Porsche scoops SA Car of the Year title

In 2013 Porsche Boxter became the first Porsche in the history of the competition to win the prestigious South African motoring title.

This year's competition included nine finalists that represented the best of the best from a wide cross-section of segments and price points, making it one of the most hotly contested competitions in recent years.

With a longer wheelbase than its predecessor, a new chassis that enhances driving performance, agility, comfort and everyday practicality, and a lower weight, the Porsche Cayman sets several new standards in its class and has gained widespread acclaim from the motoring media as one of the world's best handling sports cars at any price.

Delivering the goods

Driven through the rear wheels by a 3,4-litre flat-six, normally aspirated engine positioned in front of the rear axle, the Cayman S delivers not only on the performance and dynamics front, but also on quality, value and desirability.

The finalists in the run for the2014 title were Audi A3 Sportback 1.4T FSI manual (R299,000), Jaguar F-Type 3.0 V6 S (R999,900), Lexus IS350 F-Sport (R571,500), Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG (R614,500), Peugeot 208 GTI (R263,350), the winning Porsche Cayman S (R815,740), Renault Clio 66kW Turbo Dynamique (R189,900), Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI 90 kW Comfortline DSG and Volvo V40 D3 Geartronic Excel (R346,800).

The SA Guild of Motoring Journalists has run the SA Car of the Year competition since 1986 with WesBank. The local competition is based on the European Car of the Year points-based scoring system, but is unique in the world of motoring in that, before the final votes are cast, each of the finalists is also put through a stringent testing procedure by the peer-elected COTY Jury at the world-renowned Gerotek Vehicle Testing Facility outside Pretoria.

Judges against its peers

The winning vehicle is evaluated and scored in relation to its segment competitors, and not against the other finalists. While each vehicle's final score is determined by assessing aesthetics, dynamics, performance, fuel efficiency, safety, technology, parts pricing and cost of ownership, to name but a few, the overriding criterion to which each vehicle is scored, is overall excellence.

"The Porsche brand is not just experiencing a phenomenal increase in popularity in South Africa, but there is also a consistently increasing demand for these vehicles across all spheres of society," says Christo Valentyn, Chairman of the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists.

Porsche is only the second manufacturer in the history of the SA Car of the Year competition two win the title for two consecutive years. Only Opel can claim the same achievement when, in 1995, the Opel Astra 160iS repeated the Opel Kadett 140's achievement of 1994.