The VW Golf is something like the Daniel Day Lewis of the automotive awards: when it’s nominated, there’s a good chance it will win. A few days after the Irish actor bagged his third Oscar for his performance in Lincoln, the seventh iteration of VW’s C-Segment model won the 2013 European Car of the Year award for the second time in its history, becoming only the second model after the Renault Clio to have done so.

Perhaps the analogy is not exactly fair: DDL hasn’t been nominated for each and every movie he has starred in while all seven generations of the Golf have been on the CoTY podium.

Moreover, in 2013 he was a favorite but had to fend off Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix, Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper while the CoTY members (unsurprisingly) flocked to Das Auto giving it a total of 414 votes.

That’s more than double the 202 awarded to the second-place Toyota GT 86 / Subaru BRZ twins, which were followed by the Volvo V40 (189), Ford B-MAX (148), Mercedes-Benz A-Class (138), Renault Clio IV (128), Peugeot 208 (120) and Hyundai i30 (111).

Here’s what the COTY said:

“The new Golf has been recognized by the Jury for its overall balance and the outstanding achievements in safety, fuel efficiency, dynamics and comfort. Almost familiar in looks, Golf VII is entirely new under the skin, with a lightweight structure based in the new MQB flexible platform of VW group for passenger vehicles with transversal powertrains. The nice-looking cabin, with a classic style and analogue instrumentation, is roomy and has materials of excellent feel which contribute to the perceived quality.”

There’s no denying the groundbreaking MQB platform and the other qualities of the Golf; for “almost familiar looks”, however, you can read “near impossible to distinguish from the previous two”…

By Andrew Tsaousis

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