What Car?

Cheapest cars to insure • New Mercedes-benz CLA vs rivals

WELCOME

If you type whatcar.com/fuelcomparison-tool into your internet address bar, you’ll find a handy page that – after asking you four questions – tells you whether you’d be better off with a petrol car, a diesel, a hybrid or a fully electric vehicle (EV)....

USED CAR OF THE YEAR AWARDS

If you’ve got an older sibling, you probably ended up with quite a few hand-me-downs when you were a kid – clothes or toys that wouldn’t have been your first choice but which you just had to make do with. However, when it comes to cars, second-hand...

WELCOME

American author Robert A Heinlein famously said: “ability is a wonderful thing, but it’s greatly enhanced by dependability.” And while he was referring to people, the sentiment applies equally to cars, making this issue of What Car? one of the year’s...

WELCOME

Back in 2017, I attended the launch of the original Volkswagen T-roc, and in most respects I came away thoroughly impressed by the brand’s rst small SUV. However, there was one area that disappointed: the interior plastics. At the time, this came as a...

WELCOME

At What Car?, we don’t care what your next car is powered by; we just want to help you buy the best model for your needs, whatever it might be. But the UK Government does care, insisting it wants 28% of new cars to be fully electric this year, and 80%...

BMW’S revolutionary new electric X3 driven

WELCOME

In recent years, I’ve been lucky enough to run an Audi E-tron, a BMW ix3 and a Jaguar I-pace – three wonderfully luxurious electric SUVS. Yet today you can buy any of these models for less than £20,000. The reason, of course, is shaky demand for...

WELCOME Self-driving cars are on the way, but who assumes liability for their actions?

They have long been a staple of science fiction, but, as we explain from page 40, cars that can drive themselves are now becoming a reality. Their appeal is easy to understand, even if the technology behind them is anything but; autonomous vehicles...

WELCOME May 2025

Hybrids are sometimes dismissed as nothing more than a bridge between petrol and electric cars. But to paraphrase Toyota chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, that doesn’t mean they’re not a long and sturdy bridge. It helps (although Mr Uchiyamada might...

• THE TOP 10 CARS IN EVERY CLASS

How happy does your garage keep you when it’s maintenance time? We judge 30 car makers for service satisfaction

The cost of maintaining a car has risen by a third during the past decade, from an average of £403 to £606 per year. And the rising costs of car parts and the need for businesses to pass on increased business taxes – such as employers’ National...

Britain’s biggest and best car buyer’s guide February 2025

New Renault 5 and Ford Capri aim to recapture the success of their namesakes

NOSTALGIA isn’t what it used to be, a clever joke tells us. But in the car world, it actually feels like nostalgia has never had it so good. The likes of the Fiat 500 and Mini hatch continue to sell in such huge numbers that their makers are...

Target Price

The What Car? Target Price is the maximum we think you should pay for your new car. It’s set by our team of mystery shoppers, who spend every day haggling with dealers to see what discounts are available across the UK. The What Car? Target PCP is a...

WELCOME

All eras come to an end. No one can win them all. And yet as shocks go, Lexus failing to see off all comers and top this year’s What Car? Reliability Survey is right up there with James ‘Buster’ Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson. True, Lexus isn’t out...

Target Price

The What Car? Target Price is the maximum you should pay for your new car and is set by our team of mystery shoppers. Every day they see what discounts are available across the UK, and those savings form the basis of the deals offered via our free New...

EVERY SMALL SUV RATED

Shakespeare famously wrote that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, but would a daisy be more special if it was called a rose?

That seems to be the view at Ford, which has made a habit in recent years of applying famous model names from its past to very different modern cars in the hope that this will give them added appeal. The Puma badge, for example, is currently used on a...

Target Price

The What Car? Target Price is the maximum you should pay for your new car and is set by our team of mystery shoppers. Every day they see what discounts are available across the UK, and those savings form the basis of the deals offered via our free New...