Used Car of the Year Awards: Overall winner

All of our category winners are outstanding used buys; if you’re looking for a specific type of car, you won’t be disappointed with any of them. Whittling them down to come up with an overall winner was a daunting task, but in the end it came down to a choice between three contenders.

The Ford Puma excels in many of the areas that are important to buyers of used SUVs. As well as being highly practical, frugal, well equipped and fun to drive, it’s the most affordable of our finalists.

Meanwhile, anyone looking to buy a used electric vehicle (EV) can’t afford to ignore the Tesla Model 3. It’ll be easier to live with than most rivals, and with the recent slump in EV prices, you can now pick up this rapid, practical, ultra-efficient saloon for what would have been an unthinkably low price not that long ago.

However, as we said earlier, used Model 3s don’t enjoy the same tax advantages as new ones, and that’s why it lost out to the BMW 3 Series in the executive car category. The fact that the latter was also named best used hybrid should tell you what an exceptional car it is.

Our judges especially liked the variety of options available to used 3 Series buyers, from swish petrols and frugal diesels to the tempting plug-in hybrid 330e. The 3 Series is not only classier and more comfortable than the Puma but also, in plug-in hybrid guise, potentially as affordable to run as the Model 3, while being smarter inside and even better to drive. The fact that you can pick up this immensely well-rounded executive car for as little as £20,000 is really quite remarkable.

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