Dacia’s Jogger has been named the inaugural overall winner at the first-ever AA Ireland Car Awards. The Awards were voted on by a panel of motoring journalists and broadcasters.
The Jogger saw off tough competition from the Kia EV6 and the BMW i4 to win the top prize on the day, but was praised for its affordability and practicality, although many did also note the controversy over its safety rating. Euro NCAP, the independent crash test safety expert organisation, came under fire this April for awarding the Jogger just a one-star rating.
Paddy Comyn, AA Ireland’s head of communications said of the awards: “The AA Ireland Car Awards aims to provide consumers with the best possible assistance in choosing a new car for 2023.
“The Dacia Jogger came as the overall winner, with one jury member commenting; The Jogger may not be electric, but in every other sense it’s the car of the moment. Spacious, practical, affordable, and frugal - it’s the car we ought all to be driving’.”
While that top prize was limited to new cars launched on the Irish market between October 2021 and October 2022, there were other category winners which were judged from all new cars currently on sale. In the individual categories, it was Skoda which won big, taking home four awards. The Skoda Fabia was named as best supermini, the Superb won best large family car, while the Kodiaq took home best large crossover.
The Skoda Enyaq won the best family EV category, one of three electric-car specific awards sponsored by Ohme Chargers. The other electric winners were the MG 5, which took home the best value EV award, while the Mercedes-Benz EQS won the best luxury EV trophy.
Other winners included the Fiat 500e, which was judged as the best city car; the Peugeot 308 which was named as best family hatchback; the Toyota Yaris Cross won best small crossover; the Kia Sportage took best medium crossover; the BMW M3 won best performance car; the Mercedes-Benz C-Class won best compact executive; while the BMW 5 Series won best large executive.
