HONEST JOHN AWARDS - Land Rover and the Discovery Sport takes the Most Popular SUV title.

• Land Rover UK reveals top facts about Discovery Sport in new Infographic celebrating the model’s success at the Honest John Awards
• Land Rover Discovery Sport is the most searched for SUV on honestjohn.co.uk and takes ‘Most Popular SUV’ award win in the process
• Did you know? Infographic points to latest customer trends in colours and options 
• Honestjohn.co.uk editorial team praises Discovery Sport for its blend of premium quality and renowned off-road ability

Land Rover’s second-fastest selling model, the Discovery Sport has taken the ‘Most Popular SUV’ honour at the annual honestjohn.co.uk awards ceremony. It came out on top as the most searched for SUV over the past 12 months on Honest John’s website. The latest accolade takes the Discovery Sport’s award tally past the 50 mark in only 18 months on sale in the UK.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk “SUVs - along with crossovers – are the most popular types of cars with our audience, so to win the Most Popular SUV award means fending off strong competition. And that's exactly what the new Land Rover Discovery Sport has managed for 2016. We saw a big spike in the number of users reading the review when the new Ingenium diesel engine was launched – and it's an engine we rate very highly indeed. Blending premium quality with renowned Land Rover off-road ability, the Discovery Sport has proved a real hit with the honestjohn.co.uk audience.”

Jeremy Hicks, Jaguar Land Rover UK MD, said: “The Discovery Sport majors on quality, practicality, safety, technology and low running costs. The introduction of the highly advanced range of 2.0 litre Ingenium diesel engines has further cemented its segment-leading position and popularity with both business and private buyers alike. We are delighted to accept this award from Honest John and it adds to an already impressive list of accolades for the Discovery Sport."

 Did you know?

The Discovery Sport is available from £299pm for the TD4 180 SE – standard with heated front seats, Terrain Response and the only premium compact SUV that can seat seven people

• The most popular colours specified by Discovery Sport customers are Corris Grey, Santorini Black and Fuji White.
• Most popular optional extras are Privacy Glass, Black Pack and Contrast Roof
• 65% of all Discovery Sports sold are specified in more luxurious trims such as HSE or above
• 100,000 Discovery Sports were sold in its first year of production
• Discovery Sport features the world’s first automotive integration of the Tile Bluetooth tracking device within Land Rover InControl™ apps – never leave home without your important items ever again.
• The recently launched 2017 Discovery Sport features a larger 10.2-inch touchscreen plus a 60GB Solid State Drive (SSD) as part of the brand’s advanced InControl Touch Pro infotainment system
• You can wade up to a depth of 600mm and constantly check water depth with Land Rover’s Wade Sensing

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - The Volkswagen T6 Transporter takes the most popular van award.

• Transporter adds to prestigious collection of accolades at 2016 Honest John awards
• Latest generation of Volkswagen’s iconic Transporter scoops ‘Most Popular Van’ award
• Website user reviews and frequency of user search for the T6 key to coveted award win

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ latest generation Transporter has scooped yet another accolade, being named ‘Most Popular Van’ at this year’s Honest John awards.

With the award coming from the users of the honestjohn.co.uk website, this represents a significant endorsement for the T6. The Honest John awards recognise and reward the vehicles which obtain the best reviews and highest levels of user search on the website – www.honestjohn.co.uk – which receives three million visits every month.

The sixth-generation Transporter was selected as the outright winner in the ‘Most Popular Van’ category ahead of four other shortlisted commercial vehicles. The van builds on an illustrious heritage to offer a broad range of bodystyles that appeals to a wide audience, as well as class-leading comfort, convenience and safety features and driveability.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk explains: “Understanding the appeal of the new Transporter isn’t difficult. The new T6 from Volkswagen is cheap to run, practical and built for hard work. As a result it has become the benchmark for all medium panel vans. Hardly surprising then that it’s loved by everyone from delivery drivers and builders to surfers and campers.”

