Here are 16 affordable used muscle cars you can buy right now

Look up the definition of ‘muscle car’ and there may as well be an image of a gleaming Mustang rather than a paragraph of text. A long bonnet with a big capacity engine wedged under it, driving the rear axle alone, and almost certainly through a manual transmission. It represents maximum power with minimum fuss, with whimsies such as ‘agility’ and ‘litheness’ lying much further down its to-do list than a value-for-money shove forwards.

Thing is, the modern Mustang has rather good manners, and since its right-hand drive, Euro-conscious reboot in the mid-2010s, prices have remained high. A 30-odd grand bargain when new now dwells in the mid-20s after a decade of use. Diligently check any car you find – we’ve all seen the YouTube infamy, and you don’t want a previously biffed one unless it’s exceedingly cheap. Oh, and ignore cheaper 2.3-litre 4cyl and commit to the proper 5.0-litre V8. What fuel crisis?

Competition for the Mustang came in a very unlikely form. None of its Stateside muscle car competitors followed it over in right-hand drive form, relegated to pricey unofficial imports, leaving the role of ‘rival overpowered people’s car’ to, um, Kia.

The Korean brand has demonstrated an enduring glow-up for nearly two decades, and perhaps its peak for enthusiasts (thus far) is its 2017 halo, the mighty Stinger. Like its rival ‘Stang, you could opt for a sensible four-cylinder engine – but you instead require the 3.3-litre V6 turbo with its 365bhp and surprisingly authentic muscle car energy.

American muscle too brutish for you? AMG happily grasped the rudimentary muscle car recipe – one passed down for generations – and gave it a sophisticated, Nigella-inspired twist. Rather than melting dark chocolate into their bolognese, though, the Affalterbach engineers instead infused overengined saloons and sports cars with something resembling ‘finesse’ and ‘actual handling ability’.

Not always – the G65 AMG remains one to miss off their CVs – but this SLK55 comes from the same golden era that gave us the CLK63 Black Series. A 5.5-litre nat-asp V8 squeezed into a fashionista folding hard-top cabrio feels like AMG at its most rapscallion, and we’re unashamedly here for it. Especially at £15k. It was even an F1 Safety Car…

Short-wheelbase V8 tyke too likely to snare you some neighbourhood watch infamy? Try the more louche, languid approach of Merc’s rivals down the road in Munich. The E63-gen BMW 6 Series is fast looking like a minor design classic, its jarring angles when new looking positively pedestrian given the context of the design eras (and controversies) which followed the work of Chris Bangle.

But boy, are these still cheap: this 650i convertible – all 4.8 litres, eight cylinders and 360 horsepower of it – is a five grand car. Sure, some of its service bills might command the same outlay again, but this feels like the very definition of ‘cheap muscle’ – one with an extra layer of class to keep you broadly off the Nextdoor group radar.

Should the 6 Series strike you as ‘far too modern’, its vibe and proportions are spookily mirrored by this big Jag from a decade or two earlier. The XJS is finally coming into its own, shrugging off the awkward image which can only ever accompany its status as lengthy stepping stone between the classic E-Type and modern XK.

While it’s maturing into a desirable classic all of its own, it remains pretty affordable, not least in this 5.3-litre V12 drop-top form. Channelling its modest 280bhp through an ancient three-speed automatic is never going to feel frenetic, but often it’s the low, grumbling torque – the building of force – which defines a great muscle car experience.

A properly raucous muscle car experience lived a little further into Jag’s future. The R versions of the gorgeous XK were always fairly wild given their space to play, but the XKR-S turned every facet up to the nth degree, even adopting the lurid racing blue paint we’d normally associate with its more uncouth coupe rivals. ‘Green on tan’ this was not.

Its supercharged 5.0-litre V8 produces 542bhp for a 186mph top speed and 0-60 in four seconds, but its host of active this and adaptive that keeps it all feeling accessible. And ensures 40 grand for a car in such great condition feels close to genuine value. It’s still capable of grenading its tyres if you simply look at it the wrong way, however.

Mind, half the price of that Jag buys you a car with barely any less performance. The early Noughties were a wonderful time for fans of hastily imported and rebadged Holdens, the Aussie firm’s ties with Vauxhall bringing some stupendously affordable power and torque to the same dealer that sold your grandma an Agila.

Top VXR spec, like we have here for just £24k, squeezed an enormous 6.0-litre supercharged V8 under those snarling front vents for 400bhp and 180mph. In a Vauxhall! The greatest slice of cheap muscle ever officially sold on British shores? You won’t find TopGear.com arguing…

Much like the Ford Mustang, modern Chevy Corvettes have become very adept. Almost spookily so. The two badges have been having a proper Nürburgring ding-dong of late, the Mustang GTD and Corvette ZR1X trading sub-seven-minute laptimes in an attempt to claim ‘fastest American car’ honours.

