VW Golf Named European Car of the Year

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf handily overpowered its rivals to win European Car of the Year for 2013. The third-generation model won the same award in 1992.

The compact five-door hatch was awarded 414 points by a panel of 58 European journalists from 22 countries. The committee gave 202 points to the second-place Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 sibling sport coupes and 189 points to the Volvo V40 small sedan.

The other five finalists were the Ford B-Max MPV (148), Mercedes-Benz A-Class hot hatch (138), Renault Clio supermini (128), Peugeot 208 supermini (120) and Hyundai i30 five-door hatch (111).