Just heard on the radio that the Volkswagen Golf has been named Wheels Car of the Year. Nice work! Smiley

hate to say it, but the poxiest magna ever made was also Wheels car of the year. That award is not the measure of anything.

hmmm. did not know that pete. but if they think any magna can win car of the year..... thats not something im willing to support.

yeah good on Volkswagen. check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c0NzOWb23w&feature=related 
it will make you wont one.lol

The Leyland P76 was also notable for being named Wheels Car of the Year, along with the JD Camira if memory serves me correctly. The Golf is still good though!

Was also world car of the year
and i've got one

GO THE GOLF!!!!!!!

P76, a car before its time if you can get a book titled " A Boot Full of Right Arms" by Evan Green then have a read, make you think twice about the Dakar

I dont think the Wheels award is crap. At the time of judging the choices are sound enough.

I have 2 different friends, who dont know each other, that are big P76 fans. They had really bad build quality, but once they were rebuilt by the owner, great car. Apparently. All alloy V8. Being made by Leyland they probably couldnt expect more. Poms cant build quality cars in England how are they to do it here? Read Wikipedia article on them. Quite revolutionary.

The TM magna was also pretty revolutionary. An ingenious aussie invention. People wanted a bigger sized car without the expense of the big 6's. Worked a treat. Sold well. Took heaps of money away from Holden and Ford. Kept the mitsubishi factory alive for 20 years. Came in at the wrong time with our switch to unleaded fuel while making do with the old stigma astron engine, but didnt seem to matter. In 1985 driving a new TM/TN manga was a good experience. It wasnt until several years later that everything plastic on the inside fell off and everything metal on the outside rusted.

Poxiest Volkswagen ever made won the award too, 1974 Passat. Actually I dont know if they were poxy, i have never been in one, was too young to consider the experience if I had been and there arent any around these days to find out. But certainly one of the least popular models.

The P76 has a very vocal and loyal club base. The Targa Florio version is highly sought after. As said before, it was before its' time but suffered the usual build quality issues associated with Leyland. I have had 2 magnas over the years and several commodores. The commodores were much faster but the build quality on those is a lot worse than the magnas I have owned. They are a lot rougher than a magna as well. In fact, I sold my VN when it was only 6 months old as it was such crap quality yet they have won Wheels as well. They simply decide on how the cars test at the time, not how they last (or even look).

Yogie

I was always a ford fan, with a dormant vw enthusiast suppressed by years of association with Ford and Holden lads at school, and as such I thought that the magnas were all rubbish, to be driven by grandparents to the RSL.

But in august last year, my circumstances changed and I bought a cheap 3 litre 1995 magna from my parents, so I could spend more money on my bug. I gotta say, it changed my tune. It is zippier than my 94 fairmont, more reliable than my 05 focus, 88 and 90 pintaras and I have left a few rice burners for dead at the lights in a 3 litre auto.

Yes, it is a daggy car, with a rear louvre, horrible patterned upholstery and that burgundy colour that I am sure half the magnas in australia are painted, but if you want a sleeper for bugger all money, you could do far worse. I know the person earlier was raggin on an 85, but I thought I'd just put this side of the argument forward for a car which is often forgotten about.

That being said, I know i'd prefer a new golf!

The Holden Camira was also Wheels Car of the Year (in 1982) - now there's a pus bucket. I suppose it must have seemed fantastic at the time, but time tells a different story.

The VW Passat won the award in 1974, and the Golf in 1976. The Passat was a fantastic car (it was an Audi 80 with a VW-designed tail and and different grille). It sold 3,411 in Australia in 1974, more than the Superbug L and 1300 Beetle combined; 4,113 in 1975 and 3,945 in 1976. After that LNC Industries priced them off the Australian market. A pity, as they were way better than the Toranas, Cortinas, Centuras and Coronas of the time.

In those days the Wheels award was the only one, and it had all the credibility and prestige. Today it is only one of a number of awards, sharing the spotlight with the NRMA Best Cars, DRIVE Awards and the CarsGuide car of the Year awards.

The latest VW Golf has won ALL of those awards, as well as World Car of the Year, so that speaks for itself.

The full report on the Golf winning is in the Feb 2010 issue, on sale now. The link to the webpage report on the Golf winning is:

http://www.wheelsmag.com.au/News/VOLKSWAGEN+GOLF+-+WHEELS+CAR+OF+THE+YEAR+.ht...

The Golf has also just won the TopGear Australia Car of the Year award:

http://www.volkswagen.com.au/vwcms/master_public/virtualmaster/en_au/company/...

CarsGuide, DRIVE, NRMA/RACV Best Cars, Wheels, TopGear....surely the latest Golf is the most awarded car in Australian history?