Women’s World Car of the Year 2011: Citroen DS3 & BMW 5-Series

Women's World Car of the Year (WWCOTY) 2011 - DS3 & 5 Series tie

The 2011 Women’s World Car of the Year has been a split decision, with the panel declaring the Citroen DS3 & BMW 5-Series joint winners.

We’ll decline to question too much what the response would be if a panel of male motoring writers voted for a ‘Man’s World Car of the Year Award’. Although we’d speculate that most women would consider that every other car awards is exactly that.

But just as we did in 2009, we find the 2011 Women’s World Car of the Year Award winners to be in accord with what any panel of knowledgeable car bods would vote for, with the wonderful Citroen DS3 and the exceptional BMW 5-Series tying as winners.

The judging panel for the WWCOTY has criteria that wouldn’t necessarily be declared as top of the list for a predominantly male panel, but the results are incredibly similar despite that.

The criteria includes practical stuff like storage space, ease of driving, child-friendliness and environmental impact, as well as more subjective stuff like sex appeal and aesthetics. All of which we’d like to think are high on the list for any judging panel – regardless of gender – if not necessarily declared so clearly.

WWCOTY head judge, Sandy Myhre, said:

These awards are unique worldwide and are gaining recognition. We began with eight original judges in 2009 and have now doubled that, which reflects the importance of a woman’s viewpoint to the motor industry.

And we won’t argue with Sandy – she’s much too knowledgeable on her subject and very passionate about the WWCOTY – even if we would rather see more women on existing award panels than have a separate ‘Women’s’ awards.

But, Sandy, we agree with more of your awards than we would with many other higher-profile car gong endowers.