New Mazda 6 sprints ahead to win car crown

THE new Mazda 6 range has won the 2003 Semperit Irish Car of the Year crown by a conclusive margin over the Honda Jazz and the Citroen C3.

The Mazda, which is a radical departure for a company many people accused of losing its way in recent years, is a serious return to form for one of Japan's smaller, but more innovative manufacturers, and it has been widely welcomed as a very worthy winner. The announcement was made at an awards ceremony in the Berkeley Court Hotel yesterday afternoon. Guest speaker was Transport Minister Séamus Brennan.

Some 35 motoring writers from all over Ireland took part in the selection process, organised by the Irish Motoring Writers Association.

A total of 43 vehicles were eligible for the vote, although not the new Renault Megane, which this week was voted as the 2003 European Car of the Year by a Europe-wide jury.

Although launched on the Irish market earlier this month, the Megane was not eligible for the Irish vote and therefore did not figure in the selection process.

The 43 cars which were eligible were initially narrowed down to a short list of 10, which included the Citroen C3, the Fiat Stilo, the Ford Fiesta, the Honda Jazz, the Mazda 6, the Nissan Primera, the Renault Vel Satis, the Skoda Superb, The Toyota Corolla and the Opel Vectra. This list was further whittled down to five. It was a comfortable winning margin for the Mazda. It scored 126 points 15 more than the Honda Jazz, which scored 111.

The Citroen C3 finished in third place with 100 points, while the Opel Vectra was fourth with 95 and the Nissan Primera fifth with 76.

Points were awarded on the basis of various criteria, ranging from innovation to safety to space, comfort, build quality, driving quality and value for money.

The Semperit Irish Van of the Year 2003 title was awarded jointly to the Citroen Relay, Fiat Ducato and Peugeot Boxer.