"How we chose theWheels Car of theYeat",e,0,,.. "This year there were six DAY#1 finalists for Wheels . Audi 5+5 "I picked up Moffat from the Hilton at Bluebird 6.55 am. I was five minutes early and he Datsun Skyline was waiting. We drove in the Benz. Evan Accord met us in the Skyline I'd given him at Mercedes-Benz S -class dinner the night before (at Puncinella, Celica. - `in the Cross, fantastic meal, "But this year was very different. \.had a great yarn... but , that's another story). I had some help. And pretty Sydney's roads are impressive help it was, too. '1 so terrible it took Alan Moffat,one of the best - `i AK 995J an hour to get from I reckon is between Cooma and Omeo. drivers in Australia,Ycertainl ) the city to we're the best known. With three Amazing. One minute all sprouting J "Bathursts" under his belt. LCastlereagh. Banjo Patterson, the next the mountains ^ "We stayed till flatten out to -book rolling hills. Evan Green, once p. r. man _ picture 1.00 doing the tests. Again it's swapping cars. By now two or 1 with long GM and Leyland, time were motoring writer for the Sun -Herald. And already the cars starting to sort three makes are out of contention. No one out. One which looks a million it. Dimitri Caplygin, executive themselves says so but each of us quietly knows dollars went like five cents... you would not Day Two is a day of ups and downs. 1 engineer Girlock, perhaps the it. Literally. finest brake engineer in the believe Mountain after mountain. Bend `-, "Funny thing we fast realised. As after bend. We arrive at Albury at 10.30 I world. David Bentley, industrial Wheels hard I designer and car stylist, fathered editor of I'm on cars when pm. The cars are in better shape than us. get behind the wheel. That's my job. But to the Kimberley and Tasman. Mike DAY#3 McCarthy, technical editor,Wheels. someone like Moffat... he's never canned a car in his life. He's been taught to mother "The plan was to take off for "By now I'd chosen them along so they last the race. All I three days, cover at least 1500 'my' Wheels Car J measurements were taken with a gadget kilometres in each car, swapping of the Year. It's fixed with suction drivers each 100 kilometres or so. called the Correvit. caps to the side of the car and monitors "The route: Sydney to Castle - reagh drag strip for electronic everything that happens from J!; measuring of base performance acceleration to braking. It takes - acceleration, braking, speed the human factor out of tests. Then south to Goulburn assessment. (h "Moffat remarked as we sat Queanbeyan and the v climb to Cooma. 9 over dinner in Cooma that he was driving more Overni ht One by one g kilometres in three days Day 2: through I checked with .. he had in years the Snowy to than ten the other drivers. - in Australia. Seems Victoria and down I asked them to rank their best cars m Alan only drives from to Omeo. Up /1; each of six categories. his home to the airport through the Kiewa One: Advancement design. at Tullamarine. in 1. Valley for Night t . J "Moffat Two: Engineering excellence. I #2 at Albury. SO°°-.Three: Value for money. Four: Safety. Day 3: Albury Five: Utilisation of resources. to Tumbarumba, 4.9 Six: Performance of intended liimut, Yass, function. lGoulburn, I tallied the answers and there r Sydney. The run would test the was a clear winner. We drove works; suspension, perform- home to Sydney." made up for it. So did \ ance, interior comfort and Read Peter Robinson's full report in we all. Drive an hour or II vision, fuel economy, safety, February Wheels. There's seven pages on so. Stop. Swap notes. Change cars, drive J , driveability, cornering, the winning car and two pages each on the another hour. Stop. File reports. Swap cars fatigue. On freeways, two five runners up. and take off again. lane bitumen, back roads, dirt, Wheels Car of the Year. / peak -hour city, night time DAY#2 L country. The works. "The most beautiful countryside ;Ws Wheels February now on sale. Weekes Moms & Osborn /MLP22