The Transporter offers two wheelbase options and no less than three roof heights plus a wide choice of load volumes and payloads to cater for any lifestyle or business need. This iconic model is also available with a range of smooth and economical 2.0-litre engines, manual and DSG automated transmissions and two- and four-wheel drive options. In addition the T6 also comes with an extensive range of safety features, including Driver Alert System and Automatic Post Collision Braking system as standard, plus optional Adaptive Cruise Control, City Emergency Braking System and High Beam Assist.

Commenting on the award win, Carl zu Dohna, Director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: “Since it arrived in the UK in September last year, the Transporter has impressed judging panels and experts across the industry, but the Honest John accolade brings an exciting new dimension to our collection of awards because it comes from our most important critics, van buyers.

“Volkswagen is committed to evolving its vehicles continually to maintain its industry leading standards and we are therefore delighted to have received such an overwhelming response to the Transporter T6 from drivers across the UK.”

The ‘Most Popular Van’ accolade joins a number of impressive awards won by the Transporter, including ‘International Van of the Year’, Van A2Z’s ‘Van of the Year’ and ‘Best Medium Van’, Van Fleet World ‘Best New Van’, and Trade Van Driver’s ‘Best Medium Van’ and ‘Van of the Year’ trophies.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - Skoda takes the title for Most Popular Large Family Car.

• Flagship Superb crowned Most Popular Large Family Car at Honest John Awards 2016
• Five ŠKODA models shortlisted across four categories to include Citigo, Fabia, Yeti, Octavia and Superb.
• Votes generated by page views from honestjohn.co.uk’s users

ŠKODA’s flagship Superb has added to an already impressive 2016 awards having been crowned Most Popular Large Family Car thanks to generating the most page views in its vehicle class on Honestjohn.co.uk. The versatile hatchback, which is available from £19,060, surpassed last year’s Honestjohn.co.uk Car of the Year for interest from the site’s users for 12 months since April 2015.

Honestjohn.co.uk Editor, Dan Harrison, said “We can think of no car that can match the new Superb when it comes to offering comfort, quality and interior space. Yet it remains true to ŠKODA's core values – it's practical, cheap to run and most of all good value for money. We're big fans of the Superb and so are our users. It's pretty much the perfect large family car”

It’s not just the Superb that is proving popular, as the Octavia – Honestjohn.co.uk’s Most Popular Large Family Car in 2014 – remained in the top 5 shortlist for that class this year.

And it didn’t stop there, with the ŠKODA Yeti generating plenty of page views in the site’s Crossover class ensuring it earned its place in Honestjohn.co.uk’s shortlist. The City Car class and Small Hatchback class had their fair share of ŠKODA’s in their top five shortlists too, with the clever Citigo and versatile Fabia featuring respectively.

Unlike many other awards, the Honestjohn.co.uk accolades aren’t awarded by judges or a panel, but generate the final positions thanks to the interaction of the website’s users. Put simply the reviews which create the most interest among the users are the winners. This year is the sixth annual honestjohn.co.uk awards.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - Ford takes a triple win at the ceremony held in London this year.

Ford claimed three accolades at the 2016 HonestJohn.co.ukreader awards. The UK’s best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, won Most Popular Small Hatchback; the dynamic Ford S-MAX collected Most Popular MPV and the iconic Ford Mustang declared the Most Popular Convertible.

Most Popular Small Hatchback

Ford sells a new Fiesta in the UK every 60 seconds* and at the end of April 2016, it had topped the UK car sales leader board for 90 consecutive months. Fiesta is available from £10,345 and offers customers a stylish, practical, well-equipped and fun-to-drive supermini.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk, said: “As an all-rounder the Ford Fiesta is a hard one to beat, proving equally at home on the motorway as it is around town. Our users also tell us they're impressed by the Fiesta's turbocharged EcoBoost engines, which deliver eager performance.”

Most Popular MPV

The stylish and sporty Ford S-MAX has enjoyed a remarkable run of sales success in Britain, with over 87,000 UK registrations since its 2006 debut. Ford’s latest version of this trend-setting, seven-seat, sports activity vehicle offers a range of more than 20 new technologies, including global debuts for Glare-Free Highbeam,Intelligent Speed Limiter and Ford Adaptive Steering. For the first time, the new S-MAX is also available with Ford’s Intelligent All-Wheel-Drive (iAWD) system.

