Revealed: Britain’s best cars

The awards have 10 category winners able to call itself one of the country’s best cars - to drive, own, and really cherish.

These awards with a difference are intended to sidestep the typical and ever-expanding categories of cars such as city cars, superminis, hatchbacks, estates, saloons, SUV-coupes and so on, and instead name the very top of the crop not bound by typical conventions.

Our small team of judges were told to put cars that everyday motorists want to own and drive in the spotlight, and choose winners not just on their objective merits but more nuanced and subjective factors of how likeable and enjoyable they are. Let’s take a look at the winners for 2020:

Why we like it: Your bank manager will love it, but you will even more: the 330e is a car of quite extraordinary all-round abilities In April, there was a generational change in company car taxation designed to push drivers towards electric and plug-in hybrid models.

Electric cars generally remain unsuitable for many a company car driver covering a significant daily mileage typically due to charging speed and network reliability, so plug-in hybrids have quickly become the default choice for company car buyers to swap their diesel mile-eaters for. And none does it better than the BMW 330e.

It’s a financial no-brainer, then, yet the 330e is not merely a car designed to save you money. It is a brilliant member of the 3 Series family and an interesting and highly capable car in its own right. The 330e’s trump card is just how well it disguises the complexity of its drivetrain compared with so many of its rivals.

Still, most of the time, you’ll just leave the 330e to its quiet brilliance as we did when we ran one on our own fleet earlier this year. Of the 6203 miles we travelled in the 330e, 2892 were solely on electric power, which goes to show not only the benefits of being able to charge at home and at the office to maximise electric range, but also just how many journeys are short enough to be driven solely on electric power in the first place.

Judge's view: Matt Saunders

Now that you can choose between saloon and estate bodies, as well as rear wheel-drive or four wheel-drive options, the 330e really is the definitive modern company car. I love the way the chassis and powertrain shrug off the sense of complexity the car has, and really start to work together, when you pick up a bit of speed. I’d have one on little wheels and skinny tyres, probably fairly light on optional kit. Don’t think I’d bother with xDrive – but a Touring definitely appeals.

Why we like it: It’s affordable and effortlessly entertaining. There is, quite simply, no way to have more fun on four wheels for less.

The affordable end of the performance car market may be dominated by hot hatchbacks, but none comes close to delivering the kind of driver engagement you’ll find behind the wheel of an MX-5.

Today’s fourth-generation car proves endlessly entertaining without needing enormous amounts of horsepower, rejecting forced induction in favour of a naturally aspirated engine. A recent mechanical upgrade may have raised the more potent 2.0-litre variant’s output slightly, but you’re still able to explore the entirety of its rev range while staying at road-legal speeds. Even the more modest 1.5-litre, with its 128bhp that stays more true to the original MX-5, encourages you towards 7500rpm with every gearchange. Few other modern sports cars can be taken to the redline as and when you choose without worrying about the potential consequences for your driving licence.

That an MX-5 was able to claim victory in last year’s affordable driver’s car shootout, among four-door rivals boasting significantly more performance, serves only to highlight its charm in a way that goes beyond performance figures and practicality considerations.

Judge's view: Steve Cropley

The brilliance of this car is that you don’t just compare its strengths with cars in the same bracket: it can and should be assessed as a fun drive even against cars that cost up to five times as much.

For those with buying power but a shortage of garaging, the choice goes something like this: “Unfortunately, I can’t buy a Merc SL because that’d mean I’d have to sell my MX-5.” The even greater wonder of this car is that in four iterations, they’ve avoided destroying its purity – a supreme achievement.

Why we like it: Now looks smarter than ever yet retains its outstanding practicality, comfort, value for money and ease of use

Ah, the humble Octavia. It’s rather tricky to think of another car that’s more suited to this accolade than Skoda’s consummate box-ticker. We’ve said before that the Octavia has long been a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card for motoring journalists put on the spot by people looking for family car buying advice, and with the new Mk4 model, we feel more justified than ever.

However, that recommendation no longer rests quite so heavily on the fact that the Octavia simply gives you more car for your money.

Crucially, the Octavia retains the primary emphasis on outstanding practicality and versatility that has long been one of Skoda’s calling cards. The Octavia is seriously spacious in liftback guise, but as for the estate, there’s very little that comes close to offering comparable levels of boot capacity for similar money.

