NEW YORK AUTO SHOW: World Car of the Year to be announced in New York

I take the Mini.

Don't get me wrong, the LS is a great car for its price. I just don't like its BMW styling cues. I'm a purist when it comes to Toyota cars. I love the original Japanese Toyotas, not the MB/BMW inspired ones.

Hmmmm,

Audi is on both lists. The TT is a great driving car especially when you factor in the price. Base price of $33990 gives you quite a bit:

DSG tranny
FSI fuel injection
Active Aerodynamics
Aluminium Space Frame Technology
Turbo Power

What else can you buy that gives you all of that?

To be honest, this one is pretty much surely going to be won my the LS. It is the only one out of the three that have actually improved significantly. The MINI is virtually the same as the old one and the old TT was an absolute beauty that I don't think this one matches in terms of looks. Though I may like this after some time. And engineering-wise, not too much has changed in the TT.

The Lexus on the other hand has a bunch of new gadgets (that are absolutely pointless I know) but someone has to brings them out first. The self-parking feature for instance. It's absolutely pointless in the LS but the LS is a good launching pad for an useful future auto-parking feature.

Don't take me to be a Lexus fanatic. I respect the company immensely but that is what Lexus is, the best luxury car company in my opinion, but not the best luxury car. I have no idea why Lexus fans keep posting stuff about Lexus cars on this site. The cars are irrelevant. It's the company or rather its parent company Toyota that deserves top laurels for brilliantly competing in the business.

And to be honest, its the same with most marques these days, including Mercedes, BMW and Audi. They're companies first and cars second. It was actually a trait started by the American big three: the car-design by accountants philosophy. Most marques these days are just better at doing that so the cars have more features, drive better, etc but the philosophy is strikingly similar.

highly agree w/ you. +1

We all can predict what will happen. One of these three scenarios:

a) the TT will win. I along with several other Lexus supporters will cry bias.

b) the LS will win. The more abrupt German personalities on this site will cry bias.

c) the MINI will win, and all Hell will break loose.

nicely sed Will.... now lets hope the MINI will win :P

Wait this is Audi v Lexus v BMW!


The world will go mad no matter who wins!
I claim bias for no reason at all.
But I do not think the Mini should win. If they give the right reasons, then either of the other 2 can win.

Thank you! Unbiased opinion!

Will, I'm giving you an online standing ovation.

LOL

IMO:

Im thinking the Lexus LS will win, but after seeing the new TT in black yesterday at my local Audi dealership, I choose that car as the winner. It looks very modern and Audi did a great job with the exterior/interior design. The LS styling leaves much to be desired.

World Performance Car, the 335i all the way !! The RS4 and 911 Turbo are ultra exclusive and sell in very limited numbers, and the 335i is an amazing bargain for all the performance you get. BMW shocked us with this new motor, whereas we all knew the RS Audi and Turbo Porsche were going to have big big power.

I don't think the Mini has a chance, but the TT and LS are both fabulous...

And between those three performance cars! That's just too hard! Not worth the brain damage... they truly chose the three best "everyday performance cars" on the planet.

The LS will win this hands down. Everybody likes true luxury.

World car of the year has to be a bit more affordable than a Roller.

Rupert beat me to it. The "world car of the year" should be accessible to a good portion of the general public. Case in point-- Audi A6 won in 2005, BMW 3 Series won last year. Many people can afford those cars (especially A6 in Europe), but about 0.0000001% of the international population can afford a Rolls-Royce Phantom!

Oh and, to add to my comment about accessibility, the world car of the year must be a NEW FOR 2007 model. Phantom is what, three years old now?