AutoApp Car Of The Year 2025 (ACOTY 2025) awards the best cars tested in Singapore that will be on sale in 2025.
Following on the heels of its success in 2024, the AutoApp Car Of The Year (ACOTY) awards is back for 2025 with a bang.
ACOTY is meant to be the definitive car award that consolidates the thoughts and opinions of vehicles that we have reviewed this year, and hopefully helps you make an informed choice when choosing your next car in 2025.
Every vehicle tested and reviewed on AutoApp is rated and voted on its merits by an objective scoring system that the voting panel of experienced and diverse automotive journalists decide on.
No contenders are ruled out. Having four wheels means an automatic enrolment. This, in turn, offers every car we tested a chance to win an Autoapp Car Of The Year award.
ACOTY’s numerous categories recognise the diverse range of cars that suit various needs. However, those who simply want to know which is best will also have their quick answer.
Why ACOTY 2025?
Try it yourself. Just Google “Best Cat B car Singapore” or similar.
Chances are you’ll find AutoApp Car Of The Year 2024 results listed organically at the top or very near the top.
We intend to continue this trend with ACOTY 2025 to bring you, our esteemed readers, the highest quality content and results as accessibly as possible.
There’s also a good reason for the nomenclature ‘2025’
Although the cars were tested in 2024, it is a common practice in the car industry for models launched after July to be referred to as the following model year.
This also differentiates ACOTY from the other local awards formats. We want car companies to have a full year to market their cars with the 2025 awards.
We anticipate that customers would also be more receptive to the accolades for the cars they are shortlisting for the year ahead rather than making decisions based on last year’s models.
Scoring Criteria
Every car entered for ACOTY is judged on a standard set of criteria, with a maximum of 10 points per category:
| Category | Area(s) of Assessment |
| Exterior Design | Let’s face it, first impressions count. |
| Interior Design | The part of the vehicle occupants spend the most time looking at. |
| Performance | Does this car feel more or less powerful than what is expected from its given class of vehicle? |
| Handling | How responsive is this car to driver inputs? |
| Comfort | Ride quality. |
| Practicality | Rear passenger room, luggage and storage compartments, ease of loading, ergonomics, hooks, and other thoughtful features. |
| Function | How well does this car fulfil its intended purpose? |
| Safety | Braking ability, number of airbags, active safety systems, or any innovative safety features will earn above-average scores here. |
| Features | Does the car have standout features we love or hate? Is it sufficiently specced in its class? |
| Quality | Haptics, interior build quality, exterior fit and finish, paint quality, sound system, and panel tolerances. |
| Value | How does this vehicle compare against its class competitors for its given price? |
| Driver Appeal | The X-factor. Are we reluctant to return the car after a test drive? |
In the event that a member on the voting panel did not get to drive that particular car, a default score of 6 points out of a maximum of 10 for each category is awarded if the judge does not have sufficient information to make a credible assessment. This is so the car will not be disadvantaged if it is not driven by all the voting members.
The other reason for a default of 6 points (and not 5 for example) is that there is an assumption that there are rarely any bad cars today. Just about every car on sale in Singapore works competently; they start, they run, the air-conditioning works and they generally don’t break down. Hence, we provide the benefit of the doubt with 6 points.
If the importer wants to improve their car’s scoring chances, they will arrange for the cars to be driven by the rest of the voting panel.
The road to ACOTY
To qualify for this ACOTY, each car must have been launched between 1 September 2023 and 31 October 2024. Also, the qualifying model has to be on sale the following year.
Next, the car must have been driven by at least one member of the voting panel. This is to ensure that no “armchair reviews” are at play and opinions are based on actual experience; not hearsay or what has been said in other reviews. All eligible cars will also have an AutoApp review published before being entered, so anyone is able to browse and read up on how each car fared.
To be in contention for the ACOTY Grand Prize, a car must first top its individual category on points. After securing a first-round victory, it will then be judged against other category winners.
For example, in the case of the Overall Best Cat A vehicle, the winner of the Cat A Hatchback will be compared against the Cat A Sedan, Cat A SUV, Cat A EV and so on.
Second-round or Overall winners will then head into the final round where they will be judged again to be worthy of the overall Grand Prize, which is the AutoApp Car Of The Year.
Now that that’s all cleared up (take a deep breath), here are the categories:
First-Round ACOTY Categories
Second-Round ACOTY Categories (Finalists)
From these 11 finalists, the AutoApp Car Of The Year will be chosen.
The following series of articles will make for fascinating reading as we get into the surprises and conundrums to decide which car emerges above the rest. Stay tuned.
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