Categories
City Car
(less than £9k, £9-11k)Small Hatchback
(less than £13k, £13-16k)Medium Hatchback
(less than £16k-£16-20k)Family Hatchback
(less than £18k, £18-25k)People Carrier
(less than £18k, £18k-plus)Family Estate
(less than £16k, £16-22k, £22k-plus)Crossover
(less than £15k, £15-20k)Eco Car
(less that £20k, £20k plus)4x4
(less than £20k, £20-30k, £30k-plus)Sports Coupe
(less than £25k, £25-40k, £40k plus)Premium Executive
(less than £30k, £30k-plus)Overall winner
Frequently asked questions
The Parkers New Car Awards 2012 celebrate the cars that make drivers' cash go the furthest. The awards are based on robust scientific research that calculates all of the costs associated with buying and owning a new car.
Only the cars that are currently on sale are considered for the awards and all cost calculations are based on buying and owning a new car over three years and covering 10,000 miles per year - the typical scenario for an average new car buyer.
What is included in the new car costs?
The total new car costs takes into account everything you'd need to pay in order to keep the car on the road, over three years and a total mileage of 30,000 miles. It includes:
Depreciation: The amount of money a car loses as it ages and racks up miles.
Showroom tax and 1st registration fee: a new car's one-off annual tax based on the car's CO2 emissions plus the cost of registering the car for the road. Service, maintenance and repair: the cost of servicing, maintenance and repairs that you will incur during the time you will own the car. Road tax: the vehicle excise duty due every year that follows the first year’s ‘showroom’ tax and is based on the car's CO2 emissions. Fuel: the amount you'll pay for fuel covering a set mileage, based on the car's average economy. The cost of motoring tool uses the latest fuel cost figures, which are updated daily, and data includes costs for hybrid and electric cars. Breakdown cover: the typical annual charge to provide standard breakdown cover. Some manufacturers include breakdown cover in the price of buying a new car.
This allows us to give you the most accurate idea of what to expect when running a car - and makes it easy to compare alternative cars to see where you could make savings. The Parkers Cost of Motoring tool means users can access all this cost data 24/7 and can even create their own bespoke costs by entering their loan details and insurance premium quote.
Choosing the winners
Firstly, the overall categories are decided on the type of cars that retail customers would buy. Then the individual price brackets are chosen to reflect the typical budgets that new car buyers have based on a wide range of current research into car buying habits.
The cost database is then grilled to select the cars that represented the lowest cost to a potential buyer (ie: the car that represents the best value for money) for each of the price brackets.
For the overall category winner the judges also look at several other factors including how much of a saving the price bracket winner has over the second placed car (the bigger the saving the more impressive the winning car's performance is), how the manufacturer fares for customer satisfaction, levels of dealers' customer service, quality and innovation of product and reliability among other things.
The judges are Tim Pollard, online editor of CAR Magazine, Jeremy Bennett, editor of AM, Kieren Puffett, Editor of Parkers and Tim Bowdler, Deputy Editor of Parkers.
Last but not least, the cost of motoring data is supplied, compiled and analysed by Go-Motoring, Parkers supplies the New Car Target Price (an easily negotiated discount on the new car retail price), CAP supplies the future residual values (what a new car will be worth in three years' time and after a total of 30,000 miles), the fuel costs supplier is Experian Catalist and the service, maintenance and repair data is calculated by Go Motoring supported by RDS Global.
Only the cars that are currently on sale are considered for the awards and all cost calculations are based on buying and owning a new car over three years and covering 10,000 miles per year - the typical scenario for an average new car buyer.
What is included in the new car costs?
The total new car costs takes into account everything you'd need to pay in order to keep the car on the road, over three years and a total mileage of 30,000 miles. It includes:
Depreciation: The amount of money a car loses as it ages and racks up miles.
Showroom tax and 1st registration fee: a new car's one-off annual tax based on the car's CO2 emissions plus the cost of registering the car for the road. Service, maintenance and repair: the cost of servicing, maintenance and repairs that you will incur during the time you will own the car. Road tax: the vehicle excise duty due every year that follows the first year’s ‘showroom’ tax and is based on the car's CO2 emissions. Fuel: the amount you'll pay for fuel covering a set mileage, based on the car's average economy. The cost of motoring tool uses the latest fuel cost figures, which are updated daily, and data includes costs for hybrid and electric cars. Breakdown cover: the typical annual charge to provide standard breakdown cover. Some manufacturers include breakdown cover in the price of buying a new car.
This allows us to give you the most accurate idea of what to expect when running a car - and makes it easy to compare alternative cars to see where you could make savings. The Parkers Cost of Motoring tool means users can access all this cost data 24/7 and can even create their own bespoke costs by entering their loan details and insurance premium quote.
Choosing the winners
Firstly, the overall categories are decided on the type of cars that retail customers would buy. Then the individual price brackets are chosen to reflect the typical budgets that new car buyers have based on a wide range of current research into car buying habits.
The cost database is then grilled to select the cars that represented the lowest cost to a potential buyer (ie: the car that represents the best value for money) for each of the price brackets.
For the overall category winner the judges also look at several other factors including how much of a saving the price bracket winner has over the second placed car (the bigger the saving the more impressive the winning car's performance is), how the manufacturer fares for customer satisfaction, levels of dealers' customer service, quality and innovation of product and reliability among other things.
The judges are Tim Pollard, online editor of CAR Magazine, Jeremy Bennett, editor of AM, Kieren Puffett, Editor of Parkers and Tim Bowdler, Deputy Editor of Parkers.
Last but not least, the cost of motoring data is supplied, compiled and analysed by Go-Motoring, Parkers supplies the New Car Target Price (an easily negotiated discount on the new car retail price), CAP supplies the future residual values (what a new car will be worth in three years' time and after a total of 30,000 miles), the fuel costs supplier is Experian Catalist and the service, maintenance and repair data is calculated by Go Motoring supported by RDS Global.
