It’s time to reveal the best cars of the year…

Choosing the best new car of the year causes endless arguments among motoring folk, every single year. Every automotive title has its own ideas about how such a title should be awarded, based on their own criteria.

Every car reviewer is a human being with their own ideas and their own preferences. Every car review is one person’s (or one group of people’s) opinion of how good or bad a car is. If you’re only relying on one source, you’re not getting the full picture.

Our approach at The Car Expert is simple. Using the power of our exclusive Expert Rating Index, we’ve tracked new car reviews from more than of the UK’s leading motoring websites over the last 12 months and compiled all of the scores awarded to each new model. All of those scores are fed into our sophisticated algorithm that accounts for the various different scoring system that the different websites and magazines use.

We also pull in Euro NCAP safety data, CO₂ emissions, running costs and new car warranty information to make sure we’re getting a wide data set of key measures that really matter to new car buyers.

All this information is put into a custom algorithm – slightly different to the one we use for our Expert Ratings, as we’re only concentrating on brand-new models with more limited data – to produce our awards for the very best new cars you can buy.

As in previous years, we have 12 awards on offer – including the main title, Car of the Year 2026. This year, we’ve made a few changes to categories to reflect the changing new car market. As with last year, we’ve generally stopped differentiating between ‘cars’ and ‘SUVs’ as the lines have become so blurred, the differences are no longer relevant.

With the resurgence of plug-in hybrid models, we’ve added a dedicated plug-in hybrid family car award. And while the majority of new cars launched over the last year have been EVs, we recognise that plenty of customers still want a regular petrol car, so we’ve made sure to highlight the best petrol family car as well. Finally we’ve added an award for the Best Value Family Car, to highligt cars that offer the best value for your hard-earned money.

We’ll reveal the winners, including our overall Car of the Year 2026, at 10am on Tuesday 16 December.

Award categories

With our revised award categories, there are 12 awards on offer this year.

Best new cars and class champions

The new models certainly grab all of the attention from the motoring media, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re better than what’s already available.

In each of our award categories, we recognise not just the best model launched in the last 12 months but also the top-ranked cars overall. In some cases, a new model has jumped straight to the top of the pile while, in others, an existing car is still top dog.

To help our readers appreciate the relative quality of the best newcomers, we have Best New Models and Class Champions for each category. And, recognising the rapid growth of electric cars against the steady decline of petrol and diesel versions, we have separate class champion recognition for the very best electric and internal combustion cars.

Eligibility

A new model is a car that has been launched and comprehensively reviewed by the UK motoring media over the last 12 months. Most will already be on local roads by now, although some models may not yet be available in showrooms just yet. UK pricing and specifications for all contenders will have been set, however.

Last year, we removed the requirement for our winners to have a current, valid Euro NCAP safety rating of at least four stars because there simply hadn’t been enough new cars rated by Euro NCAP during the year. That’s the same this year, so again we’ve had to waive the Euro NCAP safety requirements.

The class of 2025

Here, in alphabetical order, are all the cars eligible for The Car Expert Awards 2026. Some were launched late in 2024, so they missed the cut-off date for last year’s awards.

*Cars with an asterisk are often described or advertised as ‘hybrids’, but are actually mild hybrids, which tends to create misleading impressions of their electric abilities

The awards will be announced at 10am on Tuesday 16 December, so place your bets and check back for all the winners!

A look back at previous results

Car of the Year 2025

Car of the Year 2024

Car of the Year 2022

Car of the Year 2021

* There was no Car of the Year 2023 as we changed the dating system *