Clio wins Car of the Year 2006 no thanks to French

Renault's Clio is Car of the Year 2006, following voting across Europe by the 58-strong jury, writes John Simister. It scored 256 points to beat the Volkswagen Passat (251, a close second), Alfa 159 (212), BMW 3-series (203), the Mazda 5 (198), Citroën C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo (187) and Toyota Yaris (143). Strangely, the Clio gained a maximum 10-point score from just one juror, and the French jurors didn't score it especially highly. Nor did Italy favour the Alfa. Only one car gained more than one 10-point score, the BMW. The surprise is that the excellent Yaris didn't do better.