2016 Dieselcar Top 50 Announced

LONDON - May 12, 2016: DieselCar Magazine has been championing economy motoring for more than 28 years and is proud to announce the DieselCar Top 50. In a departure from previous years where we name Car of the Year winners across ten key categories, we’ve torn up the rule book and come up with something altogether more meaningful, announcing the best 50 new cars on sale today.

In this month’s issue, which goes on sale at Newsagents today, we kick off the DieselCar Top 50 by counting down from 50, all the way to the number one spot. Our team of talented writers have tested more than 200 new cars over the past twelve months, in addition to thousands over the preceding years, and each of these results have been utilised to deliver this definitive new car verdict.

Explaining the changes, Editor and Publisher Ian Robertson commented “we are very pleased to announce a new format for 2016, eschewing the familiar, and overused, Car of the Year Awards format in favour of a more measured approach”. He went on to say “Every single car that has been evaluated by the DieselCar test team have had their results utilised to compile a comprehensive list of the top 50 best cars on sale today.”

In announcing the results of the first DieselCar Top 50, Ian Robertson first commended the winner for its generous equipment levels, keen prices and excellent road manners, not to mention the industry leading seven-year warranty. Of course those clues could only point to one car securing the top spot, and that’s the Kia Sportage. Editor Robertson added “this medium SUV leapfrogs the competition to sit at the very top of the class.”

The newly launched Jaguar XF grabbed second place and the title of our favourite Executive Car, while the Volvo XC90 achieved third place, and becomes our Best Luxury SUV. Skoda’s Superb sits in fourth place, while the Ford Focus at number five is rated as our favourite medium car, and in sporty ST diesel guise, the best hot hatch on sale today.

Citroën’s C4 Cactus – last year’s winner – achieved sixth place and the title of Best Compact Crossover, with Nissan’s Qashqai at number seven. One of the newest vehicles to hit the showrooms, Jaguar’s F-Pace, sits in eighth place, while the Tesla Model S achieved the award of Best Electric EcoCar and secured ninth position. And at number ten, the Skoda Octavia also grabs the gong for Best Estate Car. The full list of top 50 placings and category winners can be found below.

Ranking Make and model Class winners

1 Kia Sportage Best Medium SUV
2 Jaguar XF Best Executive Car
3 Volvo XC90 Best Luxury SUV
4 Skoda Superb
5 Ford Focus Best Medium Car / Best Hot Hatch
6 Citroën C4 Cactus Best Compact Crossover
7 Nissan Qashqai
8 Jaguar F-Pace
9 Tesla Model S Best Electric EcoCar
10 Skoda Octavia Best Estate Car
11 Range Rover Sport
12 Ford Fiesta Best Small Car
13 Hyundai i10 Best sub-100g/km Petrol EcoCar
14 Audi A4 Best Compact Executive Car
15 MINI Clubman
16 Citroen C4 Picasso/Grand C4 Picasso Best Medium MPV
17 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
18 SEAT Leon
19 Jaguar XE
20 Volkswagen Golf
21 Kia cee’d
22 Mazda CX-5
23 Porsche Macan
24 Audi TT Best Sports Car
25 Ford S-MAX Best Large MPV
26 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Best Luxury Car
27 Range Rover
28 Ford Galaxy
29 Land Rover Discovery Sport
30 Skoda Yeti
31 BMW 3 Series
32 Ford Mondeo
33 Mazda2
34 Renault Kadjar
35 BMW 5 Series
36 Mazda CX-3
37 Audi A3
38 Volkswagen Passat
39 Mazda6
40 MINI Hatch
41 Mazda3
42 Toyota Prius Best EcoCar Hybrid
43 DS 3
44 Audi Q7
45 Nissan NP300 Navara Best Pick-Up
46 BMW X1
47 Volkswagen Polo
48 Peugeot 308
49 Ford C-MAX/Grand C-MAX
50 Kia Sorento

About Diesel Car Magazine
In 2016, DieselCar magazine is celebrating its 28th year and has published 350 issues, focussing on the diesel car market and economy motoring. Always known for featuring cutting-edge fuel-saving technology, last year this was reinforced with the launch of the EcoCarsupplement, dedicating coverage of electric, hybrid, alternative fuel and sub-100g/km petrol cars into a single area of the magazine.

Subject to a management buy-out in January 2014, DieselCar magazine has a long list of established and talented writers who report on the latest news and provide views on the diesel car and alternative fuel markets. Published every four weeks, DieselCar magazine delivers test verdicts on every single new car and its main focus is the real world environment, looking at the way that an average buyer would view a vehicle, not how fast the car goes around corners, or how exciting it is to go sideways.