Well more like six months in my case since I joined the Cars.co.za team in June 2014. I may have missed some metal in the beginning of the year but I more than made up for it in the second half, clocking up somewhere around 60 cars tested. Here are just a few of my highs and lows.

Lowlights

Alfa Romeo 4C. Not because it’s a bad car, exactly the opposite in fact. This is probably going to be a sore point for a while because I never got to drive it and so wanted to. I’ve owned Alfas, broken down in Alfas and more often than not enjoyed them so to miss out on something this special was a bummer and I have verbally abused Stuart Johnston for getting the chance to do the review in JHB.

My actual underperformer for the year is the Subaru WRX STI, the latest incarnation is almost identical to the previous and is now being blown away by most hot hatches. It’s certainly not the performance bargain it claims to be. The plain WRX on the other hand is a much better prospect now and is actually the model to own in the range.

The Datsun Go sits at the bottom of the lowlight list however, initially it sounded like a great ideaas we were going to get a cheap city car that wasn’t Chinese or meant to fall apart after the first test drive. Unfortunately terrible safety ratings followed the launch and then there was the bitwhen driving it the chassis felt like it was stuck togetherwith Pritt glue instead of welding.

Highlights

I think it’s probably time to move on to the highlights then. Audi’s S3 Sedan ranks right up there in terms of over delivery. Audis have been slated for all looking too similar, but the S3 Sedan’s proportions work so well. It’s a beautiful-looking car and when combined with the shove the S-derivative supplies it feels the part. It also helps that it’s one of the more agile all-wheel drive Audis around.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class has to be one of the most complete cars I’ve ever driven, inside its interior is smart, stylish and heavy on tech. I especially like the way Merc designed its car to be comfortable over sporty, the opposite to what its German counterparts are doing. It oozes class and has an impressive array of new engines.

My SUV award goes to the Nissan Qashqai, it’s the go to word in compact SUVs and more often I seem to be directing people its way. The new Qashqai improves on the previous model’s practicality, ease of use and perceived ground clearance. The new range of engines are also pretty good, especially the petrol 1.2 turbo.