City-Car Reviews

Top Gear’s guide to: City-Cars

Perfect for parking and urban transport, city cars are small, efficient and – mostly – cheap

What you need to know

Small is good

The point of a real city car is that it’s small enough. Anything bloated defeats the object

Trim treble

If you pay £7.5k for a city car, don’t expect leathery luxury. This is rational transport

Clever, clever

The cheapest city cars are boxes; the more expensive ones, lessons in industrial design

Efficiency

Some of the cheapest cars on the road to run, tax and insure, city cars make sense

Tiny power

Some of the best city cars run three-cylinder engines. They don’t need anything bigger

Geek chic

Fit for purpose motoring means you look like you thought about it. You look clever
Found 12 results
8/10
Volkswagen

Up

£9,955 – £16,090

Will shake up the city car segment and could become a game-changer for the whole class.

7/10
Fiat

500

£12,500 – £21,520

Technically and mechanically other city cars outstrip it, but emotionally – well, that’s up to you. We understand.

7/10
Hyundai

i10

£9,800 – £16,270

City cars aren’t quite dead yet - new i10 is grown-up, comfy and loaded with kit

7/10
Kia

Picanto

£9,990 – £15,150

Another string to Kia’s ever more impressive bow, the Picanto is a fun and interesting city car.

7/10
Vauxhall

Adam

n/a

Surprisingly fresh-faced and good-looking new city car from Vauxhall. Deserves to do well.

Editor’s choice
7/10
Fiat

Panda

£10,030 – £16,530

A cruelly underrated, often-overlooked car. Now dating inside and on the tech front, but still one of the most rounded small cars on sale. (Not just to look at).

7/10
Renault

Twingo

£10,530 – £13,235

As entertaining and satisfying as the old Twingo was mundane and mediocre.

6/10
Smart

ForTwo

£11,890 – £24,940

Far, far better than the last one, but still likely to remain a niche purchase.

6/10
Toyota

Aygo

£9,640 – £15,245

Toyota has changed more about the little Aygo than you might think, but the dull and rather small cabin keeps it behind the best of the rest

6/10
Peugeot

108

£12,100 – £15,155

Well rounded, but short on personality and doesn't go far enough.

6/10
Citroen

C1

£10,360 – £14,330

Similar to the old one underneath, but with a happier character and even lower running costs.

3/10
Mitsubishi

Mirage

£10,345 – £14,650

Expensive, slow, horrid to drive. A mass of metal without sense or relish or ability or anything, really.