COTY 2006 Volkswagen Passat

It is stylish, refined and extremely enjoyable and competent, be it loaded to the gills on a family getaway or belting its way around a racetrack.

Powered by the velvet-smooth, four-cylinder 2.0-litre FSI turbo, the Passat has all the legs necessary for long-distance travel and enough off-the-line punch to compete well in the city ratrace.

It also returns reasonable fuel economy.

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Most judges gave the Passat a tick for its dynamics, a bigger tick for its packaging, and the biggest tick of all for the value it represents as a prestige European brand.

Dynamically it lost nothing to anything except the Porsche - which is an outstanding effort for any front-driver, let alone a front-drive station wagon.

Opinion was split on the pale contrast interior trim colour scheme and the performance of the six-speed automatic, but that was as far as the criticisms went.

In any other year the Passat may well have taken home the silverware.