Car of The Year (COTY) 2011 @ Matrade, Sri Hartamas

COTY 2011 was held at Matrade, Sri Hartamas between 12th - 13th November 2011. There were plenty of rides featured, but since you are most probably interested in SUVs since you are viewing the Toyota Harrier/ Lexus RX blog after all.

There were rides from Toyota, Mitsubishi, Kia, Hyundai, Great Wall, Chevrolet and many others.

The SUV-below-RM150k Award was won by the Great Wall Haval H5. This Haval H5, with a 2.0 diesel VGT powerplant, may be newly introduced in Malaysia but it has actually gone through 2 generations overseas- and is a very value-for-money SUV that has been selling well in China, Australia and Italy. Sure, you can see traces of the Nissan Murano (front) and Volvo XC90 (rear) embedded in the DNA of the Haval H5; but hey, the best form of flattery is through immitation. And in this case, Great Wall has managed to draw inspiration from the other great SUV rides and internalise the looks into a package of its own. And to win the award is a testament that the Chinese marque is serious about levelling its playing field in Malaysia.

Great Wall also took the opportunity to showcase its Electric Vehicle prototype of the upcoming SUV ie Voleex C20 EV. Being a plug-in, the Voleex ought to be easier on the monthly maintenance and represents an alternative towards vehicles of the next decade. 

 

 The SUV-above-RM150k Award was won by the Hyundai Sante Fe. Featuring a 2.2 diesel VGT powerplant, the Sante Fe also makes a very value-for-money consideration in the many choices towards SUV that the consumers are spoilt for choices today. Heck, I was also considering in getting the Sante Fe as the price that I paid towards my recond Toyota Harrier/Lexus RX could go towards getting a brand new Sante Fe; but ultimately I decided to go with the brand marque and more gentlemanly looks of the Toyota Harrier/Lexus RX.

 

You would have noticed that the diesel powerplants were the preferred choices for COTY 2011 judges, perhaps due to the higher torque and lower fuel consumption characteristics. I had previously been driving the Mitsubishi Triton 2.5 diesel some years back; and when I decided to upgrade to an SUV from my sedan car recently, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sports 2.5 diesel VGT made an automatic consideration. However, during the test drive, my spouse found the SUV to be too noisy, bumpy and crude. I found that the refinement levels of the Pajero Sports VGT to be more suitable as a workhouse or a plaything for the 4WD enthusiast, rather than the executive ride that you may ferry some associates or clients sometimes. That was amongst the reason that we were sold on the Toyota Harrier/ Lexus RX after trials with some SUVS in the market.