How we decided 2023 carsales Car of the Year

We went bigger and better at this year’s carsales Car of the Year, proudly presented by Bingle – more time, more driving, more data and more assessment. All in the name of delivering the most thorough verdict possible when it came to determining the best new model released in Australia over the past 12 months.

Before we run you through the exhaustive process, let’s start with the basics. To be eligible for Car of the Year consideration, a vehicle must be:

Unsurprisingly, with dozens of new car brands launching multiple models each year, this still leaves us with a very large pool of candidates.

Using the experience of our senior editors and road testers, this is culled to a list of 30 contenders and then, via the same senior team’s voting, to 10 finalists plus two wildcards.

Any set deadline runs the risk of some vehicles missing the cut-off. Sadly, the Kia EV9 and BYD Dolphin and Seal didn’t quite make it in time (they’ll be eligible in 2024), which left us with the following 10 finalists (in alphabetical order):

BMW X1 sDrive18i
GWM Tank 300 Ultra
Hyundai Kona Premium 1.6 T-GDi N Line AWD
Mahindra XUV700 AX7L
Mazda CX-90 G50e Azami Takumi
Mercedes-Benz GLC 300
MG4 Excite 64
Nissan X-TRAIL Ti-L e-POWER
Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor
Range Rover Sport D300 Dynamic SE

Our two wildcards, selected by the road test team as worthy of a shot despite not having been thoroughly reviewed on home turf due to their recent arrival, were:

Ford Mustang Mach-E Premium
Honda CR-V e:HEV RS

While the outcome does not factor into our carsales COTY deliberations, readers are also able to have their say via the People’s Choice award. This year the winner is the Hyundai Kona.

With such wildly disparate vehicle types, costs and categories, it’s impossible to compare them directly with each other, so we don’t. Instead, each vehicle is judged within the context of its market segment and peers using our five criteria:

Cost of ownership is a key factor that sets the carsales COTY apart from enthusiast media awards.

While some others might consider price and perceived value for money, with the help of industry benchmark and expert, RedBook, we fully engage in the financial detail of new cars. Indeed, cost of ownership constitutes 50 per cent of a vehicle’s COTY score.

On behalf of carsales, RedBook ranks each of our final 12 vehicles in six key areas:

In the case of our 2023 field, once the numbers were crunched, our dozen finalists were ranked by RedBook in the following order:

Polestar 2
Mazda CX-90
GWM Tank 300
Hyundai Kona
Ford Mustang Mach-E
MG4
Nissan X-TRAIL
Mahindra XUV700
Mercedes-Benz GLC 300
Honda CR-V
Range Rover Sport
BMW X1

Related: FAQs — carsales Car of the Year

The remaining 50 per cent of a vehicle’s final carsales COTY score is determined by the 10-strong judging team, which starts the process with static walkarounds of each vehicle.

Each judge was assigned a contender or two – typically one they attended the launch of or have reviewed previously – and provided their colleagues with everything they needed to know about the model, including market context as well as strengths and weaknesses to watch out for.

Things like the Mustang Mach-E’s push-button door-handles, which appear to be an answer to a question nobody was asking.

While everyone is always keen to start driving, these static investigations reveal a huge amount about the cars. Examples after this year’s static assessment: few judges felt the CX-90’s cabin was premium enough to justify its price tag; the CR-V’s high-set second row limits headroom compared to the X-TRAIL; with bodies in the third row the Mahindra’s tailgate only j-u-s-t clears their heads; and the Range Rover Sport’s interior, while super-plush, was marred by a rear centre console lid that wouldn’t shut.

Dynamic assessments were conducted at the Lang Lang Proving Ground in South Gippsland, south-east of Melbourne. Two days at the purpose-built ex-Holden facility allowed the carsales COTY judges to focus on each car’s ride, handling and performance in a closed environment without worrying about other traffic.

All vehicles were also assessed for on-the-limit behaviour with emergency braking and lane-change tests, among others.

Lang Lang is a venue that’s purpose-designed to tie vehicles in knots and in a number of cases it did just that.

For every pleasant surprise – the X1’s characterful three-cylinder engine, the Range Rover Sport’s amazing ride on 23-inch rims, the X-TRAIL’s ride composure and the balanced, entertaining handling of the Polestar 2 and MG4 – there was an unwelcome finding.

In the case of the CX-90 it was unacceptable ride quality. The Tank 300 felt like its rear wheels were substantially unweighted under heavy braking, while the Mahindra’s steering proved unacceptably vague. Here too, the Mustang drained its battery in very short order and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, the Kona was found badly out of sorts on the ride and handling loop with inadequate suspension control.

On the final two days of dynamic assessment the carsales COTY circus moved to the seaside town of Cape Patterson. From here, judges used a challenging and varied 80km public-road drive loop to drive each contender two, and at times four, up back-to-back in real-world conditions.

After perfect weather at Lang Lang, the road loops were beset by abysmal conditions. Freezing cold, blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs, but it only served to put the carsales COTY contenders under an even finer microscope.

It did, however, bring the focus back to everyday roads at everyday speeds. Here, cars like the CX-90, CR-V and Kona worked their way back into contention with very polished real-world manners.

Contention for a spot in the top three, that is. For, as the week progressed a different car consistently garnered praise from its driver every time they stepped out from behind the wheel.

There may still be some debate about the minor rankings, but after each judge submitted their top-three votes, the Hyundai Kona and Polestar 2 scored well-earned Highly Commended awards for 2023.

There were no arguments about the winner, however. Eight of the 10 judges placed it first and the other two, a very close second.

When combined with ownership cost rankings the victor was clear – in fact, by a margin…

Congratulations, MG4.

A break-out car for the brand and a dominant victor of 2023 carsales Car of the Year, proudly presented by Bingle.