The best cars of 2015

Find out which motors impressed judges at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2015.

The Skoda Fabia has been crowned Car of the Year 2015 at the 38th annual What Car? Awards.

The Czech brand has scooped the overall top prize for the first time in 15 years. The winning Skoda Fabia TSI 90 SE model beat off competition from 25 other vehicles in the overall Car of the Year shortlist.

Judges praised the new Fabia’s turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol engine, combining punchy and flexible performance with impressive efficiency results.

The panel also commented on how practical and well-equipped the car was for such a reasonable cost. Technology that comes as standard on the Fabia includes a 6.5-inch touch-screen and a ‘Mirrorlink’ system that can sync with Android phones to provide sat-nav.

Overall the car was deemed to be the best all-rounder with no major weaknesses.

The Skoda Fabia TSI 90 SE was also named best small car by the magazine, beating big name rivals like the Ford Fiesta and VW Polo, while the new Skoda Octavia 1.2 TSI 105 SE scooped best family car.

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Category winners

The What Car? Awards 2015 are made up of 16 awards for motors launched in the past 12 months and one prize for the overall winner.

There are 14 class categories, a reader’s choice award and, new for this year, a safety award decided in conjunction with Thatcham Research.

The panel of judges consider running costs, depreciation and safety features as well as how well a car performs compared to the rest of its class.

Below are all the winners in each category, along with the starting prices for each.

Category	Winner	List price
Car of the Year	Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSI 90 SE	£13,390
City Car	Hyundai i10 1.2 Premium	£10,810
Convertible Car	Audi A3 Cabriolet 1.4 TFSI 150 Sport	£27,485
Coupé	Audi TT 2.0 TFSI Sport	£29,860
Electric Car	Audi A3 e-tron	£29,950
Estate Car	Ford Mondeo Estate 1.6 TDCi 120 Econetic Zetec	£23,045
Executive Car	BMW 520d SE automatic	£33,515
Family Car	Skoda Octavia 1.2 TSI 105 SE	£17,660
Hot Hatch Car	Ford Fiesta ST-2	£18,250
Large SUV	Range Rover Sport SDV6 HSE	£61,250
Luxury Car	Mercedes-Benz S350 Bluetec L SE Line	£66,910
MPV	Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 e-HDi 115 Exclusive	£23,510
Small Car	Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSI 90 SE	£13,390
Sports Car	Porshe Boxster 2.7	£39,350
Small SUV	Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi 110 N-tec 2WD	£23,450
Safety Award	Land Rover Discovery Sport	£32,395
Reader Award	Honda HR-V*	TBC

*On sale Spring 2015

Source: What Car?

Audi scooped three awards. The A3 Cabriolet won best convertible car, the TT nabbed best coupé and the new A3 e-tron was named best electric car.

Another big winner was Ford, which picked up two awards. The new Mondeo took the best estate car award, while the new Fiesta scooped best hot hatch.

The British-built Nissan Qashqai, last year’s Car of the Year winner, secured the prize for best small SUV for the second year running with its new N-tec range.

The cheapest winning car can be found in the city car category, which was awarded to the Hyundai i10 1.2 Premium. This motor starts from £10,810 on the road, and comes with Hyundai’s five-year unlimited mileage warranty and roadside assistance package.

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Used car alternatives

The What Car? Car of the Year Awards judge motors that were launched in the last 12 months.

However, newer models are bound to be out of some people’s price range.

Luckily the magazine also holds an annual Used Car of the Year Awards in September, naming the top nearly new models which might suit more budgets.

Find out which models made an impact in The Best Used Cars 2014.

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