eastern Victoria. Here, the 12 vehicles are put through their dynamic paces over two days, allowing the judges to focus on each car’s ride, handling and engine performance in a closed environment.

The safe, traffic-free environment gives our judges the ability to assess each vehicle’s limit behaviour on the wet skidpan and the ride and handling circuit, as well as its 100-0km/h emergency braking performance, its 0-100km/h acceleration and its stability in an ISO-standard lane-change test.

Four-up drives of some vehicles and, where applicable, Lang Lang’s off-road track are also used to assess and discuss specific vehicle behaviours.

The final two days of field testing comprise an 80km public-road drive loop that encompasses a wide range of road types and conditions. For this leg the judges pair up, allowing each vehicle to be tested back-to-back in real-world conditions.

The carsales Car of the Year judging panel is one of the world’s most experienced, with well over 200 years of combined automotive journalism experience.

It comprises managing editor Marton Pettendy, road test editor Scott Newman, senior editors Sam Charlwood and Feann Torr, journalist and production editor Terry Martin, news editor Callum Hunter, staff journalist Ali Lawrence, senior contributors Bruce Newton and Tim Britten, and UK correspondent John Mahoney,

Quite a few, given the supply chain issues that continue to plague Australia’s new-vehicle industry, but the two most notable last-minute exclusions because they didn’t quite make our cut-off were the Kia EV9 and BYD Dolphin and Seal. These vehicles remain eligible for inclusion in the 2024 carsales COTY.

Because the upgraded 2024 Polestar 2 is a significantly different vehicle to the one that was first launched in 2021, with a substantial midlife facelift bringing more standard equipment, greater safety and a huge lift in power and range. With a shift from front to rear-wheel drive, it’s all but a new vehicle. The rear-drive platform also gifted the updated Polestar 2 with much-improved driving dynamics.

Because carsales Car of the Year has a different set of criteria to our Best awards, in which cost of ownership accounts for just 20 per cent of a vehicle’s score, rather than 50 per cent as with COTY.

And because the MG4 Excite 64kWh variant ($44,990) that participated in COTY 2023 is a better car than the much cheaper ($38,990), entry-level Excite 51kWh that contested carsales Best Electric Car 2023.

The MG4 Essence 64kWh ($47,990) and Long Range 77kWh ($55,990) variants we drove in August are much better equipped, and later this week the flagship MG4 XPOWER, which we drove in China in early July, will bring 320kW of power and all-wheel drive traction for $59,990, which is less than any Tesla and represents unrivalled bang for your bucks.

carsales Car of the Year is awarded to the entire model range and, with a five-variant line-up that opens with one of Australia’s cheapest EVs and adds more power, range and/or equipment all the way to the cracking new XPOWER, the talented new MG4 is a more than worthy winner of COTY 2023.

No. The choice of vehicles included in carsales COTY rests entirely with the carsales editorial team. No fees are charged. Nor does carsales require the brand to participate in any advertising or other commercial programs to be eligible.

No. Unlike some other media outlet car award programs, car companies or their marketing representatives do not pay any fees to use the carsales Car of the Year award attribution.

There are basic COTY branding and logo usage requirements but carsales does not charge for the use of these in any form. Indeed, we encourage brands to use the carsales COTY logo as an indicator to consumers that the vehicle in question is ranked as the best new vehicle of the year.

carsales Car of the Year is judged using a strict set of criteria including cost of ownership, which accounts for 50 per cent of the scoring process.
Given running costs are generally relatively lower for EVs, that has certainly helped vehicles like the value-packed MG4 this year, as well as the Kia EV6 in 2022 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 in 2021.

With the purchase prices of EVs continuing to come down, this advantage should continue into the future, when the number of new EVs launches will accelerate.
But there’s no reason a new ICE model won’t be named carsales Car of the Year in future, if its cost of ownership is competitive and if enough of our judges vote for it.

And we’ll continue to recognise the best models in their respective segments via our Best awards, including Best First Car, Best Small SUV, Best Mid-Size SUV, Best Family SUV, Best Off-Road SUV, Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute and Best Used Car.