The weigh-in: the 2022 Car of the Year contenders on the scales

It sounds quite simple to say we weighed each car at COTY. Drive onto a platform, get out, press a button, read the number. Almost, but not quite.

Our combustion cars were delivered to our test facility with full tanks if they arrived by truck, but some were driven by judges and staff, and had ‘most of’ rather than a full tank.

5

Then there’s the manufacturer weight claims, some of which we discovered were… somewhat optimistic.

But let’s get some good news out of the way first.

COTY’s lightweights

While cars have generally gotten heavier with the (necessary, we might add) implementation of crash protection and safety gear, there are still some that don’t venture too far north of a tonne. The Hyundai i20 N takes home the ‘lightest’ trophy, or maybe it should be a ribbon.

At 1.24 tonnes, weighed with its fuel tank at 67.5 per cent, we found the hot hatch only 5kg over its claimed weight. It’d be a little more with a full tank, but it’s still well within reason.

Next up, the Subaru BRZ at 1.28 tonnes, 2kg below its claimed weight. Again, a fuel tank only 60 per cent full meant the BRZ is also still on the list of cars with a pretty accurate weight claim.

5

Finally, there was a tie on the weighbridge for third, but one car arrived with a full tank against one with a 60 per cent tank.

The Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf both weighed in at 1.36 tonnes, but it was the German that had a full tank, meaning the Civic would be slightly heavier if filled up.

Strangely, the Civic’s weight with a little over half a tank is the exact same as its claim, while the Golf was 56kg heavier than we were ‘expecting’.

Next, the Skoda Octavia, sibling to the Golf but in wagon form, was 1.42 tonnes, being 60kg heavier than, and not close enough to challenge, the Civic even with full tank.

The COTY heavy hitters

Toyota won’t be disappointed to know the Landcruiser 300 was the heaviest car at COTY, in fact they might even be pleased it weighed in at 2.58 tonnes, 50kg below its claim, and with a full tank.

It beats the imposing BMW iX, a 2.44 tonne beast with a claimed weight 75kg below what BMW’s specs sheet had us expecting. Fuel load obviously not important, here, and charge doesn’t weigh… well, anything.

Continuing the trend of topping their spec sheet weights, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo was 95kg over its claim, coming in at 2.34 tonnes. It’s heavier than the Mercedes-Benz S450L with a full tank, itself 2.18 tonnes, or a whopping 250kg more than its claim.

5

Just going to double-check that one...

Reality vs the specs

The S-Class, Taycan, and iX were the three furthest from their claimed weights on the heavy side of things, though there were a couple of other cars that were significantly lighter than on paper.

The Hyundai Tucson’s 1.68 tonnes, with full tank, was the lightest when compared to its claim, beating it by 130kg. We checked, and all the seats and fittings were still in the car on the weighbridge!

The aforementioned Landcruiser was the next-best at beating its on-paper figure, then the Lexus NX with 40kg fewer, for an actual weight of 1.82 tonnes.

5

The Kia Sportage came close, with the same actual weight difference of 40kg… but only 90 per cent of its max fuel. It was still lighter than the NX though, with a 1.72 tonne weigh-in.

Below is the table with all our weight data, fuel loads, discrepancies with claims, and rankings from best to worst.