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The Corolla Hybrid really is a car that asks why you need anything else, and one that democratises fuel-efficient petrol-electric hybrid technology, making it affordable and appealing to the masses.

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We’ve tested Australia’s affordable passenger cars for any situation to find the best to buy in 2016.

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<a href="https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/2016-drive-car-of-the-year-20161121-gstxvu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2016 Drive Car of the Year</a>

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<p class="has-text-align-center"><a href="https://www.drive.com.au/reviews/2016-drive-car-of-the-year-20161121-gstxvu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2016 Drive Car of the Year</a></p>

As Drive turns 25, we're also celebrating 15 years of bringing you Drive Car of the Year Awards. Take a trip down memory lane with us as we look at the previous winners of this prestigious award.

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<div class="wp-block-drive-blocks-past-winners"><h3 class="text-center">Drive Car of the Year Past Winners</h3><p class="text-center max-w-3xl mx-auto">As Drive turns 25, we're also celebrating 15 years of bringing you Drive Car of the Year Awards. Take a trip down memory lane with us as we look at the previous winners of this prestigious award.</p><img src="https://prod-boot.drive.com.au/wp-content/plugins/drive-post-editor/assets/build/src/img/past-winners.png" alt="past-winner" class="mx-auto"/></div>

Best People Mover 2016

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Drive Car of the Year Winners group photo

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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020.
 
Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

Alex Misoyannis

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines as a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

Drive - Australia&#039;s home of Car News, Expert Reviews, Independent Advice, Specs and Guides and Cars for Sale

Drive

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.

Journalist

The Drive Team brings you trusted, expert reviews of your next new car and is home to the best new car awards program in Australia.

Drive Team

The Drive Team brings you trusted, expert reviews of your next new year and is home to the best new car awards program in Australia.

Emma has been on our television screens for over a decade. Most of her time in the industry has been spent at racetracks reporting at major motorsport events in Australia - from TCR and Superbikes to Porsche Sprint Challenge and Supercars. Emma has also hosted various MotoGP and F1 events interviewing the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Jack Miller. Having previously presented on an automotive show, she made her move to the Drive family in 2020.
Fiercely proud of her Italian heritage, Emma is a coffee loving, stylish-black wearing resident of Melbourne.

Emma Notarfrancesco

Emma has been on our television screens for over a decade. Most of her time in the industry has been spent at racetracks reporting at major motorsport events in Australia - from TCR and Superbikes to Porsche Sprint Challenge and Supercars. Emma has also hosted various MotoGP and F1 events interviewing the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Jack Miller. Having previously presented on an automotive show, she made her move to the Drive family in 2020. Fiercely proud of her Italian heritage, Emma is a coffee loving, stylish-black wearing resident of Melbourne.

Senior Presenter

Glenn Butler is one of Australia's best-known motoring journalists having spent the last 25 years reporting on cars on radio, TV, web and print. He's a former editor of Wheels, Australia's most respected car magazine, and was deputy editor of Drive.com.au before that. Glenn's also worked at an executive level for two of Australia's most prominent car companies, so he understands how much care and consideration goes into designing and developing new cars. As a journalist, he's driven everything from Ferraris to Fiats on all continents except Antarctica (which he one day hopes to achieve) and loves discovering each car's unique personality and strengths. Glenn knows a car's price isn't indicative of its competence, and even the cheapest car can enhance your life and expand your horizons. 

Glenn Butler

Head of Content (Vic)

Kable is one of Europe's leading automotive journalists. The Aussie expat lives in Germany and has some of the world's most powerful executives on speed dial.

Greg Kable

European Correspondent

James has been part of the digital publishing landscape in Australia since 2002 and has worked within the automotive industry since 2007. He joined CarAdvice in 2013, left in 2017 to work with BMW and then returned at the end of 2019 to spearhead the content direction of Drive.

James Ward

In writing and presenting content for Drive, James understands that the needs of buyers will vary from car to car, and through his own family experience, knows what works best for when readers are dealing with day-to-day family challenges, and when they can simply relax and enjoy the drive. Much of his work is behind the scenes, guiding the strategy that steers the content publishing across all channels, but if given a chance will never shy away from getting his hands dirty off road, or at pace on a racetrack. James has owned dozens of cars, run a supercar club, competed in club and amateur level motorsport, and was even a finalist in the search for an Australian Top Gear presenter.

Director of Content

Jordan Mulach is Canberra/Ngunnawal born, currently residing in Brisbane/Turrbal. Joining the Drive team in 2022, Jordan has previously worked for Auto Action, MotorsportM8, The Supercars Collective and TouringCarTimes, WhichCar, Wheels, Motor and Street Machine. Jordan is a self-described iRacing addict and can be found on weekends either behind the wheel of his Octavia RS or swearing at his ZH Fairlane.

Jordan Mulach

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in late 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for 10 years.

National Motoring Editor

After more than a decade working in the product planning and marketing departments of brands like Kia, Subaru and Peugeot, Justin Narayan returned to being a motoring writer – the very first job he held in the industry.

Justin Narayan

After initially starting his career as a motoring writer, Justin went on to hold multiple roles at marketing agencies specialising in the automotive sector. He later moved onto corporate roles, holding numerous marketing and product planning positions with brands such as Audi, Kia, Subaru, Peugeot and Citroen. As Head of Product Planning for French brands Peugeot and Citroen, Justin was responsible for drafting an award-winning product range and in 2019 was on the receiving end of a prestigious Drive Car of the Year Award for the Peugeot Expert. Having worked inside the core of the automotive industry, he brings unique experience to the Drive editorial team. Outside of work, he is a passionate car enthusiast, who owns multiple new, and classic vehicles.

