'Best Cars 2018'
25.01.2018
P ro class, our readers were allowed to give two votes: the first for the personal favorite among all candidates, from which the overall winner is calculated, and the second for the best imported car. If an imported car has already been chosen as the overall winner, this vote counts twice - for the overall list and for the imported cars.
VW Up wins in the minicars
The result is the same in the mini-cars that of the previous year: The VW Up beats Opel Adam and Abarth 595/695 like 2017, but with a much clearer lead. The little speedster certainly owes this to the new Up GTI version, which has 115 hp. The next cup also goes to Wolfsburg. The sixth generation of the Polo with improved space puts the BMW i3 and the Audi A1 in their place.
In the compact class, first and second change positions compared to last year: the face-lifted Golf VII beats with a clear 4, 3 percentage points ahead of the Audi A3. Audi, BMW and Mercedes traditionally fight hard for victory and rank in the middle class, which is also reflected in the narrow point gap between the top five. In 2017, the Mercedes C-Class was still ahead of the game, now Audi has overtaken it to first place with the new A5 Sportback.
BMW 5 Series outdoes the Mercedes E-Class
At the top In the middle class, the new better turned out to be the enemy of the good: The light and smart BMW 5 Series distanced last year's winner Mercedes E-Class by a dozen percentage points. The luxury class, with the number of eligible candidates growing to 19 series, opens up for Porsche what shooters would call a nice spot shot: first place for the Porsche Panamera, and two more hits: with first place for the 911 both at the sports car as well as the convertibles.
The ninth category - compact SUVs /off-road vehicles - set a record before the election: with 55 series, no other class is more strongly occupied in the competition. Newcomer VW T-Roc reached third place, behind the Tiguan and the winner BMW X1. In the Large SUV /Off-Road Vehicle department, the Mercedes G was once again unshakably chosen from among 47 competitors. Basically, it will also be very reminiscent of the old man in the future, because the now presented successor to the field, forest and meadow master, who has been in production for 39 years, has a sturdy ladder frame again.
VW drives the fourth title in 2018 at the vans. The one in Hanover andPoznan-built all-rounder called Multivan swallows passengers, cubic meters of luggage and, in the all-wheel drive version, also paths that our grandmothers have always warned us about.
Variety of imported cars
Notes on the While the overall winners had five brands, the import cars had eight. The readers show a striking consistency in their judgment, which may also be due to the fact that exciting innovations were missing or could not prevail.
Both in the minicars as well as in the small cars, the compact and middle class, In the upper middle class and even in the luxury class, the winners known from last year made it to the top of the podium: Abarth 595/695, Mini, Skoda Octavia, the Giulia from Alfa Romeo as well as the Volvo models S90 /V90 and the Tesla Model S.
On the other hand, a breath of fresh air is blowing with the cars that generate the strongest driving storm: The sports car classification wins this year the Jaguar F-Type Coupé. And because you stand better on two winning legs than on just one, the F-Type, which is opened as a convertible, also takes first place among the open-air cars. The fifth place among the open import cars is occupied twice. Both the Bentley Continental GT Convertible and the Lamborghini Aventador Roadster share the same percentage.
Approval for the new compact SUV from Skoda is shaped by Category 9, which was dominated by the Range Rover Evoque in the previous year: the Karoq, named after the Eskimo words for car and arrow, buzzes to first place on the first attempt. In the large SUV, the Volvo XC90 can repeat its win from last year. And the vans? Here the Seat Alhambra relegated the Renault Espace to second place this time.
Dream cars for our winners
For four readers of auto motor und sport, the big competition “Best Cars 2018” would not have been at all can lie better: The winners of one of the four dream cars advertised as prizes not only dealt with the questions of the solution postcard, but also with the decision as to which new car could replace their old one in 2018.
Amusement park operator Danny Luderer was just thinking about a larger SUV than the previous ones when news of winning the Mazda CX-5 fluttered into the house. Photographer Siegfried Lahm was looking for a new means of transport for the four grandchildren and was toying with a Volvo XC40 when the message came: 'You just won one like this'.
Mold maker Georg Breunig is happy to restructure his fleet: “The Audi RS3 has always appealed to me,” and dentist Martin Zeitschel has just built a house - the new Opel Insignia Sports Tourer shines by relieving the building budget.
