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Wheels Car of the Year

COTY: Past winners

The annual Wheels Car of the Year is one of the world’s longest-running automotive awards, with a history that stretches back to 1963.

That makes our award the grand old age of 60 and in that time a broad spectrum of cars have earned the title, ranging from obvious choices to properly left-of-field. Holden Camira, anyone?

The common thread among all of them, however, is that they were good enough to be judged the best of their time by a panel of Australia’s most seasoned motoring journalists. Here’s the list.

All COTY stories

COTY

2024-25 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: MERCEDES-BENZ CLE200

COTY 2024 DELIVERED us some very good looking cars. But, for this judge at least, there was only one truly beautiful shape and it belonged to the Mercedes-Benz CLE200.

COTY

2024-25 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

The new S650 Dark Horse aims to show that the Mustang’s old days of the slightly unresolved and unsophisticated muscle car are behind it.

COTY

2024-25 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: MAZDA CX-90 D50E GT

There once was a time when Mazda could do virtually no wrong at Wheels Car of the Year.

COTY

2024-25 Wheels Car of the Year Contender: MG CYBERSTER

The MG Cyberster represents a flurry of firsts – an all-electric roadster unlike anything we’ve yet seen from anyone; a super-expensive sports car from MG; and arguably the first genuinely desirable-looking car to arrive here from China.

COTY

Wheels Car of the Year is back!

It’s almost time to name the winner of the world’s longest-running car honour, the Wheels Car of the Year

News

This tiny Honda is Japan’s Car of the Year, while the Triton impressed most on design

The Honda Freed has claimed the 2024-2025 Japan Car of the Year title, outscoring the Mazda CX-80, while the Mini Cooper secured the Import Car of the Year award

COTY

Wheels Car of the Year: Every winner since 1963

Australia’s most prestigious motoring award has an eclectic alumni

Opinion

Car of the Year is not just the numbers

Ranking the Car of the Year with cold, hard math has been the practice in the past, but this year it was a far more collaborative process between the judges.

COTY

Australia’s best small cars rock up for Wheels Car of the Year 2023

They used to win our gong all the time but how does the current crop of small cars fare at COTY?

COTY

The best electric cars at Wheels Car of the Year 2023

Our favourite electric cars line up at Car of the Year. Here’s how they stack up

COTY

The best sports cars at Wheels Car of the Year 2023

Affordable driver-focused thrills has been a winning recipe at COTY before. How does this year’s batch of affordable sports cars fare?

2023 Ford Ranger XLT and Ford Ranger Raptor group
COTY

2023 Ford Ranger: How Australia’s favourite ute fared at Car of the Year

It’s the first ever dual-cab to line up at COTY. So how did it rate?

COTY

2023’s best SUVs at Wheels Car of the Year

They’re part of the biggest-selling segment in Australia, and at COTY we have six of the year’s true standout SUVs

COTY

2023 Tesla Model Y review: Wheels Car of the Year finalist

Popular electric car gives Elon a real shot at winning his first COTY. Here’s why the Model Y just fell short

COTY

2023 Nissan X-Trail review: Wheels Car of the Year finalist

? The new generation of Nissan’s iconic mid-size SUV nabbed a COTY podium. Here’s how.

COTY

2023 Cupra Formentor: How it almost won our Car of the Year

? This Spanish newcomer snagged second place in our top award. Here’s why.

COTY

2023 Ford Everest: Wheels Car of the Year winner

Brilliant large SUV that’s designed for Australians by Australians snags Ford its first COTY since 2004. Here’s why.

COTY

Wheels Car of the Year 2023: ‘The moose test’ – swerve & avoid

We ran each contender through a challenging swerve & avoid test. The results were surprising…

COTY

Wheels Car of the Year 2023 by the numbers: Acceleration and braking

What are the quickest and slowest cars in the 2023 field? And which contender took a staggering 51.7m to stop from 100kmh? The numbers don’t lie…

COTY

Wheels Car of the Year 2023: Finalists revealed!

From 17 contenders down to four: these are the cars that impressed us the most at COTY 2023. But who will win…

COTY

Wheels COTY: What’s new for 2023

We’ve tweaked what’s eligible and overhauled the criteria as COTY roars back at full noise for 2023

COTY

Wheels COTY 2023: Who missed out

Wondering why a particular car isn’t in contention for COTY 2023? Wonder no more…

COTY

Introducing Wheels Car of the Year 2023: The Contenders

Our top gong is back for ’23. Here’s who made the starting grid

COTY

2022 Wheels Car of the Year contender: Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series

Tackles a wide brown land with minimal messing of the formula