The Octavia doesn’t focus on dynamism, but a basic suspension set-up that’s conspicuously softer than that of its relatives lends it a relaxed, comfortable gait. This fluidity of ride, combined with a range of petrol and diesel engines that offer accessible, well-judged performance and suitable refinement, helps to paint the latest Octavia as a car that’s exceptionally easy to pilot over distances great and small. That it can be impressively frugal with the right engine and can be had with an arsenal of active safety systems doesn’t hurt either.

Judge's view: Matt Saunders

I wasn’t a big fan of the way Skoda’s design direction seemed to be moving with the Karoq and Scala, but the latest Octavia looks to me like progress in the right direction again.

And if you can find something desirable about this car, the rest of the case is sewn up. It’s comfortable, spacious, well-finished and well-equipped and it has really strong, refined and economical engines. Stress-relieving family transport doesn’t get better than the Octavia Estate.

Why we like it: It’s desirable, fast and exciting yet also smart, usable and less shouty than its rivals. Feels ready for just about anything.

No single car has done more, over eight model generations and more than 40 years, to demonstrate how ready people are to pay a premium for a hatchback of extra-special status and abilities, from which they know they can get their money’s worth in everyday use.

One that can mould itself to the school run or office commute just as effectively as a weekend errand or a longer trip. One that might just be practical enough to take a small family on holiday without imposing itself too much en route; that needn’t be mollycoddled or hidden in the car park; and that says just enough about its owner without shouting too loudly.

The Mk8 Golf GTI continues to be that car. It’s quite something that the Golf GTI – the modern descendant of the car that turned the extra-special hatchback into something sufficiently rounded and complete that it became commercial gold dust all those years ago – could still be arguably the best everyday-use affordable performance car in the world, but the reasons for its success have been constant. 

In the standard Golf, it has always used a fine raw material as its basis. It has kept the ingredients of its performance transformation pleasingly understated and simple, acknowledging that restraint counts for a lot; that, rather than offering greater power or quicker performance than an ever-growing posse of imitators, less means more where driver’s cars are concerned.

Judge's view: Mark Tisshaw

Can one car really do it all? When you look at the criteria for this award, it’s hot hatches that spring to mind. But remember this isn’t for the best hot hatch; the Golf GTI wouldn’t win that, due to what it gives away to the likes of the Honda Civic Type R at the sharp end.

Instead it’s the kind of hot hatch that remembers the need to be a family hatchback and just blend in from time to time – a hot hatch with an off switch for driving granny to the shops. Which is why it can only be the brilliant Golf GTI.

Why we like it: No other SUV can claim to be as versatile across such a wide price spectrum, nor as capable on the road as off it.

As follow-ups go, replacing the Land Rover Defender was a Herculean task. The original, on sale in various forms for nearly 70 years, was an off-road institution and a British motoring icon. And yet its 2020 successor manages to blend the go-anywhere capability we’ve come to expect with the kind of interior refinement for which Land Rover has recently become known.

It can legitimately claim to rival the Jeep Wrangler, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and Ford Ranger Raptor over the rough stuff, as we’ve discovered both here in the UK and in the deserts of Namibia, while its on-road manners and interior technology can compete with the best SUVs from premium brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

Gaydon’s decision to move from a traditional separate-chassis construction to a unitary one and replace articulating axles with independent suspension was controversial, but it has in no way hindered the Defender’s ability to go just about anywhere off road.

Simple yet functional electronic assistance allows 4x4 novices to keep pace with expert trail runners, while external cameras and sensors help drivers make short work of the trickiest terrain. Then, on returning to the asphalt, it’s able to deal with the daily grind in a relaxed manner that compares favourably with solely road-going SUVs. Air suspension and a composed ride let it eat up motorway miles, its rugged yet good-looking interior can take family abuse from morning till night and its infotainment – previously a stumbling block for Land Rover – competes with the class’s best for usability and responsiveness.

Judge's view: Steve Cropley

What brilliant judgement Land Rover has made in creating this machine, ditching any suggestion of copying the old model’s styling, yet keeping the modern iteration completely in character.

Ditto the dynamics: standards are immeasurably higher courtesy of independent suspension, sophisticated all-wheel drive and the latest electronics, but the simple Defender relationship between driver and any old road is still all there, without the drawbacks.

