New car options for 2023

A brief run through of some top makes by Emma Russell

As a car is a major investment, you need to consider running costs, safety, comfort and efficiency.

City or Small Cars: City cars are easy to park, fuel efficient and manoeuvrable. Vehicles in this range include Toyota Aygo, Fiat 500 and VW Up. A small car is generally an easy drive, simple to control with an optimum acceleration to overtake between 30-60mph. Small options include Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and the Mini range.

Medium to Large Family Cars: These optimise safety, efficiency and comfort. They need to adapt to conditions and be easy to park in different places. Medium cars include Ford Focus, Hyundai i30 and Honda Civic. Larger cars offer more legroom, smoother suspension and roomier seating. Bigger engines and fuel tanks can cope with extra loads. These include Skoda Octavia, Ford Mondeo and VW Passat.

SUVs and 4x4: These offer plenty of room, manoeuvrability, a high driving position and additional safety features. Crossovers include Nissan Qashqai, Nissan Juke and Kia Sportage. Bigger vehicles like Honda CRV and Peugeot 3008 are also among this range.

Electric vehicles (EV): Pure battery EV’s have zero CO2 emissions and are road tax exempt. This is set to change in April 2025 but you must still go through the motions and ‘tax’ it on the gov website: www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax. EV’s have matured over the past few years with the Tesla Model 3, Kia EV6 and Audi Q4 e-Tron between £40-50k.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: These currently pay a reduced road tax, but if it‘s worth more than £40k it’s subject to an annual supplement for five years, from the second time the vehicle is taxed. They cost between £0 and £105 depending on emissions, then £145 per year after that. Some examples of these include BMW 3 series, Mercedes C-class and Skoda Superb iV. Emma Russell is a freelance motoring writer.