FIAT, MITSUBISHI TWINS SHARE 'BAKKIE OF THE YEAR'
Bakkie & Car magazine has voted the twin Fiat Fullback 2.4 Double Cab SX 4x4 auto and Mitsubishi Triton 2.4 Di-D DC 4x2 auto as its joint Best Bakkie 2018. Selected from a field of seven finalists also comprising the Ford Ranger 3.2 Fx4 DC 4x4, Mazda BT-50 3.2 DC 4x4, Nissan Navara 2.3D DC 4x4, Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD-6 DC 4x4 Black auto and Volkswagen Amarok 3.0 V6 TDI, the Fiat and Mitsubishi were joined by the Nissan and Volkswagen on the podium, before going through to the final.
The fifteenth Best Bakkie competition as usual comprised examples of the most important bakkies to be released over the past twelve months with only one model variant allowed per brand. The seven finalists were then brought together with each bakkie subjected to a full road test and evaluated in detail, before the Bakkie & Car team deliberated and chose the winners. It is the first time that the Best Bakkie honours are shared.
“Best Bakkie 2018 has delivered some most interesting results,” Bakkie & Car magazine publisher and editor Michele Lupini pointed out. “Firstly, this year once again highlights the shift towards bakkie downsizing, but both the winning bakkies, as well as the runner-up Nissan Navara very well illustrate how impressively these smaller-capacity pick-ups fare to now offer a more efficient, better performing and just as well equipped solution to some significantly larger-capacity rivals - the trend is clear and it is more than adequately highlighted by Best Bakkie 2018.”
“It was very difficult to split the Triton and the Fullback — both bakkies are spun off the same base and are in essence the same machine beyond the badges, grille and bumpers, so we feel that it was only fair that the decision be split, but bravo to Fiat and Mitsubishi — these bakkies do so much more with so much less and at a most attractive cost,” Lupini concluded.
