IF you already have one of these cars, well done you. You chose well.
If you get one after reading this, you’ll thank me later.
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Because, to us, this lot is the best out there right now. The top of the top.
Little. Large. Budget. Big win. Petrol. Diesel. Electric.
We’ve put in a shift.
We’ve covered the lot.
Allow me to introduce you to the worthy winners of The Sun Motor Awards 2024.
Let’s start with the big prize — and a car that needs no introduction.
The £23k petrol Mini Cooper, heavily refreshed for 2024, is hands-down our favourite new buy from our head and heart.
It’s had a big glow-up on the old one, without a noticeable price increase, and when does that ever happen?
Classier inside and out, with a less is more approach, and that dinner plate-sized touchscreen carries the same cutting-edge tech as a £100k Beemer.
Mega fun to drive, as it always has been. Even if you’re stuck on the M1 you can amuse yourself with a game of Uno.
The icing on the cake is that Mini is a homegrown hero.
German gaffers, yes — but the engines are made at Hams Hall, the body panels in Swindon, and the whole thing is put together at Oxford.
British engineering at its best. The equally brilliant Mini Cooper Electric will be built at Oxford from 2026.
Special prizes next . . .
The Legend Award goes to the VW Golf. No words needed for this one either.
It’s still here after 50 years because it is still the best at what it does.
Dependable. Classless. Beautifully engineered.
The Dream Car Award goes to the Aston Martin Vantage V8.
One hundred per cent gorgeous.
Race-car thrills combined with a lush, tech-rich cabin.
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Aston Martin is so hot right now even Taylor Swift sings about them.
Now for some more everyday heroes.
Dacia’s £23k Duster 4×4 is our Value Car of the Year.
Proper mechanical 4WD with high ground clearance and attack angles, chunky tyres and five drive modes.
Winter proof. Looks ace.
Yours from £149 a month. Incredible.
That’s a hat-trick for Dacia, by the way, Jogger triumphed in ‘22 and Spring last year. Keep the trophy.
The Swiss Army knife of family cars
The dinky Kia Picanto wins Small Car of the Year. Simple. Fun. Pennies to run.
Everything you want from a small car. Even the cheapest Picanto 2 at £15,595 has twin screens, Apple CarPlay, reversing camera and satnav. If it fits your life, you’ll love a Picanto.
Kia also picked up the Small SUV/Crossover prize for the hugely impressive EV3.
Quite possibly the tipping point for families wondering whether to go electric next.
The big battery version at £36k genuinely nudges 375 miles.
Much the same price and range as a petrol car. Except EV3’s Tardis-like cabin kills similarly-priced petrol cars.
Skoda’s Kodiaq is the Swiss Army knife of family cars.
Lots of useful tech
Five seats or seven. Front-wheel drive or AWD.
Petrol, diesel or plug-in hybrid. Vast boot. Lots of useful tech.
From £36k. No brainer, this one. Kodiaq is our Large SUV of the Year.
Now we come to Renault, a triple winner with the Scenic (Family Car) and Renault 5 (Electric Car), as well as taking home our coveted Manufacturer prize.
The electric-only Scenic just works. The kids will be happy in the back and the range is better than Renault’s own figures.
The retro-inspired R5 is a fabulous little thing at a really punchy price.
It’s going to win a bucketload of awards from glossy car mags.
If you’re not ready for electric, try a Clio or a Captur. Further proof that Renault has got its mojo back.
Now for Hot Hatch of the Year. Audi S3. Ooof.
It’s a lower, faster, grippier version of the A3 and little brother to the supercar-slaying RS3.
Quattro AWD, 333hp, armfuls of entertainment.
As for Van of the Year, who else? Ford.
The mega-selling Transit Custom is next-level good.
Much improved cabin and cargo area and the bread-and-butter 2-litre diesel — made in Dagenham — now comes with intelligent AWD. So you can now go more places with it.
Sadly Jeremy Clarkson, Hero of the Year, couldn’t make the awards at The Sun’s London HQ tonight, but he did tell me: “Really sorry I can’t be there. I literally am out of the country — and even if I wasn’t out of the country, I’d be in the countryside with my arm up an animal. Such is life these days.”
And some early 2025 contenders…
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HANG on, Dacia has gone upmarket? Yes, but still in a Dacia way.
This big-daddy SUV, called Bigster, arrives next Spring from £27k.
Built-in cooler box.
Big glass opening sunroof.
Arkamys 3D sound system. Wireless phone charging. Electric tailgate.
Not exactly the “essentials” we’re used to from Dacia but the sort of equipment drivers expect from this size of motor.
Bigster is 23cm longer than a Duster with a huge 667-litre boot.
Hybrid engines, manual and auto, front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. Promising.
We’ll report back when we try it.
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WE’RE now up to SIX Volkswagen SUVs beginning with “T”.
This is Tayron, pronounced Tie-Ron, a seven-seater that slots between Touareg and Tiguan and replaces the old Tiguan Allspace.
Out March. Petrol. Diesel. Plug-in hybrid.
Can you name the other “T” cars?
OK, I’ll tell you. Taigo. T-Cross. T-Roc.
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GET ready to be inundated with a load of low-cost EVs from the likes of Dacia, Citroen, Fiat, Renault, BYD, Leapmotor and Hyundai over the next year.
Hyundai has the jump on most of them with Inster, a four-seat micro SUV that’s seriously well-equipped from £23,495.
Finance from £249 a month. Out December.
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SORRY. Too late.
All 399 copies of the £2million McLaren W1 sold immediately.
Which isn’t exactly surprising when you consider W1 follows in the wheel tracks of the legendary F1 and P1 as McLaren’s third “1” car.
With an epic V8 hybrid punching out 1,275hp and Formula 1-inspired ground effect aero, W1 is the hardest and fastest road-legal Macca ever.
Again, hardly surprising.
It rockets from 0-124mph in 5.8 seconds with top speed limited at 217mph.
I bet Lando’s got one.