Here’s the rest of the Best
CATEGORY WINNERS IN OUR BEST OF THE BEST 2015 AWARDS the brakes if the driver doesn’t respond to warnings. There’s also Traffic Sign Recognition, which provides the driver with real-time speed limit in the instrument cluster display; and an automatic parking feature that will guide you into a parallelparking or alley-docking bay without you having to operate the steering.
The Fusion is very refined and solid, and has stand-out styling. The Aston Martinlike grille and sleek design gives it real road presence and emotional appeal, in contrast to the often sterile styling that characterises family sedans in this league.
The other finalists were: BMW 3 Series upgrade, Citroën Cactus, Ford Tourneo Connect, Kia Grand Sedona, Peugeot 308, VW Passat.
BEST PERFORMANCE CAR Audi RS6 Avant This is Batman’s family car. With space to lug people and labradors, coupled with Ferrari-frightening pace, quattro traction and livid looks, the Audi’s new firebreathing station wagon is the best example of a supercar and family car rolled into one. Its appealingly bipolar personality extends to its driving characteristics. The 412kW turbocharged 4-litre V8 unleashes in an angry fury when the mood is right and the road is clear, blasting from 0-100km/h in just four seconds. But the car can be suave and sensible too and the appeal of the RS6 is how unruffled and relaxed it can feel in day-to-day driving on its air suspension, ensuring swift but comfortable progress through the real world of busy and bumpy roads.
The other finalists were: BMW i8, Jaguar F-Type R AWD, Mercedes AMG-GT, Porsche Boxster Spyder, VW Polo GTI. BEST LUXURY CAR Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupé
Formerly known as the CL, Merc’s new S-Class Coupé is the same technological tour de force as the fourdoor S-Class, but wrapped up in a drop-dead gorgeous twodoor body. Here’s a 5-metre long grand tourer brimming with an opulent interior, and high-tech features including night vision, and superlative Magic Ride suspension. It also has Magic Body Control that leans the whole car into a corner like a motorcycle, making the handling surprisingly sharp for the car’s size.
And there’s no shortage of performance too, and the high-performance S63 and S65 versions are real silkcoated sledgehammers.
The other finalists were: Audi A6/A7 upgrade, Maserati Ghibli, Mercedes VClass.
BEST STYLING - READERS’ CHOICE BMW i8 Our readers were pretty adamant in their choice, with BMW’s hybrid-powered sportscar getting more than double the votes of its nearest competitor. The styling of BMW’s sedans and SUVs may be on the conservative side, but in designing its fullblown sportscar the German carmaker didn’t pull any punches. With its sleek shape and gullwing doors, this beautiful Beemer scores high on the turn-head-o-meter, drawing admiring stares and paparazzi-like levels of snapping cellphones wherever it goes. It has the go to match the show too, and its 1.5-litre turbo engine coupled with electric drive gives it a 4.6 second 0-100km/h time.
The other finalists were: Jaguar F-Type R AWD, Audi TT, Mercedes S-Class Coupé, Mercedes AMG-GT and Mazda MX-5.