Best value cars: where the smart car buyers are spending their cash
Not necessarily the cheapest cars, the UK's biggest motoring bargains are where the smart money goes
Shopping around for the best car deal is no easy task, and you might need to venture beyond the traditional channels of the manufacturer’s website and main dealer network to find it. There are all kinds of ways to buy a new car and even more offers and promotions designed to part you from your car budget.
But the best value cars are more than just cars at a great price. It’s the balance of a great car and a great deal that puts these models into the car buying sweet spot. We’ve scoured our Buy A Car service, which collates the top deals from the UK’s top dealers and leading leasing providers, to find the best bargains in six classes. All are from the more affordable end of the scale and can be leased for under £250 per month or financed on a Personal Contract Purchase deal for under £300 monthly.
We have also thoroughly tested each car on our list so our recommendations take the quality of the product into consideration as well as the price. You can be confident of getting the best options for your money. Read on to see our top value-for-money car picks from a range of classes below.
Best value city car: Dacia Spring
As one of the cheapest cars of any kind on sale, the Dacia Spring was always going to be in the running as our best value city car. What might surprise you is that we’ve chosen it over the Leapmotor T03, which beat the Spring in our recent twin test. And while the T03 is the better car (if a little less characterful), the Spring still seals the deal with Dacia’s current finance deals on the model: 0 per cent finance and a pretty small deposit that the average trade-in should be able to cover – £2,697 on the more desirable 64bhp car in Expression trim.
And while the T03 is a better drive, it’s not like value is the only thing the Spring has in its favour. Because it’s tiny and light it’s very efficient in the real world, making the most of its 135-mile claimed range. It also feels nippy around town, and its 308-litre boot is up there with some larger superminis.
Alternatives
The conventional petrol-powered city car isn’t dead yet: it starts at £17,100 with the Hyundai i10. More expensive than the Spring or T03, but its petrol engine will get you a lot further. The T03 is a bit like a grown-up Spring, with a 165-mile range, though its finance deals aren’t quite as competitive.
Best value supermini: MG3
The MG3 is one of our favourite superminis (from an admittedly dwindling bunch), and the hybrid model features the unusual distinction of being one of the quickest low-priced cars you can buy: for just over £19,000, you get a car with a punchy 192bhp and a 0-62mph time of eight seconds flat. The regular 113bhp petrol isn’t quite as distinguished, but then it also costs two grand less.
The MG3’s pretty good around the corners too, provided you’ve spent a little time switching off the over-eager lane-keep assist function which yanks at the steering, and the hybrid’s 64.2mpg is hard to beat for the money. A smart-looking and decently-spacious cabin tops things off – there’s not the style you get from a Renault Clio or Peugeot 208, but it’s more than worth the money.
cAlternatives
You can find cheaper superminis than the Renault 5, but among electric cars the 5’s £23k starting price (or £1,500 less with the government’s Electric Car Grant) is great value. The Sandero meanwhile still feels like a lot of supermini for not a lot of money.
Best value hatchback: Citroen C4/e-C4
The Citroen C4’s starting price almost looks like a misprint, or that someone accidentally copied the info from one of the brand’s cars from ten or fifteen years ago. A proper Volkswagen Golf-sized family hatch for just over £23k is pretty much unheard of today (the Golf itself starts at nearly £29,000, for reference).
So while the C4 isn’t perfect – its 380-litre boot is a little smaller than some, and its interior tech now lags the best in class – it’s easy to overlook some of its deficiencies because it’s so much cheaper.
The low list prices don’t mean settling for a lesser driving experience either, since it rides better than many rivals and performance is decent, while the interior is more spacious than that of a Golf or Kia Ceed. The all-electric Citroen e-C4 is good value too, starting at under £28,000 - in the same ballpark as a lot of cars from the class below.
Alternatives
Conventional family hatches aren’t as numerous as they used to be, but the Kia Ceed’s still around, and is still a good all-rounder that you don’t need to pay through the nose for. As electric family hatches go, the MG4 does the same thing, and drives well too.
Best value estate: Skoda Octavia
Skodas are no longer ‘cheap’ cars, but in terms of what you’re getting for your money, the Skoda Octavia has plenty going for it. The Octavia Estate starts at just under £29,000 in SE Technology trim, for which you get a handsome estate with a 640-litre boot, a 114bhp 1.5-litre engine capable of 52.5mpg, and even kit such as heated front seats and wireless phone charging.
