Used car of the Year: Ford Focus

• Credit-crunch beating bargains
• Award winners start at just £4800
• Hat-trick of Used Car Awards wins for Ford

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• Used Car of the Year 2008

Britain's best-selling new car, the Ford Focus, has been named What Car? Used Car of the Year for the second time in three years. Judges chose the Focus 1.6 Zetec Climate which should cost around £5000 for a good three-year-old example.

Steve Fowler, What Car? editor said: 'Cash-conscious car buyers can bag themselves a real bargain by choosing one of our award winners. The Focus stands out as amazing value for a quality car that's great to drive, reliable, safe, spacious and cheap to run – it's all the car you'll ever need.

'If you are in the market for a car right now, there are some jaw-dropping deals out there for relatively new cars. And with dealers desperate to shift stock, prices are still tumbling.'

In addition to the Focus winning the overall Used Car of the Year Award, Ford scored a hat-trick of category wins. The Focus was named best used small family car, the Fiesta won the supermini category and the Mondeo won the family car category.

The iconic British-built Land Rover Discovery was named the best used 4X4 for its overall package, including its on- and off-road manners, its huge versatility and towing abilities - all at temptingly low prices.

BMW's 520d was named best used executive car, Nissan's 350Z won best used sports car and Vauxhall's Zafira won the best MPV award with a car that’s a little over a year old costing around £7500 – half the price it was new.

There are 7.5 million used cars sold in the UK every year, roughly three times the number of new cars. The average used car costs just over £6000, is 39 months old has covered over 50,000 miles.

The eight-strong What Car? Used Car of the Year judging panel were from all areas of the motor industry, car dealerships, British Car Auctions, Warranty Direct and What Car? experts.

As well as selecting the overall Used Car of The Year the judges also picked winners and runners-up in eight categories, looking at running costs, reliability, drivability, quality, longevity and desirability.