Quite what bridge-to-gantry time you’d be able to wring out of this fourth-gen Corvette cabrio, we don’t know, but the 375bhp 5.7-litre V8 of this ZR1 spec hardly languishes in company like this. The vendor also informs us “it's had a muffler delete so it sounds just like a 5.7-litre V8 should", and all for £14k or “sensible offers”. See you at the Devil’s Diner…

Denied the official imports of its rival Mustang, the Challenger is a rare beast on British shores. Most examples we could source for sale command doolally money on account of their doolally power and their increasingly aggressive suffixes. So yes, you could outlay six figures on a Red Eye Jailbreak. 

Or you could pay a quarter of the price for this no less gauche SRT8 with a bonus Hellcat body kit, its 6.4-litre V8 cranking out a still-useful 470 horsepower. Just be mindful of squeezing its sturdy dimensions down your local lanes with the steering wheel on the left-hand side. Everyone will be able to see and hear your progress, after all…

Witnessing our celebration of V8 and V12 bargains and thinking ‘yes, but what about the fuel crisis?’ Dear reader, we’ve got you. Because the classic muscle car layout and proportions – nay, even soundtrack – aren’t the sole preserve of fuel guzzling engines. 

Allow us to point you towards the Abarth 124 Spider, whose gargling 4cyl turbo powers the rear axle with similar levels of decorum to its distant Detroit cousins while doling out a noise one might politely call ‘Temu V8’. Or less politely as ‘a right old din’.

These are mighty fun things, though, especially with the snickety manual ‘box, and there’s even a muscle car feel to their vibrant colour palette and optional contrast black bonnet. All accompanied by a claimed 44 miles per gallon to ensure your running costs feel ‘bargain’ too.

The B7-gen RS4 is rightly considered one of Audi’s all-time greats, a proper BMW M3 rival which mates a glorious, high-revving 4.2-litre V8 to a neat six-speed manual and some of Quattro’s more generously involving handling.

Though, it’s all a bit too Teutonically professional to classify as a traditional muscle car; take a ginormous tin-opener to its roof, however, introducing a bit of chassis shimmer, et voila – you have a slightly less capable B7 that leans much more into low-effort, straight-line cruising than white-knuckled cornering speeds. Folding back its fabric roof also allows its wondrous V8 noise to pour unabated into your ears, of course.

Sure, a sixty grand Aston Martin is stretching the word ‘bargain’ to its very limit. But until recently – and the golden era of DB12s, Valkyries and Valhallas – this could feasibly lay claim to the title of ‘best Aston ever’. The early Noughties Vantage is one of the tautest and most purposeful in a back catalogue that hardly wants for style. 

Squeezing a 6.0-litre V12 (for 510bhp, 0-60mph in around four seconds and a near-200mph top speed) under its newly (and appropriately) vented bonnet scored perhaps the greatest balance of brawn and beauty in modern motor car history. And all for one fourteenth of the cost of a brand-new Valhalla, making it a bargain after all. Still not convinced? Reminisce with perhaps the most iconic four minutes in the Top Gear telly archive… 

Still got that tin-opener handy? We’ve an enormous can marked ‘worms’ that needs unsheathing. One that proposes the thorny question of ‘can a muscle car use electricity?’ It’s certainly a debate that’s raged in the States since Dodge fully electrified the Charger – and one that cars like this humble little MG 4 hatchback is only too happy to stoke the fires of too.

See, it landed on British shores offering 429bhp for under forty grand. Y’know, like the Monaros and Mustangs of this world always did. Its credentials have barely dimmed with time, either, the XPower now perched at half price with two years and a modest number of miles to its name. Little else will go this quick, this cheap, with so much manufacturer warranty still left to run.

Mind, you can half its price again and acquire an MG that won’t have the owners’ club chairfolk spluttering out their CAMRA ales in anger. The dying light of ‘old MG’ threw out some real corkers; the fine-handling ZS 180 saloon is an offbeat, underappreciated hero, while the XPower SV supercar formed an unlikely rival to still-just-about-thriving TVR.

Perhaps most offbeat of all is the ZT 260, though, which plonked a 260bhp 4.6-litre Ford V8 into a Rover 75 chassis heavily reengineered from front- to rear-wheel drive, the end result sold for under £30k in either saloon or estate form. It was a bargain then – and looks a complete giveaway now.

Japan can do muscle too, of course. Relative scarcity ensures that V8-powered versions of the gorgeous Lexus LC coupe aren’t cheap – and thus interlopers in the bargain bucket we’ve assembled here – but our unwisely followed hunch suggests they’re a locked-on future classic. The high-rev, modest-torque philosophy of its 5.0-litre nat-asp V8 won’t win you too many drag races, but your languid, legs-outstretched driving position will lend you enough insouciance to simply not care.

Where else to end but America? The home of cheap gas and even cheaper muscle, we could fill the whole TopGear.com server with US cars worthy of this list. But let’s throw you a curveball you weren’t expecting. Modern Jeep doesn’t really favour big engines, its Stellantis ties ensuring its dinky Avenger and Compass mine far more frugal (and thus competitive) options. 

But comb carefully through its back catalogue and you’ll unearth treasures like the CJ-7 – the rufty-tufty Wrangler forebear equipped with a 5.0-litre V8 engine. Power is a modest 150bhp (or so), but with a short wheelbase and lofty driving position, it’s unlikely you’ll be craving much (if any) more. Good luck…