Skip advert
Advertisement
Best cars & vans

The best cars for comfort, technology, safety, practicality and more

Driver Power, the UK’s most comprehensive car customer satisfaction survey, crowns the best cars by category

The greatest cars have always offered more than the sum of their parts, and that’s a factor in the pleasure – or pain – of buying and owning them. But even so, there are always compromises to be faced, and it’s useful to know where they’ve been made.

Comparing the best cars in individual Driver Power categories allows us to highlight the top performers in areas such as value, reliability, safety, ride and handling, infotainment and more. In fact, we divided the survey up into eight separate categories, each with multiple sub-sections, which allowed us to distil the maximum information from our survey responses.

Advertisement - Article continues below

You can see the top performers by category over the following pages, but remember that a top score doesn’t imply a car is best at a particular job – rather that its owners rate it higher than rivals in terms of their satisfaction with the job it’s doing. 

Click the links below for details of the top cars in each survey segment…

Driver Power car ownership
Skip advert
Advertisement
Current affairs and features editor

Chris covers all aspects of motoring life for Auto Express. Over a long career he has contributed news and car reviews to brands such as Autocar, WhatCar?, PistonHeads, Goodwood and The Motor Trader.

Skip advert
Advertisement

Recommended

Most and least reliable car manufacturers 2026
Most and least reliable car brands - header image

Most and least reliable car manufacturers 2026

These are the brands that are building the most reliable cars on UK roads, along with the ones that you might wish to avoid
Best cars & vans
30 Aug 2026
Best cars to own: Driver Power 2026 results
Driver Power 2026 header

Best cars to own: Driver Power 2026 results

The winners and losers in the UK's biggest automotive consumer survey. It’s the 2026 Driver Power results
News
23 Jul 2026
Most reliable small cars to buy 2026
Most reliable small cars - header image

Most reliable small cars to buy 2026

We reveal the most reliable small cars you can buy, according to our latest Driver Power survey
Best cars & vans
25 Jun 2026
Best car manufacturers 2026
Best car manufacturers 2026 header

Best car manufacturers 2026

Thousands of UK drivers share their real-world verdicts on the manufacturers of the cars they own
News
24 Jun 2026

Most Popular

Most and least reliable car manufacturers 2026
Most and least reliable car brands - header image

Most and least reliable car manufacturers 2026

These are the brands that are building the most reliable cars on UK roads, along with the ones that you might wish to avoid
Best cars & vans
30 Aug 2026
New Dacia Sandero is going EV, but there's still a place for petrol
Dacia Sandero render (watermarked) - front

New Dacia Sandero is going EV, but there's still a place for petrol

Next-generation supermini will provide a range of powertrains and a more rugged Stepway version
News
31 Aug 2026
BMW iX3 vs Mercedes GLC vs Volvo EX60: fight for EV SUV supremacy
BMW iX3 vs Mercedes GLC vs Volvo EX60 - front tracking

BMW iX3 vs Mercedes GLC vs Volvo EX60: fight for EV SUV supremacy

New arrivals from Volvo and Mercedes are the latest to try to unseat award-winning BMW SUV
Car group tests
29 Aug 2026