Senior Journalist

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

Kez Casey

Prior to life as a motor noter, Kez worked various roles within dealerships, from detailing to sales, before settling into service and parts departments with brands like Toyota, Renault, Kia and Mercedes-Benz. Looking back further still, Kez’s older brothers were in the panel trade, so after school many an evening was spent bleeding brakes, disassembling and reassembling cars, trucks and tractors or wet-sanding, buffing, and final-finishing – building an eye for detail in the process.

Senior Road Tester

Production Editor

Our bloke in the UK has been writing about cars since the late ’nineties, and served time on the staff of CAR, Autocar and evo magazines. These days he combines his duties for Drive with being European Editor for Car and Driver in the ’States. He loves automotive adventures and old Mercs, sometimes experienced together.

Mike Duff

UK Bureau Chief

Paul Gover has been a motoring journalist for more than 40 years, working on newspapers, magazines, websites, radio and television. A qualified general news journalist and sports reporter, his passion for motoring led him to Wheels, Motor, Car Australia, Which Car and Auto Action magazines. He is a champion racing driver as well as a World Car of the Year judge.

Paul Gover

Senior Journalist 

Rob Margeit has been an automotive journalist for over 20 years, covering both motorsport and the car industry. Rob joined CarAdvice in 2016 after a long career at Australian Consolidated Press. Rob covers automotive news and car reviews while also writing in-depth feature articles on historically significant cars and auto manufacturers. He also loves discovering obscure models and researching their genesis and history.

Rob Margeit

Features Editor

Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures.

Sam Purcell

Before landing a gig writing about it for a living, Sam Purcell grew up with that typical obsession with cars and trucks, with his earliest memories coming from the back – and on dad’s knee behind the wheel – of a 1985 Land Rover 110 V8. From there, he has owned a couple of old Land Rovers of his own, and has been lucky to spend time behind the wheel of just about every four-wheel drive on the market, putting them through their paces off-road.

Off-Road Editor

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist since she was 18, and has spent the last two years writing about cars for Drive, CarAdvice, CarSales and as a motoring columnist for several in-flight and hotel magazines. 

Susannah’s background is news journalism, followed by several years spent in celebrity journalism, entertainment journalism and fashion magazines and a brief stint hosting a travel TV show for Channel Ten. She joined Drive in 2020 after spending a year and a half at the helm of Harper’s BAZAAR and ELLE’s online platforms.

Susannah holds a Bachelor in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne and cut her teeth as an intern for Time Inc in New York City. She has also completed a television presenting course with the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and her one-year-old son who, despite her best efforts, does not yet enjoy a good road trip.

Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist since she was 18, and has spent the last two years writing about cars for Drive, CarAdvice, CarSales and as a motoring columnist for several in-flight and hotel magazines. Susannah’s background is news journalism, followed by several years spent in celebrity journalism, entertainment journalism and fashion magazines and a brief stint hosting a travel TV show for Channel Ten. She joined Drive in 2020 after spending a year and a half at the helm of Harper’s BAZAAR and ELLE’s online platforms. Susannah holds a Bachelor in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne and cut her teeth as an intern for Time Inc in New York City. She has also completed a television presenting course with the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and her one-year-old son who, despite her best efforts, does not yet enjoy a good road trip.

Tom started out in the automotive industry by exploiting his photographic skills but quickly learned that journalists got the better end of the deal. He began with CarAdvice in 2014, left in 2017 to join Bauer Media titles including Wheels and WhichCar and subsequently returned to CarAdvice in early 2021 during its transition to Drive. 

As part of the Drive content team, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories. 

He understands that every car buyer is unique and has varying requirements when it comes to buying a new car, but equally, there’s also a loyal subset of Drive audience that loves entertaining enthusiast content.

Tom holds a deep respect for all things automotive no matter the model, priding himself on noticing the subtle things that make each car tick. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t learn something new in an everchanging industry, which is then imparted to the Drive reader base.

Tom Fraser

As part of the Drive content team, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories.

Tom started out in the automotive industry by exploiting his photographic skills but quickly learned that journalists got the better end of the deal. He began with CarAdvice in 2014, left in 2017 to join Bauer Media titles including Wheels and WhichCar and subsequently returned to CarAdvice in early 2021 during its transition to Drive. As part of the Drive content team, Tom covers automotive news, car reviews, advice, and holds a special interest in long-form feature stories. He understands that every car buyer is unique and has varying requirements when it comes to buying a new car, but equally, there’s also a loyal subset of Drive audience that loves entertaining enthusiast content. Tom holds a deep respect for all things automotive no matter the model, priding himself on noticing the subtle things that make each car tick. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t learn something new in an everchanging industry, which is then imparted to the Drive reader base.

Trent Nikolic has been road testing and writing about cars for almost 20 years. He’s been at CarAdvice/Drive since 2014 and has been a motoring editor at the NRMA, Overlander 4WD Magazine, Hot4s and Auto Salon Magazine.

Trent Nikolic

Trent is the Managing Editor at Drive where he heads a team with vast automotive experience. He covers automotive news and reviews, also writing editorial opinion pieces and in-depth features. Trent is also one of Drive’s senior video presenters and is the voice of Drive across the Macquarie Media network. Prior to joining CarAdvice in 2014, Trent was the motoring editor at the NRMA, running editorial across print and online platforms. Before that, Trent worked at News Magazines where he edited Australia’s original 4WD magazine, Overlander 4WD. Before moving into mainstream automotive, Trent worked in specialist media, editing both Auto Salon Magazine and Hot 4s Magazine.

Drive Car of the Year Passenger Car Awards

Drive Car of the Year Past Winners