Citroen CX voted favourite by Parkers readers
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Parkers New, Used and Trade Car Price Guide in March 1972, we held a vote. We wanted to find out which car is the public’s favourite out of our best cars from every year since 1972. With 5,808 votes cast, the favourite of all was the Citroen CX, our team’s top car of 1974.
The swoopily-styled French executive car of the 1970s was the clear winner in a poll that included some all-time legends, beating the Volkswagen Polo and Renault 5 superminis into second and third places. The vote was held between March and May 2022, and was open to all readers of the site as part of the anniversary celebrations.
Rounding out the top five were the Volkswagen Passat and Lotus Elise, proving that Parkers readers are enthusiastic and have a very eclectic taste in classic cars.
The Parkers cars of the year
The best cars between 1972-2015 were chosen retrospectively by the Parkers team of reviewers, and for 2016-2021, our award winners were on the list. Our current champ wasn’t in the vote, as it covered 50 winning cars from 1972 to 2021.
Out of the winning cars, it’s interesting to see that five of the top 10 cars hark from the 1970s, and last year’s winner, the Ford Puma (below), is placed in a lowly 38th position, showing that nostalgia is a big driver of what shapes your tastes.
In the list were some iconic cars, such as the BMW M5 (E34), Porsche 911 (997) and Audi Quattro, but all of these are in the bottom half of the list. More pragmatic choices pepper the top half, including the Peugeot 405, Ford Sierra and Citroen CX – while of the four electric cars on the list, the Tesla Model S is easily the most popular, beating the Model 3, BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf comfortably.
Read on for the full list of our winners – there are plenty of shocks and surprises to be had…
Full list of results
Below are the favourite Parkers Car of The Year winners, as voted for by Parkers readers. The number of votes cast for each car are in brackets below.
1974 Citroen CX (783)
1975 Volkswagen Polo (674)
1972 Renault 5 (648)
1996 Lotus Elise (269)
1973 Volkswagen Passat (203)
1976 Mercedes-Benz W123 (187)
1987 Peugeot 405 (174)
2016 Skoda Kodiaq (166)
2000 Vauxhall VX220 (161)
1982 Ford Sierra (159)
1997 Mercedes-Benz A-Class (125)
1978 Saab 900 (118)
2014 Tesla Model S (111)
1984 Renault Espace (102)
2019 Ford Fiesta ST (101)
1986 Citroen AX (99)
2003 Toyota Prius (97)
2009 Skoda Yeti (95)
1981 Fiat Panda (90)
2011 Range Rover Evoque (90)
2008 Ford Fiesta (83)
1989 Mazda MX-5 (NA) (82)
2012 Volkswagen Golf Mk7 (78)
2005 Toyota Aygo (75)
1993 Peugeot 306 (73)
1979 Volkswagen Golf GTI (64)
2006 Audi R8 (61)
2001 MINI (56)
1977 Matra-Simca Rancho (54)
2018 Toyota CH-R (54)
1983 Peugeot 205 (52)
1994 Audi A4 (51)
2002 Volvo XC90 (51)
2013 BMW i3 (44)
2020 Tesla Model 3 (44)
2017 BMW 5 Series (43)
1998 Ford Focus (41)
1991 Volvo 850 (38)
2021 Ford Puma (36)
1995 Peugeot 406 (34)
1980 Audi Quattro (33)
1990 Nissan Primera (32)
2004 Porsche 911 (997) (30)
1985 BMW M5 (E28) (25)
2007 Fiat 500 (25)
2010 Nissan Leaf (24)
1992 Ford Mondeo (21)
1988 Vauxhall Cavalier Mk3 (20)
1999 Audi A2 (16)
2015 Mazda MX-5 (ND) (15)
Further reading
>> Back to the Parkers 50 homepage
>> Learn more about your favourite Top 50 cars
>> How much has driving changed in 50 years?
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