THE Skoda Fabia has scooped Britain's top motoring award - 15 years after winning it for the first time.

It was named What Car? Car of the Year and at the same time also took the Small Car category.

Awards are presented in 16 categories, but only the car that delivers best against the judging panel's criteria wins the overall prize.

And the Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSI 90 SE model saw off competition from 25 other vehicles included on the shortlist.

The magazine's judges praised the Fabia's turbocharged 1.2-litre petrol engine, which combines flexible performance with impressive efficiency - important for private and company car drivers.

It also beats its main rivals in the small car class, the Ford Fiesta and Vokswagen Polo, for both space and practicality, while standard technology on the Fabia includes a 6.5-inch touchscreen and a ‘Mirrorlink' system that can sync with Android phones for sat-nav.

Other winners included another Skoda, the Octavia, in the Family Car sector, the Audi A3 e-tron (electric car), Citroen Grand C4 Picasso (MPV) and the British-built Nissan Qashqai in the small SUV category.

Land Rover's new Discovery Sport won the inaugural Car of the Year Safety Award, presented in conjunction with Thatcham Research, the UK's only Euro NCAP crash test centre.

Hyundai's i10 took the City Car title, Audi's A3 Cabriolet was named best Convertible, the Ford Mondeo landed the Estate Car gong and in another success for Audi, the prestige brand's TT 2.0 TFSI Sport model was named top coupe.

The BMW 520d SE automatic claimed the Executive car prize, the Ford Fiesta ST was best Hot Hatch, the Range Rover Sport was named the top Large SUV, Porsche Boxster the best Sports Car and Mercedes-Benz S-Class the principal Luxury Car.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: "The Fabia is a fully deserved winner of our most sought-after award - not just because of the fact it is a well equipped and practical small car, but also because of the big name rivals it has disposed of in the process.

"We've driven and evaluated all of its rivals and, whichever way you cut it, the Fabia is the most rounded small car on sale in the UK today."