A panel of expert judges has put a fleet of 39 vehicles under scrutiny as part of the testing phase for the fourth annual Cars.co.za Consumer Awards powered by WesBank.

Three finalists in each of the 13 categories were assessed on a wide variety of merits by a total of 20 judges over two days at the Gerotek test facility near Pretoria.

The panel comprised Cars.co.za’s in-house team of expert motoring journalists together with a group of hand-picked guest judges, each with a specialist background or field of expertise.

All vehicles available on the South African market on September 1, 2018, were eligible, not only new products that were launched in the past 12 months.

These are the vehicles still in the running in their respective categories:

Budget Car (under R200,000)

Kia Picanto 1.2 Style

Suzuki Swift 1.2 GL

Volkswagen Polo Vivo 1.4 Comfortline

Compact Hatch (R200,000 – R300,000)

Ford Fiesta 1.0T Titanium

Mazda2 1.5 Individual Plus Auto

Volkswagen Polo 1.0 TSI Comfortline Auto

Adventure SUV (R550,000 – R700,000)

Ford Everest 3.2 4WD XLT

Isuzu mu-X 3.0 4WD

Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6 4×4 Auto

Compact Family (R300,000 – R400,000)

Ford EcoSport 1.0T Titanium Auto

Hyundai Creta 1.6 Executive Turbodiesel Auto

Nissan Qashqai 1.2T Acenta Auto

Family Car (R400,000 – R500,000)

Mazda CX-5 2.0 Individual

Peugeot 3008 2.0 HDI Allure

Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace 1.4 TSI Trendline

Leisure Double Cab (R500,000 – R800,000)

Ford Ranger 3.2 4×4 Wildtrak Auto

Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD-6 4×4 Raider Auto

Volkswagen Amarok 3.0 V6 TDI Highline Plus 4Motion Auto

Business Class (R600,000 – R800,000)

Audi A5 Sportback 2.0TFSI quattro Sport S Line sports

Mercedes-Benz C300 AMG Line

Volkswagen Arteon 2.0TSI 4Motion R-Design

Executive SUV (R700,000 – R900,000)

Audi Q5 2.0 TDI quattro Sport S-Line sports

BMW X3 xDrive20d M Sport auto

Volvo XC60 D5 R-Design

Premium Compact (R450,000 – R600,000)

Mercedes-Benz A200 AMG-Line

Volkswagen Golf GTI

Volvo XC40 T3 R-Design

Hot Hatch (under R700,000)

BMW M140i sports-auto

Honda Civic Type R

Renault Megane R.S. 280 Lux

Performance Car (under R1 million)

Audi TT RS

BMW M2 Competition

Porsche 718 Cayman S

Premium SUV (R1 million – R1.3 million)

Porsche Cayenne S

Range Rover Velar D300 R-Dynamic SE

Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI Luxury R-Line

Executive Sedan (R800,000 – R1 million)

BMW 520d M Sport

Mercedes-Benz E220 d Avantgarde

Volvo S90 D5 AWD R-Design

Read: These are South Africa’s best cars in 2018 – according to affordability and style

