This year, we asked new car owners to rate their vehicles in eight different categories that were made up of 31 various areas, ranging from engine refinement to the safety kit on board. This made Driver Power 2017 the most comprehensive survey Auto Express has ever carried out.
Here you’ll find out the top to best cars in eight key Driver Power surveycategories, as well as details of the sub-sections that made up each of the main categories. With more questions than ever, it meant that for a car to be crowned a category winner, it had to master multiple aspects of the ownership experience.
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Several themes emerged in Driver Power 2017. Firstly, it was clear how impressed owners were with electric cars and hybrids. It wasn’t only the low running costs that had owners singing the praises of the likes of the Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius, as the instant torque and acceleration from these cars’ electric motors scored key points in the engine category.
Another surprise this year was how impressive budget cars can be. Infotainment, connectivity and electrics is a field premium brands often do well in, but as our results show, mainstream cars also have plenty to offer here. Plus, just because a car’s getting on a bit, it won’t necessarily fall out of favour with owners. This is proven by the likes of the Skoda Yeti and Volvo XC60 outscoring newer rivals in several areas.
Although there can be only one winner, each of the cars listed did very well to make it to each category top 10, as the competition was extremely fierce throughout the survey...
• Click here to take the Driver Power survey
Click the links below or at the top left of this page for details of the winner and top 10 in each survey segment...
The top ten best cars for…
- Engine and gearbox
- Infotainment, connectivity and electrics
- Interior and comfort
- Exterior styling
- Practicality and boot space
- Ride and handling
- Safety features
- MPG and running costs
Let us know what you think of the Driver Power results in the comments section below...