2021 PERFORMANCE CAR of the YEAR | MOTOR

The most powerful Performance Car of the Year to date. Testing took place over four days on the roads of Victoria’s high country and at a favourite MOTOR venue, Winton Raceway, in December 2020.

The shortlist of candidates was whittled down to ten contenders released in the 12 months prior to testing. The field for PCOTY delivered a lap record for a production car at Winton, the fastest car MOTOR has ever strapped timing gear to and also included the most powerful car ever submitted for PCOTY judging.

The 10 contenders were:
Audi R8 V10 Performance
Audi RS6 Avant
BMW M550i xDrive
Ford Fiesta ST
Herrod SM17
Mercedes-AMG A45 S
Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro
Porsche Cayman GTS
Porsche 911 Turbo S
Toyota Yaris GR

Five judges evaluated the cars against the PCOTY criteria of Performance, Dynamics, Accessibility, Liveability, Value and X-Factor. The cars were also timed on track, with hot laps driven by former V8 Supercar driver Karl Reindler. This is the 25th running of Performance Car of the Year with testing having taken place since 1996.

Only six manufacturers have ever claimed the PCOTY crown. Porsche has won 15 out of the prior 24 events, Nissan and Audi three, BMW with two victories, and one win each for Lamborghini and Honda. Those good at maths might have realised there was a tie for first, back in 2009 when the Nissan GT-R and Audi R8 shared the spoils.

Join the conversation: #motormag

[alanfrazer]

John C asked me to pop round and give you some love. Happy to oblige.

[mrhorse]

Wow! Less than 5k views, and 30% are only here because they watched John Cadogan's video, where he lampoons MOTOR for its utter irrelevancy. Keep up the good work boys!

[yhakult]

I was going to buy a 992 Turbo S, but then I remembered I'm poor.

[DaveMuller]

Another new subscriber from John Cadogan's channel. I'm surprised how good the production quality is on these videos here!

[MT-ebdx]

Motor performance car for the rich of the year. Well done.

[leosheppard]

JC said I had to watch, I couldn’t resist.

Here’s to the Mazda3 MPS for the win!

[nikosdimitriadis]

This must be the most boring COTY video in all of YT! I take it the video editors have never seen Top Gear, Motortrend, GrandTour ?!

[barmybee]

A certain very popular online motoring journalist suggested I subscribe to your channel in sympathy, though he put it a bit more crudely.
I won't subscribe though because despite being called Motor, a quick scam of your videos shows you are basically caught up in a high performance fantasy world that I and most other people don't inhabit.
Perhaps if you talked about more down to earth cars you'd have more than 12500 subscribers. Just a thought.

[neilbrotherton]

Purchased my first Motor Magazine in June 1964! (Modern Motor). Yes I am that old. For decades I was an avid reader of both Wheels and Motor. In many ways they were interchangeable well written publications. As time went by the magazines ended up been owned by the same company. They were re-positioned in the market. Wheels more mainstream and Motor the sporty end. From that time onwards I felt that Motor was getting out of touch with the normal reader. The cars that dominated the mag were more and more expensive and really just irrelevant. We finally got to the stage that every month the cover seemed to have another Mustang on it. We come to this award and the winner?? A car that cost the best part of half a million dollars. hmmm. Count me out. The friendship dating back to 1964 is finally over. I will now go back to my nursing home and have a good rest.

[pvtjohntowle]

another car award that has no relevance to the average joe from a mag that has no relevance. John C says Hi

[aussiecarjourno]

Great work guys. Can't wait to get the mag

[alanevanson]

really sad to see what was a good mag 30 yeas ago, turn into this ... I have no nice words to describe it. Shout out to Cadogan.

[jetx]

Didn’t 2021 just start though? Isn’t it a bit to early to call

[dougseag]

I was hear for 1:03, is that enough John?

[dmcsub]

There should be 2 categories sub 100k and 100k plus as some of these are just so unattainable for the regular person

[jamesirwin]

Did they even review the Tesla. As faster than the GT3 seats 4 in comfort. Enough room for the groceries. The only car that gets better the more you drive it. Tesla (insert random Model here).
Now that's a car.

[rukeberel]

just subscribed - "doing our bit to preserving motoring heritage" (JC 2021).

[edword]

John autoexpert said to watch I am from Scotland so not heard of this channel before but have watched wheels before the historic episodes from the 80s. In shitsvillie I thought people did not drive expensive cars as large import tariffs a BMW is 4 times the price of a Commodore. When at schools friends dad had a 911 turbo my dads 928 was far bigger more comfortable, safer and higher top speed also had a more luxury interior. I would have gone with the electric Porsche as good as the 911 I think people like 4 doors these days

[stevenmcgeorge]

Should have held out for the GR circuit pack before releasing this video. It trumps the competition.

[URHYNS]

I've paused the video before it even started so you hopefully don't get my view count. I've only come to say "lol". JC sends his regards.