Car of the Year 2004 - Overall winner

Volkswagen’ all-new Golf has been named Car of the Year 2004 by What Car?.

The Golf fought off 17 other category winners lauded in a glittering ceremony at the Hilton Hotel on London’s Park Lane.

The winning model is the £14,205 Golf 1.6-litre FSi S 5dr, which What Car?’s expert testers praised for its fine handling, impeccable build quality, interior space and equipment levels.

What Car?’s editor, Rob Aherne, said: ‘In What Car?’s 30th year as the British car buyer’s champion, selecting a Car of the Year has never been a more gruelling process. However, the Golf’s blend of driveability, space, refinement, safety features and strong image means no car better fills our brief of fitness for purpose.’

The Golf was one of 10 new category winners chosen by the judging panel this year. Others include the Toyota Avensis (Family Car), Fiat Panda (City Car), BMW 3-series (Compact Executive), Mazda RX-8 (Coupe), Jaguar XJ6 (Luxury Car), BMW Z4 (Roadster), VW Touran (Compact MPV), Citroen C8 (Large MPV) and BMW 5-series (Executive Car).

Renault claimed the coveted Safety award for having five cars which have achieved a maximum five-star rating in Euro NCAP’s crash tests, while Lexus again took the Security award after the LS430 scored 100% in What Car?’s annual theft-protection tests.

Read on to find out which car took the laurels in each category.