Mike Rutherford's column

	My World Car of the Year must be £12,500, a genuine five-seater, return at least 50mpg and put out no more than 125g/km of CO2

I sit on the international jury for the World Car of the Year (WCOTY) awards, and have been agonising over what model should get my vote for 2007. It needs to be something any individual, couple or family of up to five should be able to live with day to day, regardless of where they reside in the developed world. Satisfying to drive, functional, safe, affordable, well built and good looking... these are all key factors.

An ability to return an average of more than 50mpg while at the same
time pumping out carbon emissions of 125g/km or less are, it seems to me, essential requirements for the people’s car. It must cost less than £12,500 new and retain at least a third of its original value after three years or 36,000 miles.

Its insurance group can be no higher than five. A European factory wouldn’t be crucial, but preferable on the grounds that the EU is the biggest market for this sort of vehicle, and the shorter the distance from production plant to end customer the better. And since it is, by its nature, a car that has to be all things to all men and women – plus kids, plus pets – it must be a genuine five-seater.

That instantly eliminates the MINI, which has serious space limitations
and other failings. Similarly, the Toyota Auris could and should be a contender, but isn’t on the grounds that it is possibly the world’s dullest car. The Nissan Qashqai also looks good on paper, yet the test version I got behind the wheel of rattled horribly and confirmed what I have long suspected: Nissan quality cannot touch that found in models from Honda, Toyota and Mazda.

Talking of Honda, its Civic certainly has all the build quality and reliability that a car for the people requires. But as long as the range starts at more than £13,000 for the humble 1.4, this model is in serious danger of pricing itself out of the market. And although the Citroen C4 is extremely competitively priced – it’s the bargain of the bunch – it doesn’t quite cut it, either, because there still have to be question marks over French build quality.

Two state-of-the-art machines made to the highest standards and within
my budget for the people’s car are the pretty, just-launched Mazda 2 and the equally fresh 72mpg Volkswagen Polo Bluemotion. Both are astonishingly good at what they do and must surely be contenders for the overall World Car of the Year crown. But as models for the people, they are just a tad too small. Or to be more precise, they are too small for families with tonnes of kit and kids on board. If load-lugging and five proper seats are not priorities for you, then you cannot do better than the Polo or the 2.

But the ultimate £12,500 car for the people has to be a larger beast – and
that makes the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra serious possibilities. You can even include the Hyundai i30, as it’s a world-class if unglamorous car and its five-year warranty is almost unbeatable. Almost but not quite. The Kia Cee’d doesn’t have much glamour about it, either. Yet it does have an industry-leading seven-year warranty and, in 89bhp 1.6-litre diesel guise, can be bought for £12,295.

It has a group 5 insurance rating, a CO2 output of 125g/km, does slightly over 60mpg on average, retains around 33 per cent of its original value after three years, and the Slovakian factory where it’s built is one of the most advanced and impressive I have seen anywhere in the world. All things considered, the Kia Cee’d is the car for the people. And deservedly so.