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Top Gear Advice
13 of the cheapest new cars on sale in the UK, and what we think of them
A selection of little 'uns that sneak in under £20k, including one or two that are barely 'cars'
Citroen Ami: £7,695
How can Citroen build something with four wheels, some seats, pedals, doors and a steering wheel and sell it to you for the price of a well-used BMW 3 Series? Witchcraft! Magic! Unicorn tears!
Or… the bones of a quadricycle and the fact it’s technically not even a car. Doesn’t matter. It looks like a car, so it’s going on this list. For that bargain sum, you get a fine replacement for ‘walking’, replete with an 8bhp electric motor, a 5.5kWh battery pack and a top speed of 28mph.
The Top Gear verdict: “Fun to use and an entirely loveable object.”
Read our review of it right here, right now
Advertisement - Page continues belowLeapmotor T03: £14,495 (including Leapmotor grant of £1,500)
Though it looks like a Fiat Panda that’s had an unfortunate Botox incident, it isn’t. It’s actually a small Chinese electric car that’ll cost you fourteen and a half grand. Chinese EV eh? Ha, they’ll never catch on. This one’s not bad, either. Feels well built, the inside’s got some room even though the whole thing’s tiny, and it’s reasonably comfortable. But… you can do better.
The Top Gear verdict: “The Dacia Spring has already shown that cheap cars like this can have character, something the T03 severely lacks.”
Read our review of it right here, right now
Dacia Sandero: £14,715
Bad news! The Dacia Sandero once cost an incredible £8,000 when it first limped into the UK’s buying consciousness. Thanks to this thing called ‘inflation’, it now costs much, much more.
Good news! The Dacia Sandero is still the cheapest ‘proper’ petrol-powered car you can buy in the UK right now, and although that sub-£15k entry is a boggo-spec car, it’s still An Car. And it’s ace: simple, spacious and absolutely nails the brief: it’ll get you from A to B.
The Top Gear verdict: “If you don’t in the least bit care about cars, this is probably what you should buy.”
Advertisement - Page continues belowDacia Spring: £14,995
Small. Electric. And crucially, cheap. Not just in the realm of electric cars, but new cars overall. And it’s a cracker, too. Much like its bigger Sandero sibling, this one is simple, fun, and true to Dacia’s mantra of honest motoring. We liked it so much we gave it an award.
The Top Gear verdict: “It proves to everyone else it is possible for a BEV to weigh largely the same as its petrol equivalent. Well done Dacia.”
Read our review of it right here, right now
Kia Picanto: £16,695
Now we’re cooking. Kia still believes in The Small Car, and the latest Picanto is a good little ‘un. Looks great, it’s fun to motor about it in town, and offers enough practicality for your so-called ‘urban’ life. Venture onto the motorway and things start to unravel a bit, but stay within its comfort zone and you’ve got yourself a cracking small car.
The Top Gear verdict: “For a first car or something that’s just needed as a runabout, you can't go at all wrong with the Picanto.”
Toyota Aygo X: £16,845
The Aygo is dead, and in its place lands the tiny shoes of the Aygo X. It’s a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder-engined city car with a herculean 71bhp at its disposal, sent through the front wheels for a frankly blistering 0-62mph time of 14.9s. Look, you’re in the city – if you can make it past 5mph, you’re already winning. Not a bad drive, either: reasonably good fun, though the less said about that CVT, the better. *Shudders*.
The Top Gear verdict: “It rides and steers impressively well, although the little three-cylinder engine can feel a little gutless.”
Microlino: £16,990
This isn’t really a ‘car’ in the traditional sense, more a permanent form of avoiding giving anyone a lift and swerving a ride home on the bus. And, fortuitously, becoming the cutest, most adorable thing on the road at any given point. Look at it! It's a life-sized, portable, electric Playmobil toy!
The Top Gear verdict: “As a car it’s flawed. Think of it more as a pet. Not brilliantly house-trained, but somehow kinda loveable.”
Advertisement - Page continues belowHyundai i10: £17,100
Hyundai’s managed to wrap some ‘big car’ magic into its tiddliest one, and this one's the most sophisticated version of the humble i10 badge we’ve yet seen. Feels grown-up to drive, offers impressive levels of tech and kit, and there’s a decent amount of room. Not as striking as the Kia, but a Good Small Car overall.
The Top Gear verdict: “Well done Hyundai for having come up with a fresh city car when lots of other carmakers have canned theirs.”
MG 3: £17,245
It’s the third generation of MG’s 3, believe it or not. No, it’s not that MG, but this MG. The Chinese one. And though it be small, it’s… actually not bad at all. Simple. Honest. Bit like Dacia. Frugal to own, not bad to drive, and while the ride could be better and the interior a bit more refined, it’s a fairly good all-rounder.
The Top Gear verdict: “If you can ignore the badge snobbery, you could do a lot worse.”
Advertisement - Page continues belowFiat Grande Panda (hybrid): £18,035
‘Budget’ motoring doesn’t have to be head-over-heart stuff, assuming ‘budget’ for you allows for you to spend up to £20k on a brand new car (if not, get an old E38 for pennies and wow everyone with your brilliance!). Ahem. This new one marks a return for Fiat doing Fiat things: making it cheap, making it fun, and packing it full of character. Yes, it could be better to drive, but everything feels roughly the same at 2mph, right?
The Top Gear verdict: “It has a cheery countenance and knowing sense of heritage. We approve.”
Citroen C3: £18,805
Over 5.6 million of these things have found homes since 2002. That’s lightly incredible. The new one certainly looks confident about that fact, and it's generally a job well done. Smart. Comfy, as all Citroens are and should always be. Great in the city, not so beyond. But that’s fine.
The Top Gear verdict: “It looks smart, it’s more comfortable than ever, and above all it’s keenly priced.”
Renault Clio: £18,995
Surprise! The Clio remains the best car in its class. Not a surprise! The supermini class ain’t what it used to be. And this new Clio ain’t as charismatic as it used to be, either. Still, there’s lots to like: it's well built, frugal, and handles nicely.
The Top Gear verdict: “We like it, we admire it and find it easy to recommend, but we don’t love it.”
Vauxhall Corsa: £19,410
Looks smart, is good to drive (it shares underbits with the Peugeot 208), and offers… a fairly dull interior. Shame, because it’s the most desirable Corsa in years.
The Top Gear verdict: “It’s a tale of two halves: the Corsa puts up a decent fight at last, but there are stronger alternatives out there still.”
