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Volkswagen Golf wins Euro COTY


The classy new Volkswagen Golf has taken another big step towards a Carsguide Car of the Year crown in 2013.

It has just claimed the European COTY title for 2013, scoring double the points of the runner-up Toyota 86-Subaru BRZ twins that claimed last year's Carsguide title. The Volvo V40 is third.

The seventh-generation Golf is the most impressive car I drove in 2012, but it does not hit local showrooms for more than a month and that means it is the early favourite for this year's Australian awards season.

The European award has been running since the 1960s and is decided by a panel of motoring journalists drawn from across the continent.

Every Golf has finished on the podium since the original was runner-up in the European COTY contest in 1975, but you have to go back to 1992 - and the third-generation car - to find the last Golf that claimed the award.

The Golf beat out seven other finalists for the 2013 award: Ford B-Max, Hyundai i30, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio, the Japanese sports car twins and the Volvo.

This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover