Car of the Year 2011

Judged on criteria ranging across styling, safety, innovation, value, functionality, build quality and performance, the finalists are scored in a variety of situations including two days of road driving and a full day's examination.

The process starts with each judge selecting their top ten cars of the year. Those choices are based on years of experience, and in the case of our ten experts that is well in excess of a century of accumulated knowledge, applied to driving as many as 100 models in the past year. The first round of selections are scored and the top ten become the finalists.

With the finalists brought together for three days of extensive back-to-back comparisons, the judges have the opportunity to revisit each of the cars on the same surfaces and conditions before ranking the final ten from best to not-so-best.

The top car in each judge's list is awarded ten points, the second nine, the third eight points and on down to a single point for the 10th car. Those points are then tallied to provide a possible score out of 80 and reveal the winner.