Why we like it: It’s hilarious fun delivered in effusive and accessible fashion. A car to stand the test of time.

Very late in 2017, on a snowy hillside in France, we discovered that the Alpine A110 brought lungfuls of fresh air to the sports car market. Three years on, we’re still breathing in the Alpine goodness and a car that revolutionised how we felt about small sports cars has established itself firmly in our affections.

Breathing is what the A110 does best. While the majority of sports cars fidget, shuffle and bounce down a bad road, the A110 glides. It does something that no small sports car has allowed itself to do for a generation: move on its suspension, to prove once again that driving enjoyment doesn’t have to mean rock-hard springing.

It can do this because it’s light, of course. At just 1103kg, the entry-level A110 sits on a bespoke aluminium architecture that’s barely over 4.1m long and less than 1.8m wide.

And for all of its lightness, its interior still feels relatively plush. At least by the standards of similar competition, for which you won’t find an exact match. The Lotus Exige sits somewhere below its weight, the Porsche 718 Cayman slightly above. The A110 occupies a place of its own.

Judge's view: Steve Cropley

Two most unusual characteristics win the A110 this accolade. One is the decision to use beauty, not aggression, to guide the car’s character.

The other is to make honest-to-God use of lightness in a way not practised by any other mainstream company (given Renault is behind the A110). The result is a unique machine: beautiful to nearly all, precise and sensitive to drive and satisfyingly quick on modest power. Alpine has carved a special niche and deserves much success.

Why we like it: Toyota has transformed itself into a maker of exciting enthusiast-focused cars as well as dynamic everyday models

When a company – particularly a multinational industrial giant – claims to be undergoing a radical transformation, the changes often become apparent only after many years, if at all. But Toyota’s transition from a maker of reliable automotive white goods to a brand with a variety of exciting, enthusiast-lauded products and a leading voice in the environmental conversation about a world after the internal combustion engine is a genuine one that is nearly complete.

Much of the credit can be attributed to Toyota’s president and CEO (and former Autocar Issigonis Trophy winner) Akio Toyoda. The grandson of founder Kiichiro Toyoda, he took the helm in 2009, not only when many of the brand’s products were uninspiring but also during a corporate meltdown, due to the ‘unintended acceleration’ saga that led to millions of cars being recalled multiple times.

A racer and car enthusiast through and through, Toyoda navigated Toyota out of this crisis and started to instil emotion within the firm from a corporate level to help push his products into the realms of desirability. The impressive progress made by Toyota over the past decade has now reached the point where it can be considered not only the world’s biggest car maker but also the best.

The more emotional Toyota started with the GT86, launched in 2012 at a time when many firms were backing away from the idea of bespoke sports coupés. But for Toyota, and indeed Toyoda, the GT86 was all about empowering the company to make great-driving cars once more. At its Tokyo motor show debut, the clever slogan to accompany it still rings true today: ‘Fun to drive. Again.’

That ethos has carried over to every new Toyota since. The new Yaris and Corolla best illustrate the quite remarkable turnaround Toyota has made in creating everyday cars with enthusiast appeal, which is key to why the firm has won this award. Even driving the latest Prius can raise a smile.

The GT86 itself has been followed by a series of driver’s cars, such as the GR Supra (pictured), Yaris GRMN and upcoming Yaris GR, each the work of the Gazoo Racing division that has won both Le Mans and the World Rally Championship on Toyoda’s watch. You see, Toyota doesn’t just pay lip service to this new-found enthusiast approach.

Judge's view: Matt Prior

I suppose you could look at a company’s ethos and investigate its market share, profitability, environmental practice and so on before making some kind of chin-stroking philosophical call on this award.

Why we like it: The E’s futuristic exterior looks are backed up by the kind of clever technology to which even Tesla would doff its cap

Here’s a car whose interior – and even elements of its exterior – is designed around the tech, rather than seemingly having it stuck on as an afterthought. Its show-stopping feature is rear-view cameras that replace wing mirrors. This isn’t a world-first new feature, granted, but it is at the E’s price point.

The ‘mirror’ screens at the base of the A-pillars are merely the bookends to the full-width digital dashboard, which has been created by those who not only know software development but also the realities of how in-car tech is used on the road.

