Best new cars for under £150 a month
Our round-up of cheap PCP deals proves there's plenty of choice for buyers on a tight budget
When you’re looking for a new small car or city car, the chances are you’ll be considering finance options. Buyers in this class typically don’t have lots of cash to throw around, but there are some great deals to be had if you can muster a budget of up to £150 per month.
As with any new purchase our advice is always to shop around, but to help point you in the right direction we’ve rounded up a selection of small car favourites that are all easily in reach of that £150 monthly maximum.
As our choices reveal, buyers in the sub-£150 price bracket are spoiled for choice. We’ve found deals on a range of city cars from the conservative but wildly practical VW up!, through more fashionable and young-at-heart options like the Toyota Aygo and Citroen C1, to the charismatic and funky Suzuki Ignis SUV-style ‘crossover’.
You’ll need to budget a little more if you want a larger new car, but of course there are plenty of nearly-new or used car options too for your £150 budget. If you’re happy to spend £150 on a pre-owned model, then why not check out the deals at our sister title Buyacar?
We’ve focused our search on PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) schemes promoted by the manufacturers, and shared monthly prices from their representative examples.
For those who’ve not yet taken advantage of a PCP, it basically means you pay an agreed deposit followed by a number of monthly payments, usually over a period of two to four years. At the end of the contract period you get to choose between buying the car outright for a pre-agreed figure, or handing the car back to the dealer.
One of the benefits of a PCP scheme is that very often you are able to tailor your own deal to suit your needs. Some require zero deposit, for example, or you can decide your own deposit within the particular manufacturer’s acceptable parameters. Likewise you can choose the number of monthly payments and your expected annual mileage, all of which affect the monthly and optional final payment – so don’t be afraid to ask your dealer to juggle the numbers.
Now we’ve whetted your appetite, scroll down to view our selection of some of the best new cars available for under £150 per month.
Best new cars for under £150 per month
- Citroen C1 - £116 per month
- Suzuki Ignis - £128 per month
- Toyota Aygo - £129 per month
- Volkswagen up! - £145 per month
- Kia Picanto - £149 per month
Citroen C1 - £116 per month
- Model: Citroen C1 VTi Feel
- List price: £12,671
- Deposit: £2,000 (£2,800 contribution)
- Monthly payments: £116
- Number of payments: 47
- APR: 3.9%
- Optional final payment: £3,427
- Total to pay by customer if returning: £10,247
- Total to pay by customer if buying: £13,674
It may not be the most practical of city cars, but the Citroen C1 has loads of style and it’s pleasant to drive. Chunky deposit contributions from Citroen mean it’s super-affordable on a PCP too, and our example shows how your own £2,000 deposit plus £2,800 from the manufacturer can get monthly payments down to a mere £115 over a four-year term.
While it's cheap, the Citroen C1 is also a cheerful proposition with quirky styling and lots of personalisation options if you want to tailor your own PCP deal on the car of your choice.
Our deal is quoted on a three-door C1 in Feel trim, which is far from Spartan as it includes a 7-inch touchscreen with DAB audio and air-con, on top of the entry-level C1 Touch’s electric windows and central locking. Power comes from a 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine offering perky performance and excellent economy.
• Check out the latest used prices for the Citroen C1 on our sister site Buyacar…
Suzuki Ignis - £128 per month
- Model: Suzuki Ignis SZ3
- List price: £14,249
- Deposit: £3,000
- Monthly payments: £128
- Number of payments: 47
- APR: 0.0%
- Optional final payment: £5,128
- Total to pay by customer if returning: £9,121
- Total to pay by customer if buying: £14,249
The little Suzuki Ignis is one of the most eye-catching and interesting options in the city car class. Its unique retro-inspired style harks back to the Suzuki Whizzkid econocar of the 1970s, but those cues are mingled with a beefy SUV-style stance and the result simply oozes character.
A boxy profile ensures the Ignis is as roomy and practical as it is stylish, and it’s great value too with lots of kit, although it lacks some of the touchy-feely plastics of classier competitors inside. It’s agile and nippy around town or confined country lanes, although hardly a sporting drive thanks to a frugal 1.2-litre mild-hybrid petrol engine and a relative lack of refinement at higher speeds.
