Our choice for Vehicle Of The Year 2022: The Honda Civic RS.
The overall Vehicle Of The Year is sometimes the most difficult candidate to narrow down, but on some years, there’s no discussion at all. 2022 was one of the easiest years for our judges to make this decision because there was one standout car model that every one us wanted to just keep driving. Not only that, we looked at the actual demand for the car and it was clear that many Malaysians felt the same way. Not for the first time, the Honda Civic takes home our Vehicle Of The Year award.
The previous Honda Civic won back in 2016. This new 11th generation Civic now comes with a sportier RS bodykit. But the new Civic is also a much more sophisticated product overall. Even though on paper and at first glance it may not look like a huge leap forward, once you drive it you’ll understand that this car was benchmarked against vehicles that cost twice as much in the market.
In terms of design, it has a more broad appeal to its look. Any box that isn’t ticked in terms of equipment is easily forgivable because of just how well it drives and balances dynamism with comfort and power with fuel economy. It’s a great drivers car and it’s a great family car. Most of all, it’s keeping the sedan formula working well in 2022 and that enough is worthy of a standing ovation.
About DSF.my-Allianz Vehicle Of The Year Awards (VOTY)
VOTY is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
Our selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask for our judges to test out eligible cars. There is no participation fee, no tables/seats to buy, no package deals. No car company may buy their award and that makes unique in Malaysia. It is held annually and the way we determine the winners is by having each of the experienced judges vote on their favourite car in each category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year to year, but we’ve made some revisions to fit the market. Some years there just aren’t any hot hatches launched but tonnes of new hybrids or electric cars. Our title sponsor Allianz recognises the integrity of our team and leaves the decisions to us with regards to categories and winners.
