CarBuyer announces full list of winners in its annual Car Of The Year Awards.

- Citroen takes the top spot with the C4 Cactus at Carbuyer Best Cars Awards -

Carbuyer.co.uk, the website that provides jargon-free reviews of cars, has revealed its Best Cars of the Year, with the Citroen C4 Cactus driving away with the top prize. The Carbuyer Best Cars are the only customer-focused accolades in the industry. By understanding what real car buyers are searching for, Carbuyer is able to deliver the right information at the right time.

Nowhere is this more evident than with its Best Cars features. Rather looking at cars based solely on size or bodystyle, Carbuyer delivers its verdicts using more human criteria.

So as well as finding the best SUVs or best city cars, buyers can find out the best road tax-free cars, the best cars for less than £150 a month or the most reliable car.

And it is from the most popular of these features that the Carbuyer Best Cars Awards – the only real-world awards out there – have been decided.

The Citroen Cactus C4 has been named the overall winner this year, thanks to its eye-catching looks, cheap running costs and spacious interior in particular. The car also takes home the award for Best Economical Car.

Stuart Milne, Editor of Carbuyer.co.uk, said: “The Citroen C4 Cactus’s quirky style and with its Airbump rubber panels, it has been set up with comfort in mind and it’s extremely economical with a return of more than 60mpg for the petrol-engine. A worthy winner of the Carbuyer Best Car of the Year 2015!” 

Linda Jackson, Citroën’s CEO, commented; “The Citroen C4 Cactus has already won more than 25 major awards and these latest accolades from Carbuyer are particularly pleasing - for two reasons. Firstly, it’s fantastic to win the overall car of the year prize as well as taking the win in the Best Economical Car category.

“Secondly, Carbuyer offers advice to customers who are actively in the process of looking for a new car, so these awards are very important for a new entrant to the market like the C4 Cactus. And on top of the wins for C4 Cactus, the Grand C4 Picasso has been voted Best Seven Seater. Recognition like this validates our belief that Citroën is getting it right when it comes to designing and producing well-considered family transport.”

Winners in each category are chosen based on their star rating out of five by members of the dedicated road testing team, who have marked them on running costs, comfort, practicality, reliability and safety as well as performance, engines, price, value for money and optional extras. This rating means it’s quick and easy for readers of the site to compare cars in a like for like manner, and pick the one that’s best for them.

The Hyundai i10, last year’s overall winner, had another good year at the awards being named the Best Car That’s Cheap to Insure and Best City Car thanks to its quality, refinement, style and value, all for £8,345. Also a big winner this year is the Audi A3, winner of the Best Convertible and Best Small Luxury Car.

Carbuyer Best Cars 2015

Best small luxury car: Audi A3

Best hot hatch: Ford Focus ST

Best seven-seater: Citroen Grand C4 Picasso

Best used car: Kia Cee’d

Best economical car: Citroen C4 Cactus

Most reliable car: Honda Jazz

Best hybrid or electric vehicle: BMW i3

Best car that’s cheap to insure: Hyundai i10

Safest car: Volvo V40

Best diesel car: BMW 3 Series

Best convertible: Audi A3 Cabriolet

Best city car: Hyundai i10

Best car for under £150 a month: Nissan Note

Best winter car: Mazda CX-5

Best estate car: Peugeot 308 SW

Best first car: Skoda Citigo

Best road tax exempt car: Skoda Octavia Estate

Best small car: Volkswagen Polo

Best family car: SEAT Leon

Best SUV and 4x4: Nissan Qashqai

Car of the year: Citroen C4 Cactus