The infotainment is used through two 12.3in touchscreens, the simple but most impressive feature of which allows the displays to be passed between driver and passenger, allowing your co-pilot to change the radio or input destinations into the sat-nav without their wiggling fingers entering your eyeline. Choose to not have anything on there and you’re presented the image of a rather lovely Japanese garden, if that’s your kind of thing.

It’s a very happy combination of hardware and software still so rarely seen in the car industry, and it has the kind of break-out appeal to please tech enthusiasts perhaps not seen since the Tesla Model S first showed that there was another way to make a car interior.

Silicon Valley levels of impressiveness from in-car tech remains a surprising blindspot for an industry that creates some truly wonderful and wonderfully complex products. The E shows a new way of doing it: get the tech team involved at the very start of the process, rather than the end, design the cutting-edge tech into the car from its conception and move the game on accordingly.

Judge's view: Matt Saunders

I remember driving the E for the first time and coming away thinking that I wasn’t convinced by its 136-mile range, its price or the size of its interior. An easy car to like, I thought, but not an especially easy car to recommend.

Then a text arrived from a mate. “I’m thinking about buying a Honda E,” it said. “Absolutely, order one straight away,” I replied. “You will love it.” And for a car to engender that kind of feeling, it must be doing something right.

Why we like it: With agile handling, characterful engines and a pervading sense of fun, the Fiesta is the standout driver’s choice

Along with the Mazda MX-5, the little Ford Fiesta is one of the oldest cars in this year’s inaugural crop of Best Cars award winners. And even though its 2017 launch now feels like a lifetime ago, age has done nothing to diminish the appeal of the Blue Oval’s ubiquitous supermini.

Although a slightly more reserved, mature design language was employed for this seventh-generation Fiesta, Ford made sure that it retained the lively, up-and-at-’em sense of dynamic character that has, for a long while now, marked out the Fiesta in a crowded field. Numerous rivals – some of which are considerably newer – have seriously threatened the Fiesta’s position as our standout driver’s supermini over the years, but none has been entirely successful thus far. The Fiesta, however, covers all of the bases pretty comprehensively.

The 1.0-litre Ecoboost turbo petrols that make up the bulk of the Fiesta’s engine line-up are among the most ebullient in the class. These three-cylinder powerplants not only provide decent punch but also produce a suitably rorty soundtrack, are willing to chase revs and, crucially, can be paired with Ford’s slick six-speed manual gearbox.

Then, of course, there’s the way the Fiesta drives. Quick, direct steering and a chassis set up to be responsive and agile mean even the most humble models can deliver light-hearted, engaging handling thrills at the drop of a hat – even at low speeds. Other superminis may provide more in the way of badge prestige, ride comfort and premium appeal, but there are very few that nail the basic tenets of driving fun quite as decisively as the Fiesta.

Judge's view: Matt Prior

When people ask what the best car in the world is, they’re expecting the answer to include the words Rolls-Royce, Ferrari or Bugatti. But I will always make a case for something like the Ford Fiesta.

It’s an answer that bores people to tears, obviously, but it’s true. The development costs are astronomical but the profits are tiny, yet Ford still takes the time to make it fun to drive. It’s a wonder they make any money. Or, more likely, unsurprising when they don’t.

Why we like it: It can meet your every need yet doesn’t feel drab. Well priced, brilliantly thought out and appeals as an anti-status symbol

Why is a big car big? Unless you’re into the rarefied atmosphere of Bentley and Rolls-Royce, it’s for a practical purpose: to carry people and stuff. That’s what the Citroën Berlingo does with exceptional brilliance. The fact that it does this with charm and character, while delivering ride comfort virtually as good as that of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class bristling with complex electronic aids, adds to the piquancy of the recipe.

The Berlingo is made better by the arrival of the PSA Group’s excellent 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine (it’s almost sporty) and a choice of ultra-clean diesels. In some combinations, you can have an eight-speed automatic gearbox, too. What’s more, Citroën took the wise decision to equip top-end versions with all manner of life-enhancing equipment: automatic emergency braking, a head-up display, climate control, a rear-view camera and much more.

