The latest generation of Mazda MX-5 may have been initially criticised for the looks but the new forth generation incarnation does look good and it’s actually a good car as the MX-5 has just picked up the World Car of the Year 2016 award at the New York Motor Show. The plucky little sports car beat the likes of the Mercedes GLC SUV as well as the Jaguar XE, a car which is proving extremely popular for the company.

Nominations for the cars entered into the competition are submitted by automotive journsics from around the world.

The new Mazda MX-5 starts at £18,310 and goes up to £23,155. One of the best choices of trim for it is the £19,860 version, which has a 2.0-litre engine with 160bhp and does 0-60 in 7.3 seconds. Even for a small sports car, the MX-5 manages to do 41mpg.