Australia's top dozen cars named

HOLDEN'S Commodore has added another trophy to its now bulging awards cabinet, taking out the Best Family Car gong in this year's Australia's Best Cars awards.

In fact it was a back-to-back win for the Commodore Acclaim after trumping the category in the inaugural ABC awards last year.

Holden also had another repeat winner with the Astra City hatchback, which once again took out the Best Mid Size under $25,000 category.

Subaru and BMW also turned in top performances in the awards, with both brands claiming honours in three of the 12 categories judged.

The Japanese marque was represented in the winner's circle with each of its model ranges - the Liberty RX was awarded Best Mid Size over $25,000 and the Impreza WRX the Best Sports Car under $56,000 title, while the Forester Limited was judged Best Recreational 4WD under $45,000.

Meanwhile BMW flew the European flag in the luxury, sports and four-wheel drive categories. The 530i Executive sedan was the Best Luxury over $56,000, with the recently released M3 scoring Best Sports Car over $56,000 and the X5 3.0i getting the nod as Best Recreational 4WD over $45,000.

Other category winners were Hyundai's Accent three-door as Best Small Car, Volkswagen's Passat as Best Luxury under $56,000, while Mitsubishi took out the final two sections with its Nimbus the Best People-Mover and the Pajero GLS judged the Best All Terrain 4WD.

As a reflection of quality standing the test of time, eight of the 12 category winners were backing up from their performances in last year's awards, despite a raft of new competitors entering the market over the last 12 months.

The ABC awards, which are now in their second year, are conducted jointly by the state auto clubs - RACV, NRMA, RACQ, RACT, RAASA, RACWA and AANT.

The awards are judged on criteria that new car buyers have told the motoring clubs were important to them, including safety, price, running costs, comfort, performance, security and retained value.

"Australia's Best Cars is the only motoring award in the country that has been tested against consumer expectations to give them the advice they need when they go looking for a new vehicle," RACV Australia's Best Cars chief judge Ernest Litera said.

"It's an objective assessment of every new car release to October 2001. The score sheet is open to scrutiny and the categories the vehicles are judged in reflect the twelve major market segments." AUSTRALIA'S BEST CARS 2001 (top three in each category) Small car:
Hyundai Accent 3-door*
Holden Barina 3-door
Toyota Echo Sportivo Mid Size car under $25,000:
Holden Astra City hatch*
Hyundai Elantra GL
Nissan Pulsar ST hatch Mid Size car over $25,000:
Subaru Liberty RX*
Subaru Impreza GX
Honda Civic Vi Family car:
Holden Commodore Acclaim*
Ford Falcon Futura
Mitsubishi Magna Advance Luxury car under $56,000:
Volkswagen Passat V6*
Nissan Maxima Ti
Citroen C5 2.0 Luxury car over $56,000:
BMW 530i Executive
Mercedes-Benz E320
Mercedes-Benz S430 Sports car under $56,000:
Subaru WRX sedan
Nissan 200SX
Ford Falcon XR8 Sports car over $56,000:
BMW M3
BMW M5
Porsche Boxster S People-Movers:
Mitsubishi Nimbus*
Honda Odyssey 4cyl
Honda Odyssey 6cyl Recreational 4WD under $45,000:
Subaru Forester Limited*
Subaru Outback
Hyundai Santa Fe GLS Recreational 4WD over $45,000:
BMW X5 3.0i
BMW X5 4.4i
Subaru Outback H6 All Terrain 4WD:
Mitsubishi Pajero GLS V6*
Toyota LandCruiser GXL turbo-diesel
Lexus LX470 * repeat winners from 2000 Australia's Best Cars