Despite now being on the market for nine years, the Range Rover has proved more popular than 16 other vehicles to be crowned the Car of the Decade by an online poll.

Readers of Autocar magazine were given a wide choice of their favourite cars to have graced the roads since 2000, with the Range Rover collecting 18 per cent of the 7,500 votes.

Second place went to another UK-built car in the shape of the Lotus Elise, which claimed a 12.5 per cent share of the votes, while third position was shared by the Bugatti Veyron and the Nissan GT-R.

Autocar editor Chas Hallett said: "Most polls like this have results skewed towards the latter end of their timescale, but not this one.

"That the Range Rover was launched nine years ago and yet remains a benchmark speaks volumes for the brilliance of its design and for the taste of the people who voted for it."

Other vehicles to feature in the top ten of the results were the Toyota Prius, Mini Cooper and Jaguar XF.

The Range Rover first hit the market in 1970 and is currently owned by the Indian-based company Tata Motors.

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Written by Jenny Denham