Most Popular Convertible

The Ford Mustang – introduced in the U.S. more than 50 years ago – has excited fans across the globe, but has never been available to order with right-hand drive, until now. Almost 4,000 customers have placed and order for a RHD Mustang in just 10 months.

Latest updates to Mustang include the addition of SYNC 3 with 8in colour touchscreen and a new array of colours including White Platinum, Grabber Blue and Lightning Blue.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk, said: “The Ford Mustang may be a truly iconic model, yet it has remained elusive for British drivers. So Ford's decision to finally officially sell it here was met with huge interest and enthusiasm. It came as no surprise to us that our audience were keen to read about the new Mustang. Given its affordable price tag, it represents a lot of car for the money, yet is always guaranteed to get attention.”

The honestjohn.co.uk awards are uniquely judged by their website users. The main awards recognise and reward the cars and vans that HonestJohn users search for most on the site. This data comes from the number of page views each review has had over the previous 12 months from April 2015 to April 2016. The site gets around 3 million visits every month with the majority of these users viewing car reviews.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - And the overall Car of the year for 2016 is................

Suzuki is very pleased to announce that Vitara has been voted the overall winner at the 2016 Honest John Awards held in London. Since its launch just 12 months ago in the UK, Vitara has proved to very popular and was voted as the top choice by readers of honestjohn.co.uk. 

It was also voted as the Most Popular Crossover, again by the regular readers of the website which has more than 4,400 owner reviews posted and 2.27 million visitors to its new car reviews pages (measured between April 2015 and April 2016).

Suzuki introduced the 1.4-litre Boosterjet S model in January 2016 which provides a more sporting and dynamic character to the Vitara line up. It was this new model that further increased the high popularity of Vitara amongst their readers.  Additionally, the informative and light hearted Vitara video made by honestjohn.co.uk last year is their most popular review to date, having been viewed over 250,000 times.

Commenting on the awards, Daniel Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk, said: “Our readers tell us that they want cars that are practical, well built and honest when it comes to fuel consumption.  Vitara offers all of that with a dash of style and sense of occasion. It’s no surprise that it’s been such a hit on the site. The addition of the state-of-the-art Boosterjet petrol engine earlier this year was the icing on the cake and another reason for us to recommend what is a great all-rounder. This has been the most popular car of the past 12 months with our users and, from the feedback we’ve had so far, it has every reason to be our Car of the Year.”

Dale Wyatt, Sales and Marketing Director, Suzuki GB PLC, added: “This really is a fantastic achievement for us at Suzuki; our compact and lightweight SUV is proving to be really popular on the roads now with 10,000 sold since launch last year. It’s great news for us that so many of our customers have voted for it on honestjohn.co.uk.

“Our research shows that over 65 per cent of prospective customers who test drive a Vitara will purchase one. This is certainly reflected in the great comments by Honest John users that they made the right decision.”

Vitara is available from £13,999 for the 1.6-litre SZ4 model with manual transmission, the SZ5 model is available with either a 1.6-litre petrol or 1.6 diesel engine and offers ALLGRIP four wheel drive as an option. The 1.4-litre turbo-charged S model offers ALLGRIP as standard equipment.

The Vitara is rated one of Europe‘s safest cars according to independent crash testing results from Euro NCAP, and received the maximum 5-star rating. Vitara was also the first compact SUV to earn five stars in the more rigorous 2015 Euro NCAP testing programme which reinforces the exemplary level of safety of the model.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - The Most Highly Rated Car this year go es to the Renault Capture Crossover.

• Renault Captur named Most Highly Rated Car at Honest John Awards 2016
• Compact crossover praised for value for money, fuel economy and practicality
• Renault Captur was Europe’s best-selling compact crossover in 2015

The Renault Captur was awarded the title of Most Highly Rated Car 2016 at the Honest John Awards in London.

Now in their sixth year, the awards saw Captur collect Most Highly Rated Car after it received more positive reviews than any other vehicle over the past 12 months from owners on honestjohn.co.uk. The leading motoring website has around three million visitors each month.

