As you may or may not know, I am a judge for the Cars.co.za Consumer Awards powered by Wesbank. That’s right people, I know enough about cars to be a judge, who would have thought?!

I attended the spectacularly glitzy and glamorous #CarsAwards event last week Thursday at Kyalami. And believe me, it was fancy as f&%^! Celebrities and influencers, sparkly dresses and swanky cars, a red carpet…I mean come on, Academy Awards stuff going on here.

For all the nitty gritty on how we score the cars and which cars were the finalist, you can pop on over to #CarsAwards page. But, what you’ve all been waiting for:

#CarsAwards list of winners:

Budget Car: Suzuki Swift 1.2 GL

Compact Hatch: Volkswagen Polo 1.0TSI Comfortline Auto

Premium Compact: Mercedes-Benz A200 AMG-Line

Compact Family Car: Nissan Qashqai 1.2 Acenta Auto

Family Car: Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace 1.4 TSI Trendline

Business Class: Volkswagen Arteon 2.0TSI 4Motion R-Line

Executive Sedan: Mercedes-Benz E220d Avantgarde

Leisure Double-Cab: Volkswagen Amarok 3.0 V6 TDI 4Motion Highline Plus

Adventure SUV: Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6 4×4 Auto

Executive SUV: Volvo XC60 D5 AWD R-Design

Premium SUV: Range Rover Velar D300 R-Dynamic SE

Hot Hatch: Honda Civic Type R

Performance Car: No trophy awarded*

* The rules of the competition require at least 2 cars in each category to have full scores (judges scores and survey scores) and in the case of this category, Cars.co.za could not meet the requirement. But don’t get too upset, there is always next year to look forward to.

The big award, which is Brand of the Year, went to a most-deserving manufacturer: Toyota! It beat Suzuki which has won the previous two years, so it was a big night for Toyota. Although as you can see from the awards list, Volkswagen certainly had a whopper of a night taking home four awards.

If you don’t agree with these winners, you should ensure you are a part of the 2019 Consumer Survey, have your say! Your input counts a massive 50%. Keep your eye on the cars.co.za website for more info.

For pics on the night check out my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.