Dacia Duster named Carbuyer Car of the Year for 2025

The team on our sister site Carbuyer is laser focused on the needs of the UK car buying public, so when they say the Dacia Duster is the overall best car to buy for 2025, it’s worth taking notice. 

The latest winners of the annual Carbuyer Best Car Awards have been announced and the new Duster drives away with both the Best Small Family Car crown and the overall Carbuyer Car of the Year 2025 title. The judges were hugely impressed with the way Dacia has pushed the third-generation Duster small SUV beyond its budget-car roots with enhanced technology, electrified engines and clever design. Yet, it can still show rivals a thing or two in the value-for-money department as well.

The Duster inherits the Carbuyer Car of the Year mantle from the 2024 champ, BYD’s Dolphin, and it’s a mark of the speed of progress in the electric car market that the still impressive Dolphin also lost out in the Best Small Electric Car category. The Carbuyer team agreed with Auto Express in naming our 2024 Car of the Year, Citroen’s e-C3, as the Best Small Electric Car. Buyers looking for something larger were pointed towards the stylish new Renault Scenic, Carbuyer’s 2025 Best Family Electric Car.

Skoda also comes out of the Carbuyer Best Car Awards with immense credit having taken virtually a clean sweep of the family car categories. The Skoda Superb Estate’s prodigious luggage capacity can be put to good use carrying its own Best Estate Car gong as well as the Best Family Car and Best Large Family car awards handed to the Skoda Octavia and the Skoda Kodiaq SUV respectively. 

Other notable winners include the Best Small Car, Renault’s Clio and the MG ZS, which was named Best Hybrid. You can find the full list of the 2025 Carbuyer Car of the Year winners on the Carbuyer website.