The Renault Clio III is a nice car. It will no doubt be a reliable and flexible servant to anyone buying one. But European Car of the Year?

That is simply a joke.
    The car looks almost exactly like the Clio II, and although it has undoubtedly been improved and is a terrific little machine, its technology is as derivative as its looks.

    It’s not even the best car in its sector, which I believe is the still the Honda Jazz. I rate the Hyundai Getz and Kia Rio as better buys than the Clio, not least because of their copper-bottom guarantees - the Getz guarantees you 5-years of trouble free motoring. Maybe the COTY jury should award its prize for this magnificent deal for the consumer.  

    Last year, it looked liked the COTY jury had turned the corner when it crowned the Toyota Prius, the ground-breaking and brave design from Japan, which gave us the petrol-electric hybrid engine.

Before the Prius, the COTY jury has come up with some undeserving turkeys.  

1995	FIAT PUNTO
1996	FIAT BRAVO / BRAVA
1997	RENAULT MEGANE SCENIC
1998	ALFA ROMEO 156
1999	FORD FOCUS
2000	TOYOTA YARIS
2001	ALFA ROMEO 147
2002	PEUGEOT 307
2003	RENAULT MEGANE
2004	FIAT PANDA

    That’s right – there are no BMWs, Mercedes or Audis; 3 Fiats and 2 Alfa Romeos were winners. The only cars on the list of previous winners before the Prius which were remotely deserving of big accolades were the Renault Megane Scenic, Ford Focus, Toyota Yaris and Fiat Panda.

    So who are these “jurists”? The COTY jury is made up of 58  journalists from 22 countries. Their objective is to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in the past 12 months. Jurors vote twice: first to select a short-list of seven from the new cars launched in Europe, then again to choose the winner.

    The jury members have 25 points to apportion to at least five of the seven cars on the short list.
The final points score for 2006 were:

Renault Clio	256 points
Volkswagen Passat	251 points
Alfa Romeo 159	212 points
BMW 3-series	203 points
Mazda5	198 points
Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo	187 points
Toyota Yaris	143 points

    This jury thought the flawed Alfa Romeo 159 was a better car than the BMW 3-series. This jury thought the ground-breaking effort of Peugeot-Citroen and Toyota to build cars jointly in Czechistan was the sixth best effort of the year. In my opinion, this should have been the winner. 

    Steve Cropley, COTY juror and Editor-in-Chief of Autocar magazine, said “It has been a very tough contest this year and the Renault Clio won by just four points, leaving the Volkswagen Passat a very close second.”

    I can’t tell whether Cropley’s statement is laden with irony or not. But maybe it is, given that he said the amazingly impressive VW Passat was considered inferior by his fellow jurors to the Clio.

   “The jurors were impressed by Renault's change in philosophy with the latest Clio, which has brought much-improved refinement and trim quality to the car, along with improved road presence and rear cabin space,” said Cropley.

    If that is seriously considered to be the criteria for European Car Of The Year, maybe they ought to put this animal out of its misery. The voting for this award has always been tainted by opaque under-the-table compromises. But last year, the Prius was such a strong candidate, even these guys realised that another Fiat or Renault would reduce the prestige of COTY to a joke.

    Maybe next time 2 Jags Prescott should be made COTY supremo. The new Jaguar roadster should win anyway in 2007, if there’s any justice.

Renault Clio review.