Jaguar, Audi and Land Rover have all been recognised for their outstanding contributions to the automotive industry this year in the Recombu Awards 2013. Audi walked away with the Best Family Car gong for its Audi A3, Land Rover scooped Best Luxury Car for the Range Rover Sport, and Jaguar’s F-Type took home Best Performance Car. Here’s how it all went down on a glitzy night at London’s Cuckoo Club.
Best Family Car
Nominees: Audi A3, Ford Focus, BMW 3 Series Touring
The Best Family Car category was always going to be hotly fought, with a frankly bewildering range of vehicles vying for inclusion in the shortlist. Ultimately, the Recombu judging panel whittled down the list to the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, BMW 3 Series Touring and the Audi A3. It was the Audi A3 that ultimately took the plaudits, however.
Winner: Audi A3
We thought the Audi A3, with its healthy choice of body styles, was great fun to drive, economical and fast enough to satisfy the hooligan in us. It’s a car that does far more than just ferry its occupants from A to B. Those lucky enough to plant themselves inside its cabin will find it is absolutely teeming with the latest technology, including the 4G Internet connectivity, a sat-nav that can display pictures of your destination before you’ve set off, built-in hard drives for your music and a whole lot more.
Best Luxury Car
Nominees: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Range Rover Sport, Bentley Continental GT Speed
The Best Luxury Car category was an equally difficult area to judge due to the ferocity of the competition. The shortlist included the blisteringly quick, yet magnificently-appointed Bentley Continental GT Speed, the Mercedes S Class and the Range Rover Sport. Few could argue with the Bentley’s inclusion here – it’s the very epitome of hand-made excellence. The S-Class’s position here goes without saying; it’s the go-to car for anyone that wants to be ferried about in absolute splendour. And yet our Best Luxury Car award goes to the hugely deserving Range Rover Sport.
Winner: Range Rover Sport
The Range Rover Sport impressed us with the sumptuousness of its interior, the imposing presence of its exterior design and the smoothness with which it glides. Most impressive of all is the fact it delivers all this luxury and composure regardless of where you happen to be driving the thing. Fast motorways, sweeping b-roads, muddy swamps and engorged rivers are no match for the Range Rover Sport. If you like your luxury cars big, majestic and unstoppable, you’ll love the Range Rover Sport.
Best Performance Car
Nominees: Porsche 911, Jaguar F-Type, Toyota GT86
After much debate, we whittled our Best Performance Car shortlist down to the Jaguar F-Type, Porsche 911 and the Toyota GT86. The latter is an incredible piece of kit, showing that cars needn’t cost the earth to deliver epic driving thrills. Its rear-wheel-drive layout, great looks and accessible performance make it a real stunner. The Porsche 911 delivers in almost every respect, too. The latest car picks up where the last model left off, throws in several improvements and is, ultimately, a triumph. It’s super fast, incredibly efficient, easy to get on with and – most of all – a lot of fun.
Winner: Jaguar F-Type
Despite the sterling efforts of its rivals, our Best Performance Car award goes to the Jaguar F-Type. It’s a car that feels at home whether cruising the high street at low speed, flying down the motorway or carving through twisty B-Roads. It’s blisteringly quick, makes one of the most glorious noises your auditory system will ever experience and its looks could melt the chastity garment off nun from 1,000 paces.
That’s it for car awards for this year, but we’ll be regrouping again in 2014 with a shortlist full of new candidates and a room full of gongs to hand out. Make sure you check out the pictures from this year’s event on our Facebook page.
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