Used cars of the week: 2013 Award winners

The What Car? Used Car of the Year 2013 Awards have just been handed out - and there's never been a better line-up of quality cars that make terrific secondhand buys.

We've been through our own Trusted Dealers classified listings and found good-value buys of the winners in the categories for small car, family car, SUV, executive and MPV. There are dozens of examples, of course - but here are some that caught our eye.

Small car - Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 Design

The Vauxhall Corsa is a terrific buy at around £5000 - particularly if you get our favoured trim level, Design, with air-conditioning. We found this 1.2-litre five-door example in Leeds, with fewer than 33,000 miles on the clock and a fresh MoT certificate for just £5750. That's great budget motoring.

Find more used Vauxhall Corsas at What Car? Approved Used

Family car - VW Golf (Mk6) 1.4 TSI SE

The Mk6 Volkswagen Golf's excellent build quality has made it an accomplished secondhand buy that offers comfort, space, practicality and low running costs. Five-door examples with our favourite engine and trim level - 1.4 TSI SE - start at less than £10,000. We found this 52,000-mile example in striking red for £9690.

Find more used Volkswagen Golfs at What Car? Approved Used

SUV - Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi Acenta

The Nissan Qashqai now looks a really competitive secondhand buy. We found plenty of versions with our preferred engine, the 1.5-litre diesel, and feature-packed Acenta trim - but this 56,000-miler looked strong at a little over £9000. Sure, that's above-average miles for a three-year-old car - but the Approved Used scheme gives you peace of mind.

Find more used Nissan Qashqais at What Car? Approved Used

Executive & Luxury car - BMW 320d SE

The BMW 3 Series is well known for a solid cabin, strong engines and excellent driving dynamics. It's also a great used buy - particularly if you go for earlier examples of the last generation. Our favourite is the 320d SE - and as we've proved here, you can easily find examples for less than £9000 with sensible mileages (this car has 47,000 on the clock).

Find more used BMW 3 Series at What Car? Approved Used

MPV - Ford S-Max 2.0 TDCi Zetec

We praised the S-Max for not only its practicality and ability to go seven-up, but also its great driving dynamics. Our chosen model, the 2.0 TDCi, has enough torque to cope with a full load, and there are plenty available. This example in black has only 43,000 miles on the clock yet it's listed at £10k; that's very reasonable money for a great-driving MPV.

Find more used Ford S-Max cars at What Car? Approved Used

The Approved Used Scheme in conjunction with Trusted Dealers offers real peace of mind, thanks to our '10 Points of Difference'. Every car sold through the scheme comes with checks to make sure it hasn't been stolen or written-off, and that all finance has been settled. It also includes a mechanical inspection, a mileage confirmation, a minimum of three months' MoT, the option of a test drive, finance offers, a full valet and a warranty.

Visit our Approved Used Cars finder to uncover hundreds of other choices from Trusted Dealers.