What Car? Car of the Year – top accolade goes to BMW

The new BMW 3 Series was last night named Car of the Year a6t this year’s motoring ‘Oscars’, the What Car? Awards.

The BMW overcame tough competition from 14 other category winners celebrated at a glittering ceremony in the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane.

The award-winning BMW is the 320d ES, priced at £23,695. What Car? – Britain’s leading car buying advice brand both on the newsstand and on the web – praised the BMW for its complete and overall package.

What Car?’s group editor, Steve Fowler, said, "No other new car is as great in so many ways as the BMW 3 Series. Whatever your priorities, it delivers".

Once-ridiculed Skoda was delighted to receive two awards – Best Small Family Car for the Skoda Octavia 1.6 Ambiente and the Best Hot Hatch for its sporty Skoda Octavia vRS – while Renault took the award for best supermini with its new Clio.

For the first time What Car? has introduced a Green Award to recognise the manufacturer or organisation that has done most to make travel by car more environmentally friendly. This inaugural award went to Toyota and Lexus for leading the way in the development of hybrid and clean diesel technologies.

Citroën picked up the Safety Award for its industry-leading advancements – the Citroën C6 became the first car ever to be awarded the maximum Euro NCAP four-star rating for pedestrian protection, while the Citroën C4 achieved a full five-star rating for occupant safety and features such advancements as a lane-departure warning system (which vibrates the driver’s seat whenever the car drifts across lanes when the indicators have not been activated) and laminated side glass.

Last year’s overall Car of the Year, the Land Rover Discovery, triumphed once again in the Large 4x4 category. However, it was the only British-built model to receive a What Car? award in 2006.

Editor’s notes

What Car? has been the car buyer’s champion for over 30 years. The What Car? stable now includes What Car?, What Car? New Car Guide, and the What Car? Price Guide, What Car? Video Road Tests and Whatcar.com. Independent research shows that almost a quarter of all car buyers read What Car? before making a decision.

The Car of the Year awards are published in the March issue of What Car?, on sale January 20, 2006, and online at Whatcar.com.

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