Wheels Car of the Year 2016: People’s Choice – Group 1

OKAY, you haven’t driven all the Car of the Year candidates – and perhaps you’ve not driven any of them.

But you’ve read about them, you’ve debated their merits at great length in good company, or perhaps you just wish we’d had the sense to appoint you a judge.

Now’s your chance to make a difference. We have divided the Car of the Year field into five groups – using no criterion but rough similarity – and you get to pick a winner from each.

A further poll, covering the five group winners, will decide the People’s Choice for Wheels Car of the Year 2016.

Remember, this is not a beauty contest. Wheels judges the COTY 2016 contestants under five strict criteria, refined over half a century:

Function – how well a car does what it is intended to do.
Efficiency – in all aspects. Use of resources in producing the car and in running it.
Value – both against its rivals and against the wider new car market.
Technology – does it offer a tangible advantage over its rivals?
Safety – We’re talking passive and active.

Scroll below the poll to find out more about these capable COTY contenders.

Thanks for voting, the poll has now closed.

Audi Q7

Forget its frumpy looks: the new Q7 is the limousine you have when you want an SUV

Ford Everest

Bulletproof Aussie-designed Ranger platform underpins this locally developed Prado chaser

Hyundai Tucson

An impressive all-rounder with style, comfort, polish, handling and clever packaging

Kia Sorento

Made history by scoring Kia its first Wheels comparo win. Can it snatch a COTY gong too?

Land Rover Discovery Sport

Another Wheels comparison-test winner, with a seven-seat USP and some off-road cred

Volvo XC90

Well over a decade in the making, the new XC90 champions Swedish design savvy