Well, I think MT is one of the most unbiased auto magazines out there. I usually read multiple reviews from different sources of the same car, if their all saying the same thing, its probably true. In the end, only your personal experience really matters, no one can really tell you how good or bad a car is, since perception varies so much, especially since there’s no truly bad car on the marker right now.
And on the COTY award, keep in mind its only for all new cars, which means the pool is somewhat limited, and I dont see the COTY award as the award for the best car in the class. For example, the Volt is not, right now, a car that is the best, a cruze is a much better value than the volt. However it completely deserved the award for a multitude of reasons I will not discuss. The award is for whats new, whats daring, whats revolutionary( volt, evoque ) In a similar sense, the Passat was a huge improvement over the previous gen Passat and was WV first serious attempt at the mid size market, and its a pretty competitive car.
And Passat sales are still low compared to the rest of its class, but their growing pretty fast.
