BMW wins car of the year title
The new BMW 3 Series has been named Car of the Year in an event dominated by foreign manufacturers.
BMW's 320d ES, priced at £23,695, scooped the top What Car? magazine award at a ceremony in London.
'No other new car is as great in so many ways as the BMW 3 Series. Whatever your priorities, it delivers,' said What Car? group editor Steve Fowler.
Last year's overall winner - the Land Rover Discovery - was the only British-built model to take an award this year, being named large 4x4 winner.
Skoda took two awards - best small family car for the Skoda Octavia 1.6 Ambiente and best hot hatch for its sporty Skoda Octavia vRS. Renault took the award for best supermini with its new Clio.
For the first time What Car? introduced a green award to recognise the manufacturer or organisation that had done most to make travel by car more environmentally friendly. This inaugural award went to Toyota and Lexus for leading the way in the development of hybrid and clean diesel technologies.
What Car? Car of the Year Winners 2006 were:
Supermini: Renault Clio 1.4 16v Expression 3 door
Small Family Car: Skoda Octavia 1.6 FSI Ambiente
Family Car: Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDI S
Compact Executive: BMW 320d ES
Compact MPV: Toyota Verso 2.2 D-4D T3
Large MPV: Chrysler Grand Voyager 2.8 CRD LX
Estate: Vauxhall Vectra 1.9 CDTi Exclusive
Hot Hatch: Skoda Octavia vRS
Open-Top: Mazda MX-5 1.8
Coupe: Mazda RX-8
Performance Car: Porsche Cayman S
Compact 4x4: Nissan X-Trail 2.2 dCi SE
Large 4x4: Land Rover Discovery TDV6 SE auto
Executive Car: BMW 525i SE auto
Luxury Car: Mercedes Benz S500
Safety Award: Citroen
Green Award: Toyota/Lexus
Car of the Year: BMW 320d ES 4 door
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