Volkwagen Eos - evecars.com Car of The Year 2007

The Volkswagen Eos has been named ‘Car of The Year’ in the first ever women's car awards by car-buying website evecars.com. By focusing on what women really look for in a car, the results will help ladies looking for the perfect car, whatever their lifestyle.

Alex Jenner-Fust, editor of evecars.com said: "Our winner had to excel in its category and have a wider appeal. Volkswagen's Eos is a car you can buy because you love it, and because it makes perfect sense. It’s a convertible without the potential weakness of a cloth roof, practical enough to carry four, but sexy, too. While it feels sporty to drive, it's not so demanding you couldn’t drive it every day."

The Eos topped a shortlist of 27 cars in nine categories selected from over 3,000 models on sale in the UK today. The eight-strong judging team included Radio 5 Live presenter and Formula 1 aficionado Holly Samos, evecars.com editor Alex Jenner-Fust, eve magazine editor Sara Cremer and Steve Fowler, editor of consumer champion, What Car?

The iconic British-built Mini Cooper zoomed off with the aptly named 'Small and Perfectly Formed' award, with judges loving the car's character, nippy and grippy performance as well as the funky styling inside and out.

With green motoring high on the political agenda, a 'Green Machine' category looked at environmental performance, and Toyota's Prius won top spot.

“The Toyota Prius makes green motoring easy. It’s a practical family car with a CO2 output of just 106g/kg which makes it exempt from congestion charges which are likely to be appearing in cities up and down the country in the next few years”, commented Alex Jenner-Fust.

Every car was given a thorough inspection and judges looked at how easy is was to find a good driving position, get into and out of the back seats, fit a child seat and pack the boot.

The cars were then put through their paces on winding country lanes and fast sections of dual carriageway as well as being manoeuvred around a couple of tight parking spaces.

What Car? provided information about resale values, service costs and reliability to help complete the picture.

Evecars.com readers voted the Audi R8 the sexiest car launched in 2007 and the Nissan 4X4 ‘Beasts’ advertisement was awarded the prize for the best car advertisement. Looking forward, evecars.com readers decided on the Fiat 500 as an absolute hit for the future.

Overall Winner Volkswagen Eos £19,722 - £29,527

Funky First Cars - Fiat Panda - £6,905 - £10,010
Small and Perfectly Formed - Mini Cooper - £13,025 - £16,025
Family Hold-all - Nissan Qashqai - £13,499 - £20,799
Family 4X4 - Hyundai Santa Fe - £21,605 - £27,050
Sporty Numbers - Audi TT - £24,900 - £30,940
School Runners - Citroen Grand C4 Picasso - £14,995- £21,695
Executive Chic - BMW 3 Series - £20,735 - £36,125
Green Machines - Toyota Prius - £17,777 - £20,677
Cool Convertibles - Volkswagen Eos - £19,722 - £29,527