New Volkswagen Golf is European Car of the Year

The new Volkswagen Golf Mk 7 is the European Car of the year for 2013, polling twice as many votes as the second place Toyota GT86 (and Subaru BRZ).

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The finalists for the European Car of the Year 2013 were revealed in December, so we knew this year’s winner would be a lot more realistic than last year’s.

Last year we had the Vauxhall Ampera voted as European Car of the Year, a verdict we called ‘Completely Stupid’. And in 2011 it was the Nissan LEAF that took the Car of the Year Gong. Which we called a farce. Fortunately, the ECOTY panel has seen sense this year and voted the new Mk 7 VW Golf as the 2013 European Car of the Year.

It may not be the most inspired choice, but it’s one that’s hard to argue with. In fact, the new Golf managed to poll more than twice as many votes as the second place car – the Toyota GT86 / Subaru BRZ – which narrowly pipped the new Volvo V40, which came in a creditable third.

Behind the new Volvo V40 was the very credible Ford B-Max followed by the new Mercedes A Class, new Renault Clio, Peugeot 208 and new Hyundai i30.

We may have a few moans about the order of the runners-up, but we have no real argument with the ECOTY panel finally judging the winner based on its real world abilities and appeal to car buyers.

Congratulation to VW.