Wheels24's Alternative Car of the Year Awards starts with a vroom

Voters will have three weeks within which to select their favourites online in each category before numbers are tallied on 7 December 2007, and we find out which cars outperform others in the country's personality-aligned latest models.

Last year's competition saw 16 000 votes being cast and these four wheeled beauty's took home the gold - the pert Peugeot 207 was crowned gayest car of the year, the Audi RS4 was dubbed straightest car, and the bootylicious Alfa Romeo Brera took home the title of rear of the year.

Launched last year, Wheels24's Alternative Car of the Year competition sparked an online frenzy as traffic to the site peaked with everyone wanting their pick to come out tops. In addition to the much loved “Gay Cars” and “Straight Cars” categories, even more truly South African flavour has been thrown in this year with the inclusion of the “Corrupt Politician's Car” of the year.

Wilmer Muller, editor of Wheels24, is confident that this year's campaign will spark even more interest with this latest addition to the list of categories. “Corrupt Politician's Car” of the year promises to create quite a stir, appealing to more than the pure motoring enthusiasts. The Wheels24 editorial team has identified 5 candidates per category and only cars that were launched in 2007 were eligible.

To up the anti even further, voters stand a chance of winning a host of fabulous prizes. The first prize winner will walk away with an eZee Torq advanced electric bicycle worth about R14 000 and runners-up will win four Garmin Nuvi 200W Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units worth R3 600 each.

Describing the specifications of the eZee Torq advanced electric bicycle, Wilmer says, “It's the top of the range with a maximum speed of 35km/h and a range of up to 50 km per charge. This bike is a must-have this summer.”


The nominations are:

Gay Cars

BMW 3 Series Cabriolet

Peugeot 207 Coupe Cabriolet

MINI Cooper

Alfa Romeo Spider

Audi TT Roadster

Straight Cars

Audi R8

Jeep Wrangler

Ford Ranger

Toyota Corolla

Volvo XC70

Corrupt Politician's Car

Hummer H3

Dodge Nitro

BMW X5

Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Cadillac SRX