Mazda3 wins Best Family Car at the Scottish car Of The Year Awards.

• All-new Mazda3 wins SCOTY Awards 'Family Car' category
• Judges praise styling, driving dynamics, quality, performance and efficiency
• All-new Mazda3 2.2-litre Diesel runner-up in 'Diesel' category

The all-new Mazda3 has made a dominant showing at the ‘2014 Scottish Car of the Year’ (SCOTY) awards ceremony last night (28 November 2014), winning the hotly-contested 'Family Car' category and, in its 2.2-litre Diesel iteration, taking the runner-up position in the 'Diesel' category.

Mazda is no stranger to the SCOTY awards, held this year at the Fairmont St Andrews with over 200 guests, including all 15 SCOTY jury members, in attendance. In 2012, the Mazda CX-5 won the 'Safety' award, and in 2013 the Mazda6 2.2-litre topped the 'Eco' award honours list.

This year's battle for 'Family Car' honours was amongst the closest in SCOTY history, with three all-new cars from popular brands -the all-new Mazda3, Citroen Cactus and Peugeot 308- finishing within a handful of points of one another.

Ultimately, however, it was the superior design, quality, driving dynamics, performance and efficiency of the all-new Mazda3 -a car which made its UK debut in Scotland- which placed it ahead of the pack.

“Mazdas have always been a big hit with private buyers in Scotland,” said Association of Scottish Motoring Writers (ASMW) President Alisdair Suttie, “and the ASMW jury believes that the new Mazda3 has the style and dynamic prowess to put the company back into the heart of this highly-competitive segment.”

“Both the Hatchback and Fastback models impress,” he continued. “The interior's by far the best of any Mazda to date, new SKYACTIV engines deliver strong performance with low emissions, and the diesel is exceptional.”

Its victory in one of the most significant categories in the SCOTY awards reinforces just how compelling a proposition the all-new Mazda3 makes for both private buyers and company car drivers in Scotland.

With a 36-strong model range priced from £16,995 to £23,745 on-the-road (OTR), the new Mazda Hatchback/Fastback combines striking, KODO design with highly-advanced SKYACTIV engineering. The premium quality, ergonomically-superb interior sets new standards for mobile connectivity with the debut of Mazda's MZD Connect system, which works with compatible smartphones to seamlessly integrate online social media and internet radio using Aha; a cloud-based app with a wide range of free, web-based, infotainment content*.

A choice of 1.5-litre 100ps petrol engine or 2.0-litre with either 120ps or 165ps power output, and a 2.2-litre 150ps turbodiesel provides an ideal blend of power and frugality. The powertrains' advanced and lightweight SKYACTIV technologies deliver up to 72.4mpg in the combined cycle, whilst generating emissions as low as just 104g/km**.