Judging New Zealand's Car of the Year - dream job or nightmare?

Judging New Zealand's Car of the Year - dream job or nightmare?

New Zealand's car of the year will be announced tonight by NZ Autocar Magazine.

It has been chosen from all the new cars launched in New Zealand in the past 12 months.

If you have ever wondered whether the life of a motoring journalist is about shiny new cars and free lunches, then you're right on the money.

Picking the best car in the country may sound like a dream job but it can also be a nightmare.

They're all so different ranging from the expensive, cheap, sensible, not so sensible and the luxurious versus the practical.

Newshub's motoring editor Shaun Summerfield was a judge for this year's awards and let slip on of the category winners -- the safest car.

So how do the judges pick the winner and which car took away the top gong?

Watch the video for the full Story report.