This weekend Driving.co.uk, the News International used car site, launches an online guide to buying a used car in 2013.
The guide from Sunday Times Driving includes a selection of the top 'best buy' used cars for 2013 by category informed with input from CAP, plus tips on how to navigate the second hand market and advice from industry leaders.
The best buy reviews and rankings are compiled by the Driving team in conjunction with CAP data on a car’s age, mileage and position in the model’s lifecycle and come with the verdicts of Sunday Times Driving’s car reviewers Jeremy Clarkson and Dom Joly.
In Driving.co.uk’s best buys, Ford leads the field in two categories; coming first among the used Superminis with the Fiesta; and topping the MPV category with the S-Max. Mercedes-Benz likewise scoops two firsts with the S-class winning the executive category vote and the E-Class picking up the accolade of best used estate.
The BMW 3-series wins the family car section, whereas VW’s Golf provides the best value in small family bracket. Porsche’s Boxster heads the used sports car category and Skoda’s Yeti leads the pack in the SUV sector.
The guide’s advice section looks at car retailers and the multitude of finance options on offer to the consumer and picks the brain of industry leaders, such as Pendragon CEO Trevor Finn, for insider tips on how to buy the perfect used car.
News International’s Sunday Times Driving will also publish the Guide as a print supplement within the south east circulation of The Times, The Sun and The Sunday Times this coming weekend.
> More at www.driving.co.uk/buying-guide
Jeremy has been a journalist for 30 years, 20 of which have been in business-to-business automotive. He was a writer and news editor on AM-sister brand Fleet News for three years before setting up the AM website. For the last five years he has been Bauer B2B’s head of digital helping to manage the digital assets of AM, together with Fleet News, Commercial Fleet, Rail and Smart Transport.
JL Valois - 22/05/2013 14:31
I honestly fear for Driving.co.uk. When they first launched I was looking for a USP that would separate them from the other car classified websites. In this group I include larger players such as http://www.autotrader.co.uk, to medium players such as http://www.motors.co.uk and even your small independents such as http://www.desperateseller.co.uk. However, the only thing Motoring really offer that is different to anyone else is that they only offer cars that are over a certain value. The big question is, is this a good thing? I think they need to look at offering their users something different rather than guides and advice. Their guides, although a good aide, can be found on quite a number of websites such as http://www.whatcar.com. I understand that it's very difficult to offer something different than other car classifieds websites but I think in order for them to survive this is what they need to be concentrating on. I do wish them the best of luck.