Commenting on Captur’s award win, Dan Harrison, Editor of honestjohn.co.uk, said: “The Renault Captur has received the highest praise in Honest John Owners’ Reviews – more than any other car over the last 12 months. Families like its outstanding value and practicality with owners very satisfied thanks to its frugal fuel economy and everyday usability – and giving it five stars as a result.”

Paul Flanagan, Managing Director, Groupe Renault UK and Ireland, said: “We’re delighted that the Renault Captur has been recognised by honestjohn.co.uk users to win Most Highly Rated Car. The Captur is stylish and extremely capable as a compact crossover. The fact that it has achieved and maintained its five-star rating by customers over the past 12 months is testament to its abilities as a family car.”

The Renault Captur, launched in 2013, was Europe’s best-selling compact crossover in 2015 with sales of 194,720. In the UK, the Captur achieved 24,769 sales in 2015, up 21 per cent compared to 2014.

The Captur is available in four trim levels with a choice of two petrol and two diesel engines, with CO₂emissions as low as 95g/km and combined cycle fuel economy of up to 78.5mpg NEDC. The Renault Captur is priced from £14,575 on-the-road.

The B-segment Captur fits in the Renault crossover line-up alongside the All-New Renault Kadjar – the recently introduced family-sized crossover – and Koleos, the forthcoming D-segment crossover, due to launch in the UK in 2017.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - Mercedes takes the Most Popular Compact Premium Car award for the GLC.

• Mercedes-Benz GLC wins ‘Most Popular Compact Premium Car’
• The annual Awards are based on the level of interest reviews received on the Honest John website

The Mercedes-Benz GLC was named ‘Most Popular Compact Premium Car’ at the Honest John Awards, which were held in London last night.

Winners are selected according to the interest and page views they generate through the Honest John website. The site, created 15 years ago to help consumers with advice on buying, selling and running cars, receives two million visits every month.

Presenting the award, Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk, commented: “Mercedes-Benz may have been a latecomer to the crossover party, but the GLC proves that arriving fashionably late can have its benefits. 

As an even more practical and family-friendly alternative to the C-Class, the stylish GLC has gained plenty of admirers - winning the Most Popular Compact Premium Car award in the process. Even more impressive is the fact the GLC review went live mid-way through 2015, yet still managed to outperform other premium models in a shorter space of time.” 

The GLC is on sale now, with prices starting from £34,950 for the GLC 220 d SE. The recently announced Mercedes-AMG GLC 43, which features a 3.0-litre V6 biturbo petrol engine, joins the line-up at the end of 2016.

HONEST JOHN AWARDS - The Hyundai i10 wins again, the third time it has taken the title.

• Hyundai Motor wins Most Popular City car for the i10 at 2016 Honest John Awards for third year running
•  i10 praised by users of honestjohn.co.uk for its handling, refinement and its five-year warranty

Hyundai Motor UK has added a new award to its trophy cabinet after last night’s Honest John Awards. The brand’s second best-selling vehicle, the i10 was crowned ‘Most Popular City Car’ for the third year running by HonestJohn.co.uk users.

On the i10’s success, Dan Harrison, Editor, HonestJohn.co.uk, commented:

“The Hyundai i10 has won our Most Popular City Car award for the third year running, cementing itself as a consistently popular choice with our users. And it's easy to see why. The i10 is the perfect small car with great handling and impressive refinement - plus of course it comes with Hyundai's five-year warranty. There is plenty of competition among city cars, but honestjohn.co.uk users have once again shown that the well-built Hyundai 10 is their number one choice".

Tony Whitehorn, President and CEO, Hyundai Motor UK, commented on the company’s latest accolades: “We are delighted that the i10 has scored a hat trick of awards from honestjohn.co.uk. The i10 is a car that continues to prove a hit in the market and receiving this award for the third year running from the users of honestjohn.co.uk means that our customers really value the stylish and refined package that i10 offers in this highly competitive segment.”

Now in its sixth consecutive year, the Honest John Awards don’t follow the traditional awards format, instead the winners are chosen by the best experts of all: the website users. The awards recognise and reward the cars that HonestJohn.co.uk users search for most on the site. The reviews which create the most interest among HonestJohn.co.uk users are the winners.