24 cars, 59 judges: How the European Car of the Year is chosen

More than 20 cars gathered on a Danish beach for testing

The annual COTY contest kicks off with a get-together of the latest metal on a Danish beach

At one point, the beeping had become so much that I thought I might end up with a permanent ringing in my ears.

If you’re looking for a timely trend to underpin the new car class and those models about to descend on us, it’s intrusive and distracting active driver ‘assistance’ functions bonging at you for various tenuous reasons.

When the number of cars doing this at a special test drive event hits double figures, you start to notice some differences between the beeps and the bongs.

A particular ‘favourite’ was the Fisker Ocean, which makes a sound like the one you get from a Microsoft computer in tandem with a negative message popping up.

You know the one: a short, sharp dong when your computer suddenly can’t find the printer it’s usually connected to when you most need it.

The noises from inside the cars were at odds with the peaceful surroundings of our test location.

This is Tannis bay, Denmark, on the very north coast of the country, a good five-hour drive from the capital, Copenhagen – or a four-hour ferry crossing from Gothenburg, Sweden.

This rural seaside resort is most famous for its long, flat beach on which you can drive for miles on end (sticking to the posted 30kph limit).

Yet once every 12 months, a corner of the car industry descends on the location to test the year’s latest and greatest new cars. Tannistest had its 45th running in September.

The event is designed for the 59 Car of the Year jurors, from 22 different countries, to crystallise their decision-making ahead of shortlisting their favourite seven cars for the final Car of the Year voting.

Autocar is a sponsor of the award, and yours truly represents the magazine on the jury.

This year, there were 22 cars from 14 different brands. In some ways, the event is like a motor show where you can actually drive the cars – models that are so new that the ‘big reveal’ covers could still be hiding in the boot.

Only the Honda ZR-V, Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Lexus RZ had yet turned a wheel on UK roads, but even in the case of the Lexus, it was no ordinary RZ, because it featured the new yoke-type steering wheel that’s part of the steer-by-wire system coming to the UK next year. 

This takes some getting used to, and it’s ultimately hard to see much of a net gain as a driver – but technology innovations have to start somewhere. We will see.

I made a beeline first for the Nio ET5. Nio was one of two Chinese firms at the Tannistest, along with BYD, which brought its Seal saloon, and the ET5 is the first Nio model made exclusively for Europe.

It’s also the first Chinese car to appear with some genuinely appealing branding, and it appears devoid of any sense of naffness.

So it proved: dynamically it was excellent, as was its perceived quality.

Should Nio get the pricing and its marketing right, it could even have a Tesla Model 3-style impact on the UK market in 2025.

The ET5 was one of a few forbidden fruits at the Tannistest that we don’t yet get in the UK or perhaps never will: the Renault Espace, although likeable, will stay in France, because the reasons behind Renault’s decision to axe it over here in 2012 (a tiny market and nothing standout about the car) remain valid, but our roads would be a better place with the Ford Bronco, the people’s Land Rover Defender. I drove that on the beach, obviously.

The Lucid Air is due here in 2025, but really it can’t come soon enough.

The big electric saloon was the most in-demand car among testers, and it looked and drove as well on European roads as it did when I tried it in the US.

So complete and impressive is its design and engineering that there’s a case for it being the best pound-for-pound EV yet made.

I found the Ocean to be refreshing and unashamedly mainstream, having a robustness and intrigue to it, like a good Citroën.

And the Toyota Prius has come of age as a car that’s now desirable to people other than Uber drivers.

Happily, both will be with us very soon.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee was more disappointing, especially after the giant step forward that the brand had taken with the Jeep Avenger, 2023’s Car of the Year no less.

It felt too US-focused; a car that will struggle to translate over the pond.

So new were the Kia EV9, BMW i5 and Renault Scenic and so keen were its makers to get them in front of the Car of the Year jury that we had to sign forms saying we wouldn’t tell anyone what we thought of them for weeks or even months to come.

Those embargoes have since lifted, as you may have read over the past few weeks.

The EV9 was probably the first seven-seat SUV I had ever been excited to drive. It looks great, doesn’t it?

Reservations about the ride quality and the fact that it was the beepiest car of all aside, it felt like a smash-hit in the waiting and the next frontier for Kia to conquer.

Credit too to the Scenic, the first ground-up Renault of the Luca de Meo era.

It’s as good as any mainstream EV to drive and, while a little plain on the outside, superb inside and full of thoughtful touches.

My favourite was the range display that showed not only one prediction but also those for if I were to drive the bulk of my miles through cities or on motorways.

I managed tests in 14 cars in the end, the majority of them electric SUVs and crossovers, such is today’s new car market.

But the likes of the EV9 and Scenic show that originality and creativity remain prevalent in the industry.

As for the Tannistest itself, unlike a real motor show, legs ache far less at the end and the air-con can be put on a far more agreeable setting.

I will remember my earplugs next year.