Best new cars for under £500 per month
With a generous budget of £500 per month, you can get into some truly top cars
If you’re fortunate enough to have £500 a month to spend on a new car then you’ll have plenty of choice at the premium end of the market, ranging from smart saloons to seven-seater family SUVs.
Car deals can change very frequently, and most of the current offers with the lowest monthly payments are Personal Contract Hire (PCH) leasing deals. These contracts allow you to lease a car over a set period of time, but you will not have the chance to own it. We’ve also linked to our Find a Car service to help you find the very latest prices.
Audi A5 - £486 per month
- Model: A5 2.0 TFSI 150 S Line
- List price £42,590
- Powertrain: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder petrol, FWD
- Power: 148bhp
0-62mph 9.8 seconds
If you’re not keen on ubiquitous SUVs and aren’t ready to go electric, there’s still a decent choice of conventional cars at competitive prices, such as this Audi A5.
Audi has messed around with its naming system, so this latest version of the A5 is actually the replacement for the A4 saloon and Avant, as well as the old A5. What hasn’t changed is that the new A5 is a high-quality, solid car with slick looks and reasonable practicality. It's also a hatchback, which makes it much easier to load awkward objects into the luggage bay.
The £485.96-per-month cost of this lease buys you the 148bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine, which is only just adequate in a car of this size. But it’s in S line trim, which adds 19-inch alloys, sport suspension and an exterior styling pack.
Cupra Tavascan - £401 per month
- Model: Tavascan V1
- List price: £47,340
- Powertrain: 77kWh battery, 1x e-motor, RWD
- Power: 282bhp
- 0-62mph: 6.8 seconds
The biggest bargains in the leasing pages are usually found with cars that are getting on a bit or are the outgoing models. But the Cupra Tavascan we found is newly launched and still to find its feet in the market, yet it’s just £1.33 a month more than the lower limit of this budget bracket.
The all-electric coupé-SUV is Cupra’s take on the platform that underpins cars such as the Volkswagen ID.5 and Skoda Enyaq, but it brings a sportier edge in its styling and the way it drives. The only battery option is the 77kWh pack, which gives the Tavascan a range of 353 miles.
The V1 trim on our example comes with the optional winter pack, which adds £1,335 to the list price and includes a heat-insulating windscreen, front seat warmers and a heat pump to make the car more efficient in cold weather.
Lexus RZ - £439 per month
- Model: RZ 450e Premium+
- List price: £60,195
- Powertrain: 71kWh battery, 2x e-motors, AWD
- Power: 309bhp
- 0-62mph: 5.3 seconds
While the Lexus RZ looks striking and has the quality you’d expect from the brand, we have always said that it seems poor value for money when compared with other electric SUVs from the likes of BMW, Audi and even Tesla. But in the private leasing market, that high list price is irrelevant and you’ll find the monthly costs are much lower than most rivals’.
The best deal we found for an RZ was a monthly cost of £438.77 for the 450e in the mid-range Premium+ trim, which is a car that costs more than £60,000 new.
The official range for the twin-motor 450e is 270 miles, but in our experience 220 is nearer the mark, especially if you make full use of the RZ’s power. Instead, it’s best to drive more sedately, making the most of the Lexus’ supreme refinement and technology.
Peugeot 5008 - £421 per month
- Model: 5008 1.2 Hybrid 136 GT e-DSC6
- List price: £41,590
- Powertrain: 1.2-litre 3-cylinder petrol hybrid, FWD
- Power: 134bhp
- 0-62mph: 11.3 seconds
The last Peugeot 5008 had a real following among big families, who loved the MPV-like practicality combined with its SUV styling. The new model has most of the same space, with added features, more tech and a striking style upgrade.
There’s also more choice of powertrains, including a pure-electric version; the E-5008 is one of the very few battery-powered seven-seaters available. The Allure-spec variant is a tempting £407.35 per month on a lease, but the cost leaps to £455.19 if you want the better-equipped GT model.
So our example, costing £421.21, combines that range-topping GT trim with the hybrid powertrain, which uses a 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine plus an electric motor for added efficiency and driveability.
Polestar 2 - £454 per month
- Model: 2 Long Range
- List price: £48,950
- Powertrain: 79kWh battery, 1x e-motor, RWD
- Power: 295bhp
- 0-62mph: 6.1 seconds
The Polestar 2 has become a familiar sight on British roads, but the latest models are drastically different under the skin to the early cars, including a swap from front to rear-wheel drive on the single-motor variants.
Besides improving how the 2 drives in this way, Polestar also made it much more efficient, stretching the distance this Long Range model car can go to 406 miles – among the longest range of any electric car currently on sale.
That’s not the Polestar’s only attraction. Hatchback-loving Brits will prefer the practicality compared with saloon rivals, in addition to the slightly raised ride height that gives it a semi-SUV look. The interior quality is a step above a Tesla, too. Does that make it worth the extra over a Model 3? Some drivers might well think so.
Skoda Kodiaq - £487 per month
- Model: Kodiaq 1.5 TSI IV 204 Sportline DSG
- List price: £47,135
- Powertrain: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol PHEV, FWD
- Power: 201bhp
- 0-62mph: 8.4 seconds
The Skoda Kodiaq is one of our favourite big cars and scooped the Large SUV of the Year award at the 2024 Auto Express New Car Awards. As you’d expect from a family car, it’s spacious and features Skoda’s various 'Simply Clever' design touches to make life easier.
Most buyers will be happy with the hybrid-assisted petrol motors, especially the more powerful 201bhp iV version. The cheapest Kodiaq lease deals we could find use this powertrain, starting at £463.51 per month for an SE L trim. But the better-looking SportLine model costs just £23.35 a month more for a car which is £2,500 more expensive on the list price, so that would be our choice. It has a sportier look inside and out, with gloss-black trim replacing the chrome, nicer upholstery and bigger, 20-inch alloy wheels.
More of the best new car deals
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- Best cars for under £500 a month