Top 10: Car of the Year winners
The European Car of the Year award is open to cars available new in at least five European Union states, and which sell a minimum of 5000 per year. The event has grown significantly since the award was first run in 1964, but the spirit of the event remains the same. We've chosen 10 of the best award winners. It’s subjective, of course, so let us know what you think…
1966 Renault 16
The idea that a family car could have four doors and a hatchback rear was still quite a novelty back in 1965. But then, the Renault 16 was a sensational car when it arrived on the scene, giving the French middle classes a genuinely interesting mid-market choice. The rest of Europe could only marvel at how the engineering team at La Regie could adapt the FWD package so successful in the smaller R4 to a much larger car.
The CoTY panel voted convincingly for the R16 over and above the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and Oldsmobile Toronado, a decision that looks to have been the right one in retrospect.
