And the Shatchback of the Year 2011 is...
You've been voting with your feet and have stuck the boot in to our list of gloriously awful Shatchbacks. But who has picked up the Golden Boot for Shatchback of the Year 2011?
Drum roll please. After a frantic few days of voting, the readers of PetrolBlog have voted with their feet and really stuck the boot in. I'm therefore pleased to announce that the winner of the Golden Boot and therefore Shatchback of the Year 2011 is...
Going to be revealed in a moment!
Shouldn't this be done in reverse order?!
Bronze Plimsoll
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Renault 7[/caption]Picking up the bronze medal with a whopping 10% of the overall votes is the Renault 7. Yes, showing that readers of PetrolBlog have no mercy when it comes to retro Shatchbacks, you put the saloon version of the Renault 5 in third place. The plucky little Renault 7 sold, depending on which source you believe, between 140,000 and 160,000 units between the years of 1974 and 1984. It's success was limited largely to Spain as the rest of the world seemed to prefer the Renault 12. Quite right too.
Today, it is kept alive today by the enthusiastic chaps at the Spanish Siete7 Club.
Thanks to the wonderful world of Wikipedia, I've discovered this fantastic little French website. There are some wonderfully retro brochure images on the site and I can't work out if it makes the 7 look cool or not. So I'll err on the side of caution and say no. No it doesn't. But well done to the 7 for picking up third place, especially as it was the very first Shatchback to appear on PetrolBlog, way back in Give them the boot.
Silver Shoe
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Renault Clio[/caption]Not content with taking just taking third place, Renault will be delighted to learn that it has taken the silver medal too. Just edging the Renault 7 with 12% of the votes, it's the Clio that takes second place. Yes, the star of Shatchbacks 3: The Rise of Machines sticks two figures up and blows a raspberry at its ageing French uncle. Of course, this is bad news for Monique, Nicole's ugly sister, who will no doubt be running off to Papa at the thought of missing out on yet another prize. Life is tough when you live in the shadows of Nicole.
Depending on where you are in the world, the Clio saloon is known under a number of guises, including Symbol, Thalia, Sedan or the wonderfully overstated, Classic. All we know is, it's a brilliantly awful Shatchback. At which point I probably should post another photo of Nicole to balance things up. But I won't. Sorry*.
Golden Boot
Could it be a clean sweep fo Renault? Could the Megane or Chamade sneak in and take the top spot? Er, no.
Picking up the Golden Boot for Shatchback of the Year 2011, with a massive 16% of the votes is...the Suzuki Swift / Maruti Dzire. Cue rapturous applause and a lengthy acceptance speech.
The Swift and Dzire appeared in Shatchbacks 2: Judgement Day and they're a worthy winner. No other cars manage to capture the essence of Shatchback quite like the Swift or Dzire. Take a pretty and well proportioned hatchback, stick a hideous boot on the back and hey presto, a total mess. The very definition of an automotive afterthought.
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Suzuki Swift / Maruti Dzire[/caption]I'm delighted to say that Maruti saw sense and removed the original website, complete with constant rain fall and darkness. Sadly, they've retained the Casio keyboard background music on the new website. Still, at least we can still play the 'how long can you listen to the music before thinking about sticking pins in your eyes' game. I'm mildly amused by what the website sees as the key selling point of the Dzire's rear end though. Click on the boot and the caption states, "a high mounted stop lamp and a rear bumper-integrated fog lamp give clear signals to following traffic". What this should say is "a high mounted stop lamp and a rear bumper-integrated fog lamp give clear signals to stop following traffic from crashing into your Dzire through the sheer horror of what they've just seen".
Congratulations to the top three and thanks to everyone who voted. Look out for more Shatchbacks in 2012, plus an attempt to compile a list of good Shatchbacks. If they're out there, we'll find them.
Please remember, Shatchbacks represent a small proportion of the cars on our road, so please, don't have nightmares and do sleep well. Thank you.
*Oh, go on then. Here's Nicole.
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Sexy Back[/caption]Image credits on original posts.
