PEOPLE in the South East look for safety and reliability when buying a car and their next new car is likely to be a Range Rover.

This is one of the initial findings of a wide-ranging survey of UK buying habits conducted by Parker’s Car Chooser.

The relaunched magazine provides a straightforward guide to what is in the new and used car market, car reviews and special features of interest to anyone thinking of buying a car. It includes pictures, reviews and full spec and equipment information for every new car on sale in the UK and every significant used car of the last six years. The magazine covers a total of more than 4,453 models and listings of dealer promotions and discounts around the country on new and used cars.

The survey is being held to help map the car preferences of people throughout the UK and the full results will be published in Parker’s Car Chooser’s December edition.

Editor Steve Rose said: “We are still running the survey on people’s car preferences to suit their lifestyle on the Parker’s website. However, interim results from more than 1,000 responses nationwide are already showing some interesting regional differences. For example, in London the prime motivating factors are image and reliability and people’s next new car would be a Mercedes E-class. In the South West of England they want performance and comfort and would choose a medium sized saloon such as a BMW 3 Series, while in Wales they would go for a small family car like a VW Golf and would be looking for reliability and comfort.

Steve Rose said: “These are of course only the initial findings, but they do show that there are definite buying trends in different regions of the country.”