Following its Continental Tyres Irish Car of the Year 2023 award, the Volkswagen ID. Buzz has now been crowned Car of the Year and category winner for Large Electric Car of the Year at the highly regarded 2023 What Car? Awards in the UK.
Commended for its “comfort and impressive refinement”, the judges also highlighted the ID. Buzz’s “practicality and running costs”.
Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car? said: “There’s so much affection for the retro design of the ID. Buzz that Volkswagen could easily have penny-pinched on the engineering and still sold as many as it could make.
“But instead, it has clearly thrown everything at the car, with this resulting in something that combines the practicality of an MPV with the comfort and refinement of a premium SUV and the low running costs of an electric vehicle.
“In short, it moves the game on more than any other model launched in the past 12 months, so it had to be the What Car? Car of the Year.”
There was also 23 other category winners in the 2023 What Car? Awards, including the aforementioned Large Electric Car of the Year won by the ID. Buzz.
Winners of note include the Ford Puma ST as the best sports SUV, Lexus in the reliability award, and the Kia Sportage as the best family SUV.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best small car: Honda Jazz
Best family car: Honda Civic
Best hot hatch: Hyundai i20 N
Best small SUV: Volkswagen T-Roc
Best family SUV: Kia Sportage
Readers’ Choice award: Kia EV9
Best plug-in hybrid: Lexus NX
Best small electric car: MG 4 EV
Best large electric car: Volkswagen ID. Buzz
Reliability award: Lexus
Best executive car: Tesla Model 3
Best estate car: Skoda Superb Estate
Best seven-seater: Hyundai Santa Fe
Best for safety: Tesla Model Y
Best luxury car: Range Rover Sport
Best electric SUV: Genesis GV60
Best for efficiency: Tesla Model 3
Best coupe: BMW 4 Series Coupé
Best sports car: Porsche 718 Cayman
Best sports SUV: Ford Puma ST
Best Technology: BMW i7 Theatre Screen
Best convertible: BMW 4 Series Convertible
Best performance car: Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo
What Car? Car of the Year Volkswagen ID. Buzz