Audi R8 ( MSN Car of the Year )

The Audi R8 has bagged the MSN Cars Car of the Year award defeating rivals Ferrari 430 Scuderia and BMW M3 by a huge margin. The online poll was conducted on MSN’s U.K website and the R8 grabbed 42 percent of the casted 15,000 votes.

The contest is into its fourth year now with the BMW 3-Series Coupé, Bugatti Veyron and Aston Martin DB9 emerging winners on previous occasions. There were some surprises this year like the Merc C-Class which won the Wheels magazine car of the year award, came only 7th and the Fiat 500 which earlier won the European car of the year award, came at a disappointing 6th. The Jaguar XF saloon couldn’t contest and if it had, the R8 would have faced tough competition given the Brits love for Jags.

“When I first drove it(Audi R8) a couple of months ago I was blown away by its exhilarating, sure-footed handling, the grunt of its performance, and the fact that every second person on the road gave it a long hard stare as we hurtled by. A brilliant car that fully deserves to follow in the steps of cars like the DB9 and Veyron to be an ‘MSN Cars Car of the Year’,” said MSN Cars content manager Tom Evans.

The Audi R8 is aggressive, elegant and a remarkable feat of automotive engineering. It adds another element to Audi’s sprawling portfolio and adds another dimension to the supercar world.

Here are the entire results of the poll:

1. Audi R8 42%

2. Ferrari 430 Scuderia 13%

3. BMW M3 11%

4. Ford Mondeo 9%

5. Rolls-Royce Phantom DHC 7%

6. Fiat 500 6%

7. Mercedes-Benz C-Class 6%

8. Mini Clubman 2%

9. Mitsubishi i-car 2%

10. Mazda 2 1%