Our first ever test was done for the Austin Seven, then the best-selling car in the UK. Since then we’ve tested thousands of cars, and we give each one an overall score out of five. We very rarely give cars full marks – usually just one or two a year at most.

In this story we’ve gathered together all the cars that we have given the full five stars to in the past 10 years – just 21 cars made it. Join us, then, for a look at the best cars of the past decade – we include the date of publication for the test too:

In alphabetical order