What Car? Awards
The likes of Skoda, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Range Rover, Lexus, Mazda and MG were among the award winners at the prestigious What Car? Car of the Year Awards this week.
Skoa enjoyed another busy night at the annual awards ceremony – widely regarded as the Oscars of the automotive industry – with the Superb named as an overall category winner and the Scala, Octavia and Karoq all recognised as Best Buys in their respective categories.
Kia UK won two awards, the Kia Sedona picked up Best Family SUV and the Kia EV9 won the Readers’ Choice Award.
The judging panel for the awards, made up of the magazine’s team of expert road testers, commented: “We’ve group tested the Kia Sportage extensively in various guises over the last 12 months, and it’s emerged victorious every time. But when you consider its competitive pricing, all of the equipment that you get as standard and how complete a car the Sportage is, it’s easy to see why. It strikes a near-perfect balance between agility and comfort, which gets it off to a great start against any rival. Meanwhile the interior neatly blends practicality with style.”
Both the Honda Civic and Honda Jazz continue to prove its credentials winning the title of Small Car of the Year for Jazz and Family Car of the Year for Civic. Honda was very close to securing a hat trick as the all-new Civic Type R was also shortlisted for Hot Hatch of the Year Award.
Dacia continues to be the undisputed value champion after a trio of its models were singled out as being the best value for money on the market at the awards.
Awarded at the annual ceremony, taking place at Grosvenor House in London, the renowned magazine and website hailed the Sandero as the Best Small Car For Value, the Duster as the Best Small SUV For Value and the Jogger as the Best Seven-Seater For Value.
The MG4 EV was named Best Small EV and What Car? praised the MG4 as offering excellent value for money without compromising on quality.
Commenting on the MG4’s win, the What Car? judging panel said: “Given the rising cost of living, and the fact that electric cars tend to be quite expensive to buy, the MG4 EV – with its very keen pricing – feels like the right car at the right time. And crucially, corners haven’t been cut to achieve that pricing.”
The 132ps Mazda MX-5 Exclusive-Line Roadster was named Best Sports Car for Value. Recognising the 132ps 1.5-litre Skyactiv-G Exclusive-Line in its annual awards, What Car? Editor Steve Huntingford said: “Nothing else for this kind of money gives you the true sports car experience. The MX-5 puts you in control of a peppy, responsive little engine that’s attached to one of the nicest manual gearboxes in the business. Meanwhile, the well-weighted steering serves up lots of feedback, and the suspension is firm enough for tidy cornering but won’t break your back when you’re ambling along.”