Still, how much fun can you expect for the money? Suzuki’s zero per cent finance and zero deposit offer means you don’t even need to save up to experience the delights of Ignis ownership, but no deposit will mean significantly higher monthly payments.
We dialled in a £3,000 deposit to get the monthly PCP figure down to a meagre £127 over four years, but however you choose to slice it, the Ignis feels like a genuine bargain.
• Check out the latest used prices for the Suzuki Ignis on our sister site Buyacar…
Toyota Aygo - £129 per month
- Model: Toyota Aygo x-trend 1.0
- List price: £13,855
- Deposit: £3,197 (£500.00 contribution)
- Monthly payments: £129
- Number of payments: 48
- APR: 0.0%
- Optional final payment: £4,095
- Total to pay by customer if returning: £9,760
- Total to pay by customer if buying: £13,855
The Toyota Aygo is another city car that competes near the front of the pack, and in popular x-trend guise we think it really looks the part too. Again, we’ve skipped the entry model x-play because although it’s decently well-equipped, upgrading to the x-trend model gets you even more stylish looks with alloy wheels, privacy glass and fog lamps - plus it gets climate control in the cabin.
All Aygos feature funky manga-inspired styling, and they’re powered by a 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine that is frugal if not always the most refined at speed. Responsive steering makes the Aygo very handy in town, and ride quality is generally supple too.
Toyota’s zero percent APR PCP offer makes the Aygo look extremely affordable, especially as they’ll also throw in a £500 contribution to your deposit.
• Check out the latest used prices for the Toyota Aygo on our sister site Buyacar…
VW up! - £145 per month
- Model: VW up! 1.0 S/S 3dr
- List price: £12,705
- Deposit: £3,760
- Monthly payments: £145
- Number of payments: 35
- APR: 0.0%
- Optional final payment: £3,869
- Total to pay by customer if returning: £8,836
- Total to pay by customer if buying: £12,705
The Volkswagen up! is not only one of the most practical superminis around, it’s also stylish and fun to drive. Arguably best of all, it’s a city car that offers an impressive level of sophistication and frequently leads drivers and passengers to think they’re enjoying a car from the class above.
The most popular engine is a three-cylinder 1.0-litre unit that’s adequately powerful for most purposes, and is frugal and reliable to boot. Unlike some city car rivals, the up! doesn’t feel overly-stretched or out of its depth on the motorway, and is definitely a model worth considering if long journeys are on the agenda.
VW’s zero per cent finance offer means the up! falls into the sub-£150 per month PCP bracket over three years, but you’ll need to find a significant deposit of £3,760 to make the numbers work.
• Check out the latest used prices for the Volkswagen up! on our sister site Buyacar…
Kia Picanto - £149 per month
- Model: Kia Picanto ‘2’ 1.0
- List price: £12,245
- Deposit: £2,000 (£1,000 contribution)
- Monthly payments: £149.24
- Number of payments: 36
- APR: 4.9%
- Optional final payment: £4,925.63
- Total to pay by customer if returning: £7,372.37
- Total to pay by customer if buying: £12,298
Our review describes the Kia Picanto as having all the key ingredients for a winning city car, and thanks to a great PCP deal from the manufacturer it could be parked on your drive at well below our £150 monthly target.
Those key Picanto ingredients include an impressively roomy cabin, low prices and running costs that belie the high quality cabin feel and decent equipment levels. The drive feels grown-up and competent, too, although the 1.0 petrol engines need to be worked hard if you want to drive briskly.
We’ve priced up the Picanto 2 trim level instead of the entry model Picanto 1, as it comes with desirable alloy wheels, air-con, electric mirrors and Bluetooth. It still sneaks in beneath our self-imposed £150 limit when a reasonable £2,000 deposit – boosted by a £1,000 contribution from Kia - is factored into a three-year PCP deal. With such low payment terms, it’s a model with the chops to earn its place on any city car buyer’s list of possible purchases.
• Check out the latest used prices for the Volkswagen up! on our sister site Buyacar…
Looking for more new car deals? Check out our comprehensive round-up of the best deals available right now...
