THE Vauxhall Zafira has won the coveted Auto Express Glass’s Guide used car of the year award for 2002.

The judges’ view, its flexible accommodation and luggage space endows it with “exceptional practicality”, while surprisingly low secondhand values ensure affordability.

They concluded the two attributes not only make it the unsung hero of the compact MPV sector, but also the best overall buy on Britain’s used car market. Any car that has been on sale new for more than 12 months is eligible for the used car honours and each is evaluated under the following headings:

• Depreciation

• Whole life costs

• Practicality

• Reliability

• Market sentiment

• Road test reports

• Driver feedback

Vauxhall also scored a victory in the compact family car class with the Astra, while Volvo achieved a hat-trick of wins in the compact cxecutive car, estate car and executive car sectors with the S60, V70 and S80 respectively. For some, however, the most remarkable victory will be that in the sporting car class by the Porsche 911, since it is now in its 39th year of production,

A special award marking the rapidly increasing influence of the internet on the world of car sales went to www.networkq.co.uk - the site representing Vauxhall’s widely praised used car programme.

Jeff Paterson, Glass’s senior car editor said: “Once again these honours, the definitive used car awards, have confirmed many long-founded thoughts and sprung a few surprises too. Congratulations to Volvo on their trio of wins but, in particular, to Vauxhall - with two class honours, overall victory and a special award for their nationwide used car programme, it really is their year.”