Fg Not Car Of The Year

[tmac450]

I just saw that Wheels has decided that the FG, while better than the VE, is not even good enough to make it to the final round of Car of the Year, citing that the imported competition for 2008 is far too good. Instead the likes of Accord and a couple of other mundane cars with far less model choice and range were judged to be better.

So VE was better than BMW and Merc, etc, mainly because of the model range, etc, but FG doesn't appear to be given the same benefit.

So much for supporting the struggling local industry!

[tab]

Not surprised at all to be honest. Ford don't pump enough advertising dollars in to the magazines....simple as that really.

Nobody can deny it's not the case, even your definitive Expensive Daewoo fan would have to acknowledge that the FG worthy for COTY, more so than the VE was.

[RHR]

Does it really matter. We all know how good it is

[Pete A]

The FG has won just about every other award I can think of. But Wheels result doesn't surprise me anyway. It's a crap magazine with crap content. If I recall Top Gear rated the F6 in the top 10 I think of the WORLD performance cars against offereings at multiples of its price. XR6T Ute, best bang for buck with the sedan not far behind. XT awards etc. The FG product range is without peers in the industry as TMAC rightly says. You find out more about new cars by talking to owners (via forums or other means) than reading rags like Wheels. But in the end personal preference should decide what car you buy, not some trumped up analysis from a supposed expert with narrow terms of reference. I would have bought an FG even if it didn't win an award. I drove it, I liked it, and I got a good deal.

[seventytwo]

Come on its wheels, They picked the Expensive Daewoo camria and the P76 as COTY, why would you listen to them now.

[RHR]

[NB4C]

The best products on the market aren't always the most well known. We all know the torque Falcon engine whoops the arse off the accord's V6, but journalists like to b*tch about exterior appeal and "not looking like a fleet car".

But in the end, wheels magazine tries to appeal to the broader audience, not just enthusiasts. I'll admit, if I wasn't a performance enthusiast, I'd end up buying a Toyota Aurion - best bang for buck car on the market.

[tmac450]

The problem is that Joe public put a fair bit of trust in the annual Wheels Car of The Year awards.

Realistically, there is no way that a Commodore, Falcon, Aurion or Camry would even come close to being the "Best Car In the World", yet Wheels didn't hesitate giving the VE COTY, mainly because of it's local build.

We all know that Wheels is a piece of crap when it comes to printing factual material (otherwise we'd see some genuine car of the year winners) we all know how good the FG is, but unfortunatly the majority of the public don't.

Given that COTY appears to be a title offered to the manufactur who pays, or is in favour at the time, the eventual winner is quite meaningless to Wheels. So for the sake of the Australian car industry (for which Wheels claims to be an ardent supporter) why the hell didn't they just give it to the FG?

[Ras351]

They were probably worried about heaps of people writing in and crying that Ford Aus always get it (recently) with the BA falcon and the Territory both winning in recent years.

I stopped reading Wheels a long time ago anyway. Its full of Toyotas and other boring sh*tty cars.

[ZAP]

Wheels is written for the lowest level of interested car readers.

They have more crappy ads than any useful content.

The only car mag I buy is the Australian or UK Top Gear. At least they do not take themselves seriously and think they are a factual car mag.

Wheels and Motor are to bad peas in a pod and are apparenlty dropping readers faster than the newspapers. I read their readership dropped 25% last year...EACH.