WATCH for signs of second-hand Mazda6 examples disappearing off the market fast - the car has just been named What Car?'s Used Car of The Year 2007.

The car magazine's judges picked the Mazda6 from a shortlist of 48 models, after looking at a vast selection of more than 3,000 cars, built from 2000 onwards.

The Mazda6 also took the family car title, with other winners including the Honda Jazz (supermini), the Ford Focus (small family car), and British-built Jaguar XJ6 3.0 SE (luxury and executive car - see page 3).

What Car? used-car editor Matt Sanger said: "The 2003 Mazda6 2.0 TS is a clear winner, securing more than half the votes from the judging panel. It's a great combination of value, reliability and desirability, alongside its fine handling and driving abilities. It proves the Japanese produce quality cars that are built to last."

As for that Jaguar, the judges said: "The XJ is a great car when new, and at used prices it is a steal. It is fast, frugal, comfortable, and very well built - a testament to the British Jaguar workforce. They should be very proud." A 2003 Jaguar can be bought for about £16,000. Anyone sceptical about the value of such awards should remember that there are 7.5 million used cars sold in the UK every year, roughly three times the number of new cars - and Britain has one of the strongest car markets in Europe. Neither is the used market about clapped-out bangers - the average used car now costs just over £6,000, is just 39 months old, and has covered slightly more than 50,000 miles. Volvo, meanwhile, has gone out of its way to prove that a car repaired after an accident is just as good as new.

The firm's safety technicians in Sweden regularly crash-test a Volvo, then set about repairing it. Once repaired, the car is then crash-tested for the second time. Which sees all the results of the repair techniques being rigorously checked to ensure that the car performs as well in the second test as it did in the first.

All data from these crash tests is passed to the network of Volvo-approved body and paint centres across the UK.