There are a few distinguishing colour and wheel options but few alternatives of interior trim, because buyers of cars as honestly practical as the Berlingo just don’t care, and they know that providing unnecessary alternatives only adds to the cost. A leather upholstery option? Don’t be daft.

The extreme irony of all this is that a sensibly specified Berlingo is one of the most comfortable cars on the road. It’s decently quiet and, with the 129bhp petrol or 129bhp diesel engine fitted, even has a respectable turn of speed.

Judge's view: Matt Saunders

The big, practical car in your family is always likely to be the ritzier, pricier status symbol on your driveway, isn’t it? It always was. The reason the van-like Citroën Berlingo is so likeable is quite possibly because it’s such a tempting invitation to invert that hierarchy, which is liberating when you think about it. Best of all, it might even confer anti-status upon its owner, and there’s a certain kind of customer who would pay quite a lot for that.

Why we like it: Responsive, keen-handling and frugal, it’s a hybrid with as broad a spread of dynamic qualities as any conventional car

If you can remember the car the Corolla replaced two years ago, you probably won’t do so that easily. The Auris was about as ordinary and uninspired as it was possible for a five-door family hatchback to be.

Nobody could call the Corolla bland, though. Its bold, handsome design makes an emphatically positive statement and, thanks to a 2.0-litre powertrain and a really polished chassis, nor is it slow or disappointing to drive.

The Corolla rides and handles really sweetly – not with the agility of the most sporting of its rivals, admittedly, but with a striking sense of quiet, supple, rounded and linear sophistication that can be produced only by painstaking fine-tuning and really close attention to dynamic detail.

This Corolla is the kind of car into whose use you can invest as much or as little thought as you care to. Drive it conservatively – particularly around town – and it will top 50mpg without breaking a sweat. Drive it enthusiastically and you will find it responsive and swift. As Toyota’s recent marketing campaigns have cleverly emphasised, you can just drive it however, wherever and whenever, without sparing a thought for charging. As ever, the Corolla is just a car, but nowadays it’s a really good one.

Judge's view: Mark Tisshaw

I can’t recall any car in the past decade or more to have made such an improvement between generations as the Auris to this Corolla. It’s just a great car to drive and a pleasure to own, as we found when we had one on our long-term fleet for a few months.

Its 2.0-litre hybrid powertrain feels every bit the work of more than two decades of development, too. ‘Normal’ is the word that I would use, and that’s not damning it with faint praise; it’s entirely a compliment for just how good Toyota has made it.

Why we like it: It looks great, performs strongly, is fun to drive and is well priced for an EV, plus it has enough range to quell anxiety

The Peugeot e-208 wins its category by showing how comparatively simply users of regular cars should be able to adapt to electric motoring in the future. Also for bringing with it the driving and beauty standards from the upper echelon of the fiercely fought supermini market.

While other electric car makers are launching oversized, overpriced offerings into the premium market or excusing themselves from providing decent ranges in superminis by insisting “it’s a city car”, Peugeot has made a 4.0m hatchback that’s as well packaged as its piston-driven siblings and offers a decent official range of 217 miles.

Peugeot isn’t quite the first to do this; that was Renault a few years ago with the Zoe. But on dynamic, refinement and aesthetic grounds, the new e-208 is certainly the better effort. It should be, mind, given that it’s seven years younger.

The e-208 is a great-looking car enhanced, if anything, over its brothers by having a slightly wider rear track and a smart set of wheel-arch extensions. Its interior is invitingly premium and offers a refreshingly different iteration of Peugeot’s radical i-Cockpit design. The high instrument binnacle and low steering wheel work well here, and that wheel’s small diameter makes the e-208 quick and easy to manoeuvre at low speeds.

Performance is strong off the mark, although the car does its best work below 55mph. It will sit at 70mph easily enough – and admirably quietly – but such sustained cruising shortens the range. Luckily, the e-208 can be specified (for just £300) to accept 100kW charging with the potential to take it from empty to 80% in barely half an hour.

Judge's view: Matt Prior

What makes the Peugeot e-208 the best electric car on sale today is the fact that the conventional Peugeot 208 is such an easy car to like in the first place.

It’s a fine-looking, fine-feeling and fine-driving supermini and a worthy European Car of the Year winner for 2020. And the fact is that you can get all that’s good about it with internally combusted petrol or diesel or good-value, non-weird electric propulsion.