The interior’s pretty smart these days – arguably more so than the likes of the Volksagen Golf, Audi A3 and Cupra Leon with which it shares a platform, and because the Octavia’s a little longer than all of those, interior space is generous too. In typical Skoda style, it’s capable on the road, and as Skoda is one of few brands still offering diesel engines in cars like this, few rivals can touch it for real-world economy either.
Alternatives
The estate version of the Ceed was an obvious choice here given the hatch is also one of our commendations, while the Astra has a quality feel and starts under £26,000. The electric version benefits from the £1,500 government grant, too.
Best value SUV: Dacia Duster
The old Dacia Duster was great value, but despite a real visual glow-up inside and out, the new one still gets you plenty of car for the money too. True, it’s slightly more expensive than it used to be, but at under £22,000 the Duster is a decently-sized SUV for low-end supermini money, and even opting for the entry-level Expression gets you mild-hybrid power, alloy wheels, a parking camera and touchscreen infotainment – so it’s not the bargain-basement car it used to be.
Even if you threw caution to the wind, with a full hybrid version in top-of-the-range Extreme trim, you’d still be spending barely more than £27,000 – or only about £500 more than the very cheapest Ford Puma. If you need extra poor-weather traction, a 4x4 Duster starts at about £24k, much less than a 4x4-equipped Suzuki Vitara.
Alternatives
At below £23,000 the MG ZS is about the cheapest SUV on the market, Duster aside. The 193bhp hybrid is a bit of a Q-car, too, with lively performance. As for the Renault 4, it’s one of our favourite small SUVs, and costs only a little more than the excellent Renault 5, while offering more space.
Best value 7-seater: Dacia Jogger
You barely have to rustle up £20,000 for the seven-seat Dacia Jogger, or a modest £250 a month. The only way you’ll realistically spend less on getting the same or more seats is by going used, or maybe splashing out on some plastic garden furniture. That figure gets you the basic petrol engine, but even the 57.6mpg hybrid version is only a little over £23,000.
The rearmost seats aren’t a token effort either – even shorter adults could travel back there without feeling too hard done by. Fold them down meanwhile and there’s an estate-like 565 litres of boot space, and the Jogger’s decent enough to drive too, bar a bit more road and wind noise than you might get from something fancier. Despite appearances, it’s not actually that long either, at just over 4.5 metres, so it’s pretty easy to park.
Alternatives
While the Jogger was designed as a car from the outset, both the Volkswagen Caddy Maxi and Vauxhall Combo Life started out as vans. But as far as seven-seaters go, that’s a good thing, and both drive better than you’d expect. Their van origins help the price stay competitive, too.
Best value sports car: Mazda MX-5
When the Mazda MX-5 first arrived in the UK in 1990 you’d pay just over £14,000 to put one on the driveway. Adjusted for inflation, that’s just over £35,000 today – yet you can go into a Mazda dealership now and order a brand new MX-5 for under £29,000. There aren’t many cars today that undercut their predecessors from decades ago, but it highlights how much you’re getting with today’s MX-5.
Of course, today’s car is also safer, quicker, better built, better equipped, and more economical too. Indeed, economy is another factor that contributes to the MX-5’s value, since the roadster’s running costs are pretty low. Since 2024’s updates, the MX-5 is better than ever, with even more feedback from its excellent handling, and more usable infotainment. It might be one of the only affordable sports cars still around, but it’d be great however many rivals it had.
Alternatives
The Alpine A110 isn’t as affordable as the MX-5, but in its basic form at least, starting at around £55,000, it’s still a fantastic sports car for the money – a Lotus Emira at more than £80,000 doesn’t really offer more than the Alpine can to the keen driver.
Best value convertible: MINI Cooper Convertible
You don’t have many options if you want a small, relatively affordable car with a folding roof, but MINI has stuck with the formula and priced from around £29,000, it’s only a couple of hundred quid more than a Mazda MX-5, but gets you a couple of extra seats.
The latest MINI Cooper Convertible is actually based on the platform of the previous car, and there’s no electric version – the combustion and EV MINIs are different cars underneath now, despite similar styling.
That means you get a choice of either 1.5 or 2.0-litre power, but for a car like this we’d stick with the 1.5 and save some cash - with 161bhp it still feels lively, and the real appeal is in putting down the roof, which takes 18 seconds at speeds of up to 18mph. The cabin looks and feels great, too.
Alternatives
The MX-5 deserves another mention here as its base price is barely more than that of the MINI, and for that you’re getting a proper sports car that out-handles even the fun-to-drive Brit. The Fiat 500e is actually more expensive than either at just over £31,000, but that’s still a lot of style, and wind-in-the-hair fun, for the money.
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