What Car? Awards 2018

In 3.0 TDI specification, the A4 Saloon not only took Executive Car of the Year honours in 2016, but was also named overall What Car? Car of the Year. The latest award marks its third consecutive victory in the Executive Car of the Year category.
This time turning their attention to the 2.0 TDI 190PS Sport model, judges praised the A4’s ‘accomplished feel’, and commented specifically on its ‘strong and refined’ TDI engine and ‘beautifully built interior’, which they say ‘is better at isolating you from wind and road noise than rivals’. In conclusion, they declared the attention to detail ‘makes the car feel incredibly special’.

The Audi Q7 retained its Best Luxury SUV award for the second consecutive year – a mark of its staying power in a competitive market. What Car?’s judges described the premium seven-seat SUV as ‘so much more than your typical SUV', commenting that it ‘rides like a limousine, has the straight-line performance of a hot hatch and accommodates people like an MPV’. Underlining the Q7’s luxury credentials, the awards panel also noted that it ‘delivers a level of refinement that far more expensive cars can’t match’. It comes with a choice of 218PS and 272PS 3.0 TDI engines, as an e-tron plug-in hybrid or high-performance SQ7.

The Audi TT won the What Car? Best Coupé award for an amazing 16th time in total, cementing its place as the most decorated car in the awards’ 40-year history. Focusing on the 1.8 TFSI model, What Car? testers praised a ‘sweet, peppy engine that offers lively acceleration’ and the TT’s ‘truly special driving experience… lashings of style… and classy interior’. Trademark precision execution and advanced technology also helped the car to scoop the top honours, with testers noting the ‘robust-feeling build quality throughout, and Audi’s excellent 12.3in Virtual Cockpit instrument panel’. No wonder the third-generation TT remains unbeaten for four years.

Alongside the three Audi winners, an impressive total of eight Audi model variants also received honourable mentions, achieving Best Buy commendations at specific price points as part of the awards. These included the perennially popular A3 Sportback (an overall What Car? Car of the Year winner in 2013 now awarded  
Best Family Car over £22,000) and Coupé and Cabriolet versions of the A5 (Best Coupé £30,000–£50,000 and Best Convertible over £35,000). From the SUV stable, the Q2 (Best Small SUV over £20,000), the Q5 (Best Large SUV over £30,000) and the Q7 e-tron (Best Hybrid over £35,000) also shone through. Finally, at the pinnacle of the saloon range, the all-new A8 was pronounced Best Luxury Car over £50,000.