The long wait is over. Australia’s premier new car award – Wheels magazine’s 2006 Car Of The Year – has gone to … Holden’s VE Commodore.

Wheels editor, Ged Bulmer announced this year’s winner live on TV’s A Current Affair (see here).

In one of the most closely-fought, three-way showdowns in the award’s 44-year history, the VE – together with its HSV E-Series spin-offs – has triumphed over finalists Toyota’s Aurion and BMW’s 3 Series Coupe at the last hurdle.

In all, the VE beat 20 other new car models to the title at the end of a solid week of the most demanding testing imaginable, under both controlled conditions and on public roads.

While the new Commodore performed well in each of the Car Of The Year’s demanding driving disciplines, Wheels associate editor, John Carey acknowledged that “… there is no such thing as a perfect car, or car range, and the Holden is no exception”.

However, he said the VE performed strongly against Wheels’ strict criteria for the award.

“The VE satisfies the award’s criteria admirably, scoring well for function, value, safety and technology, if not efficiency,” Carey said.

“By large six-cylinder class standards, the various VE models achieve fuel consumption that is average,” he said. “Some competitors are better, some are worse.”

For cost-conscious, high-mileage drivers, Holden offered a dual-fuel version of the Commodore’s V6, he said.

To be eligible for Wheels Car Of The Year, a vehicle must be either all-new, or substantially updated. It must have a lap-sash seat belt for each seating position. And, it must sell a minimum of 250 cars per year.

Of the 34 new cars that met those requirements in 2006, 18 were deemed impressive enough to go through Wheels’ tough Car Of The Year testing program. A further three cars – Audi TT, Mitsubishi Outlander and Volvo C70 – were granted automatic entry because they were launched close to Wheels’ cut-off date for nomination and had been driven, but hadn’t undergone the magazine’s thorough road-test procedure.

The full story of the 2006 Wheels Car Of The Year award – including a detailed analysis of each of the nominations – is in Wheels’ February issue, on sale Wednesday, January 24.