Falcon slips from top choices

It's certainly slipping in the votes for the Carsguide People's Choice Award, now sitting well outside the top five with just one Ford up there to represent the brand - and that's the little Focus with 6 per cent of the vote in a surge late last week.

It's also climbed over the nearest Ford, the Territory diesel - still sitting at 5.8 per cent - while the Falcon EcoLPi has dropped back from 5.5 to 5.2.

But it's still the The Nissan Skyline GT-R in the overall lead, having crept up to 13.8 per cent and opening a bigger lead on the BMW 1-Series M in second place. But a surprise dash has been made by the Peugeot 508 which at 6.9 per cent has overtaken the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe and the Jaguar XF to slot into third.

The Nissan looks set to take out the Performance category in the award, with a whopping 46 per cent of the votes in that segment. But it's not the biggest segment domination, which is held by the Toyota HiLux with 45 per cent of the Commercial/Tradies category.

Ford is leading in two fields; monstering the First Car field with the Fiesta at 42 per cent and also topping the SUV choices with the Territory at 32 per cent.
And it's a close battle between Aussies in the Family car category with the Holden Cruze leading on 28 per cent but the Falcon not far behind on 24 per cent. But the Prestige category skirmishing is between Britain and Germany with the Jaguar XF on 31 per cent and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class on 29 per cent.

But it could all change in the final weeks as more readers add their votes in the People's Choice Award in each of six categories: Best family car; Best first car; Best prestige car; Best SUV; Best sporty car; and Best commercial car.

Our judges - the motoring editors and senior writers from Sydney's The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, Melbourne's Herald Sun, Brisbane's The Courier-Mail, Adelaide's The Advertiser, Perth's Sunday Times and Carsguide.com.au website -- has already rolled up their sleeves and shortlisted five cars in each category.Now it's up to you. Choose your favourite in each field and then pick an over all winner... and tell us in about 25 words why you think it rules. The voting closes on Friday 25 November 2011 at 11:59pm AEDT.

One lucky voter will win a replica Senna helmet, while 20 others will win DVD/BluRays of Senna: the remarkable movie that tells the story of the Brazilian "driving god", his quest for perfection and his journey into legend after his untimely death on the blackest weekend in F1 history.

In the meantime, our judges are already discussing - and arguing over - which of the cars will win the crown of 2011 Carsguide Car of the Year. Stay tuned.