The top cars to buy in 2025
With car manufacturers constantly stepping up their game, it’s no surprise that each year brings even more choice and smarter options. The race for the best, most efficient ride is on, and 2025 promises to be packed with stand-out vehicles.
If you’re in the market for a new motor, have a read through our choices of the top cars in 2025 for sale both at the beginning of the year and available soon after.
Top Small Car: Toyota Yaris (2024 facelift)
Back when the fourth generation of Yaris was revised in 2020, it hit the market with a sporty new look and a host of features as standard. This Yaris sold well, and for a while it was hard to find without putting yourself on a waiting list – the hallmark of any top car.
In 2024, the new Yaris received a slight facelift with some upgraded internal tech like USB-C sockets, wireless charging, and even the option of a slightly more powerful engine. Now with an extra 20 horsepower, for those who wanted a little more power from the standard 114 horsepower hybrid. All of this makes the Yaris one of the best cars 2024 had to offer.
If you already had your eyes on the Yaris, this 2024 model should probably be your new de facto choice. We fully expect the used market to be rampant with these wonderfully efficient motors in the new year, making 2025 a great time to enjoy Toyota’s hybrid mastery.
With a high Euro n-cap safety rating of five stars, brilliant fuel efficiency, and unmatched manufacturer warranty, the Yaris continues to be a solid choice.
Top SUV: Dacia Duster
The Dacia Duster has a bit of an image problem. Yes, it’s from the Renault-owned, budget-conscious brand of Dacia, but that needn’t be an issue.
When the Duster was launched to the UK market in 2013, it became an instant hit among financially-savvy car buyers at the time. With its low price point, however, came an equally low amount of mod-cons and features. Some models were even available without a radio, would you believe!
However, the Duster has done a lot of growing up in the 10 or so years that it’s been in the UK, and the new version released towards the end of 2024 is a big upgrade. The diesel-fuelled model has been exiled and replaced with a hybrid petrol model, meaning smoother take-offs and decent fuel economy, the interior is more akin to a car released in this century, and the exterior rivals the looks of more expensive SUVs from Range Rover and Audi.
While the original Duster was well received, this new version is even more hotly anticipated. The SUV has won ‘Value Car of the Year’ in the UK Motor Awards, while Carbuyer has already given it the ‘Car of the Year’ award for 2025.
We fully expect thousands of owners to embrace the new Duster in 2025. Will you be one of them?
Top Hatchback: Renault Clio
The Renault Clio has been feeling a little unloved in recent years. While Renault figured out its identity crisis throughout the mid to late 2010s, bouncing between sticking to what it knows and innovating, the Clio became a bit of a moot point in the car buying process. Options from Ford, Nissan and Toyota were simply more attractive, with better options, features, and fuel economy.
The newest Renault Clio draws a line under all this uncertainty and hits back with a revised chassis, new powertrain options, and a totally modern exterior to give Renault the wow factor it once had with its Renault Sport line of Clios.
This year, the Clio took home the award for ‘Small Car of the Year’ in the UK Car Awards, while Carsa lists it as one of the safest small cars to buy in 2024 thanks to its exceptionally high Euro n-cap rating.
Top 4x4: Volvo EX60
If there’s something to know about Volvo, it’s that when they do 4x4s, they do them well.
The Volvo EX60 is the Swedish manufacturer’s latest foray into the all-wheel drive market. We’ve classified it as a 4x4 but, in all honesty, the EX60 sits somewhere in between the modern SUV and the 4x4. Yes, it has all-wheel drive which ticks the main 4x4 criteria, but the EX60 isn’t big, bulky, and in your face – its footprint is surprisingly small for this market segment, helping it fill some pretty niche use cases.
The EX60 specifically is the fully electric equivalent to the current XC60; a car that has won numerous car of the year awards in its previous iterations. Most recently, it won the ‘Best Towcar’ award from TMS Motor Group, while previously taking the ‘Best Used Large SUV’ award in the What Car? Used Car of the Year awards in 2021.
Volvo has made some pretty innovative alterations and changes to pave the way for this new version, including integrating the battery pack into the floor of the vehicle for a more efficient use of space.
With the brand already having a few outings in the electric market including the likes of the EX30 and EC40, we’re excited to see what this SUV/4x4 brings to the table when it launches in 2025.
Top Electric Car: Polestar 4
Polestar, Volvo’s electric vehicle sister company, has been slowly but surely building a name for itself in the EV space since it stormed into the market around 2021 with the Polestar 2.
The newest addition to its lineup, the Polestar 4, is on track to be one of the brand’s best models yet. This model fits squarely between the 2 and 3 size-wise (which can be a little confusing), and brings with it the same level of connectivity, innovation, and style as seen by its counterparts.
With both of those models taking home some runaway victories in car award shows, there’s every reason to be excited about the Polestar 4. The Polestar 3, , shocked the market in the prestigious Good Design Awards, taking a gold award for product design, as well as winning the ‘Best Exterior Design’ and ‘Best in Class’ award in the automotive category. In fact, the Polestar 4 won ‘Production Car Design of the Year’ from Car Design News in 2023 – a coveted award in such a competitive market segment.
Having stayed in the market, the Polestar brand is starting to break away from some of the Tesla similarity claims that once plagued the name and has now developed a range of cars fit for a wide range of uses.
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