People's Choice - WINNERS!

Ford has taken out three of the six categories in the CarsGuide People’s Choice award.

It was a tough fight to the finish in the Best Family Car category, with the Ford Falcon EcoLPi and the Holden Cruze battling down to the line, but the Blue Oval crossed ahead with 36 per cent of the vote, with the Cruze in second at 33 per cent.

However it was an easier win for the Ford Fiesta as Best First Car with 47 per cent of the category, well in front of the Suzuki Swift on 22 per cent.

Similarly, the Territory diesel grabbed 42 per cent of the Best SUV category with the Mazda CX-9 runner-up on 16 per cent.

A close fight was seen in the Best Prestige category, with the Jaguar XF making steady ground over the last couple of weeks to win with 36 per cent against the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe at 24 per cent.

There was some jostling in the Best Trade/Commercial category, but in the end it was taken by the Toyota HiLux on 39 per cent to the Ford Ranger on 29 per cent.

And it was Nissan’s ‘Godzilla GT-R that squashed the competition in the Best Sporty Car category with 43 per cent of the vote giving it a big lead over the BMW 1 Series M with 18 per cent.

Unfortunately a problem with the coding in the online voting form meant that the ‘Overall’ category had to be cancelled, as some of the cars were not visible in that section for the entire duration of the competition voting.

At least one of the cars affected – the Holden Cruze – may have stood a good chance of gathering enough votes to finish near the top and possibly challenge the Nissan GT-R and Ford Falcon, which held first and second position towards the end. But even had the coding problem not affected the placing results, it was decided the only fair and ethical course of action was to cancel that category for this year.

Winner: Commercial

Toyota Hilux

Winner: Family

Ford Falcon EcoLPi

Winner: First Car

Ford Fiesta

Winner: Prestige

Jaguar XF

Winner: SUV

Ford Territory

Winner: Sporty

Nissan GT-R