It’s that time of the year again for Top Gear Philippines. After our big anniversary celebration last year, we had an even bigger one for 2025. It’s been quite the year for our team and for the automotive industry as a whole.
There are now more brands, more launches, more events, and more drives than ever before. While that also sounds like more work, that also shows how this industry is very much thriving post-pandemic.
The highlight of our celebration this year was the Top Gear Philippines Magazine Car of the Year Awards 2025. It’s a mouthful, we know, but to be fair, we did hand out plenty of awards. The biggest of which was the Car of the Year, which was none other than the Honda Civic RS e:HEV.
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To many, the Civic Hybrid is a bit pricey, and it is. That said, it’s also a very, very good car—one that drives exceptionally well, is comfortable, has solid build quality, and is fuel-efficient at that. It’s one of the most complete sedans in the market today. I was the lucky one to have the first go at it among our team, and back then, I already had it as my COTY bet.
The Honda Civic RS e:HEV just missed last year’s cut-off for our awards, which had it joining the set for 2025. Interestingly, while it ended up not competing with the eventual 2024 COTY winner, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, it went up against another Hyundai in the Elantra Hybrid this year. That other compact sedan was awarded our Hybrid of the Year.
Anyhoo, we’ll list down all of the award winners below for your reading pleasure. We’ll also be sharing the official artwork for this year’s awards in a subsequent story, so stay tuned.
- Car of the Year – Honda Civic RS e:HEV
- Underrated Car of the Year– Hyundai Elantra (Base)
- 4x4 of the Year – Ford Ranger Raptor V6
- EV of the Year – Hyundai Ioniq 9
- Hybrid of the Year – Hyundai Elantra HEV
- Luxury Car of the Year – Lexus GX Overtrail
- Performance car – Toyota GR Yaris
- Breakout Brand of the Year – Tesla
- Best in Marketing – Toyota Motor Philippines
- Hypebeast Award – BYD Shark 6 DMO
- Best New Tech Implementation – Tesla
- Love the Planet Award – Mazda Philippines
- Big Bike of the Year – Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450
- Small Bike of the Year – Yamaha NMax Tech Max
