Britain’s best used car revealed by What Car?

Posted on 18 Sep 2014 by The Manufacturer

Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec wins top accolade in annual ceremony

The Ford Focus 1.6 105 Zetec 5dr has been voted the overall What Car? Used Car of the Year for 2014.

The event, which was held at The Hurlingham Club, London, was attended by all major vehicle manufacturers and named 13 outstanding category winners.

This year’s other winners include the Hyundai 1.2 Comfort (city car), Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec 5dr (small car) and the Lexus IS220d SE (executive car).

The Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport scooped the fun car award, while the Citroën Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 HDi VTR+ was considered the best MPV.

What Car? Used Car of the Year Awards 2014 category winners

Category Winning vehicle
Overall winner Ford Focus 1.6 105 Zetec 5dr ’11/11
City car Hyundai i10 1.2 Comfort ’10/10
Small car Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec 5dr ’09/09
Family car Ford Focus 1.6 105 Zetec 5dr ’11/11
Coupé Volkswagen Scirocco 1.4 TSI 160 ’09/09
Estate car Ford Mondeo Estate 2.0 TDCi 140 Zetec ’10/10
MPV Citroën Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 HDi VTR+ ’10/10
Open-top car BMW 3 Series Convertible 320d SE ’09/09
Small SUV Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi Acenta ’10/10
Large SUV Volvo XC90 2.4 D5 SE Lux ’10/60
Executive car Lexus IS220d SE ’10/10
Luxury car Jaguar XJ 3.0D V6 Luxury ’11/11
Fun car Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport ’09/09

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: “The winning cars are all outstanding vehicles, but it is the ownership experience that matters just as much.

“As What Car?’s Used Car of the Year, the Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec brings the best balance of performance and equipment for the money – and for only £8000 you can get the current-generation model.”

As well as the What Car? experts, the panel of judges included David Gerrans, managing director of Warranty Direct, and Neil Addley, managing director of Trusted Dealers.

The value of the used car market reached a record level of £38.1 billion in 2012, rising from £32.4bn in 2008. On average, there are seven million used car sales annually, compared to two to 2.5m new car sales.