Best cheap new cars 2025

Best for: not feeling cheap

We may be pushing the boat out a little by calling the Chery Tiggo 8 a cheap car, but look at the facts: a seven-seater SUV with generous equipment levels and a cabin that can hold its own against European legacy brands, all for under £29,000? That’s phenomenal value for money, and the Tiggo 8 really is cheap for what it is.

It’s such good value for money that it drove off into the sunset not only as the overall winner of the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards, but also as our Hybrid Hero winner - in more expensive plug-in hybrid guise.

You’d think it’s a far more expensive car at a glance, too. Okay so it’s fairly nondescript in places, but the Tiggo 8 looks far more expensive than it is thanks to a big front grille and intricate lights at both ends that offer hints of BMW and Audi.

It’s the interior that impresses most about the Tiggo 8, because again it feels like it belongs in a much more expensive car. Don’t expect Bentley levels of refinement, but the Tiggo 8 is easily up to the material and build quality of the latest Audis on sale.

An enormous 15.6-inch infotainment screen dominates the simple yet handsome dashboard, with a digital driver display behind the steering wheel. Pretty much all of the materials around the cabin are pleasant to the touch; the leatherette is plush and the plastics are soft, while the infotainment screen is clear and quick to respond to your inputs.

The front seats aren’t very adjustable but they’re comfortable, and there’s lots of storage space throughout the car. The back seats are spacious too, and slide to give third-row passengers more room. Boot space is small with all seven seats in place, but at 700 litres with them stowed away there’s plenty of luggage space.

Around town the Tiggo 8 is easier to drive than you’d expect from a big SUV, with light steering and good visibility. It’s stable and secure on the motorway but there’s noticeable wind noise, while it feels a bit wayward around fast bends - you’re better off taking it easy on a country lane. Meanwhile, the petrol might be temptingly cheap, but it’s not very good, so opt for the hybrid if your budget allows.

Best for: affordable chic
The Renault Clio is the perfect option if you’re looking to save cash on a car, but you don’t want it to look like you’ve picked a money saving option.

That’s because the Clio looks fantastic, even in its entry level trim, with smart vertical daytime running lights and sharp lines in the front bumper. You get some extra design flourishes, such as chrome trim and detailing in the grille, as you go up the range, but even then it remains an affordable car.

Equipment is pretty good, with standard-fit cruise control, rear parking sensors and a 7.0-inch infotainment touchscreen on Evolution models. Step up to Techno and you get bigger alloy wheels and a rear parking camera, while Esprit Alpine models get a sporty exterior makeover, bigger and better screens for the infotainment screen and driver display, and adaptive cruise control.

Inside you could easily mistake the Clio for a small car from a posher brand, thanks to the sweeping dashboard design, neatly integrated air vents and metal-effect dials for the climate control. Cheaper materials can be found low down in the cabin, but everything you regularly touch is of impressive quality.

It’s spacious in the front, but those in the back seats will find things much more cramped. On the flip side, the 391-litre boot is excellent for a car of this size, though you do lose a bit of capacity if you go for the hybrid.

The cheapest models come with a 90hp petrol engine and a six-speed manual gearbox, which is fine for this sort of car the majority of the time, but if you can find the extra £3,000 for the hybrid engine, it’s more relaxing to drive around town thanks to the electric motor and automatic gearbox, as well as having more power for motorway driving.

Whichever engine you go for, the Clio is most at home in town, where its small dimensions and good visibility make it easy to navigate tight streets. The suspension makes you jiggle about over bumps more than a Volkswagen Polo though, and it lacks some refinement at high speeds too.

Best for: stylish retro looks
One of our favourite small cars on sale, the Renault 5 scored a win in the Urban Living category of the 2025 Carwow Car of the Year Awards. It looks awesome, it’s great to drive and it’s a genuinely desirable small electric car - all while being properly affordable, too.

If one drove past you at speed you might do a double take and think you’ve stepped back in time, because the Renault 5 really does resemble its predecessor of the 1970s and 1980s. The retro touches such as the boxy silhouette and light shapes have been brought bang-up to date, while the swollen arches and big wheels give the little Renault a lot of road presence.

Dropping into the driver’s seat is a bit like stepping into a retro alternate reality, too, with plenty of touches that nod back to the old Renault 5. The two-tier dashboard and body-hugging seats are old-school in a good way, and you can opt for denim-style or leatherette upholstery in your Renault - both of which are great to the touch.

The Google-based infotainment system is better than you’ll find in most small cars, so much so that you don’t need to rely on the standard-fit Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Even on the entry-level model you get cruise control, rear parking sensors and integrated Google Maps on board.

It’s easy to get comfortable up front, but the back seats leave a little to be desired - even if that’s to be expected from a small hatchback. The boot, however, is generously sized at 326 litres.

The Evolution base model comes with a small 40kWh battery, which returns a claimed 190-mile range to a charge. Shell out a bit more for the Techno+ trim level or above and you get a larger 52kWh battery, for 252 miles of range.

It’s not all style and no substance, as the Renault 5 isn’t only comfortable and refined around town and on the motorway, but it’s great fun and a properly good performer on a country lane.

Best for: a seven-seater bargain
The Dacia Jogger is an oddball in the best kind of way. It’s a combination of an SUV and an estate, looks quite handsome from some angles or plain vanilla from others, and costs about as much as some small hatchbacks despite having seven usable seats on board. It’s essentially an MPV, but somehow cooler.

It’s impossible to get more space for the cash, so if you’ve got a big or growing family the Jogger is a fantastic option. Clever packaging means that while seats six and seven are in the boot, you actually get more space back there than you do in bigger SUVs.

Don’t need all seven seats? You can fold that third row forward (or remove it completely) and open up a massive boot – up to 700 litres – which means you have all the space you need for the family’s sports equipment or luggage for a weekend away.

To get all this space for such little money means there are trade offs, and the key one is the interior. It feels pretty cheap inside, with hard-wearing plastics rather than soft, plush materials. The upside is that your fixtures and fittings will stand up to the rigours of family life over time.

You don’t get much kit in base models, either. There are basics like air conditioning and rear parking sensors, while cruise control is a bit of a luxury that’s included as standard – but you don’t get an infotainment screen at all. Instead, there’s a clamp for your phone on the dashboard, with a Dacia app for basic functions.

The most basic model is only available with a 110hp petrol engine and a six-speed manual gearbox, though this combination rather struggles to summon up enough grunt when the car’s fully loaded.

If you can find an extra £4,000-plus, the hybrid engine is much better – it’s more powerful yet more economical, and comes with an automatic gearbox, which is particularly useful when driving in stop-start traffic. It’s available from the mid-spec trim, which adds an infotainment display and keyless entry – and although it doesn’t look like quite such a bargain, it’s still a lot of car for your money.

Best for: a funky interior
The Fiat Grande Panda is yet another example of a futuristic small car that’s been in touch with its roots. It’s another one of our favourite small cars on sale, so much so that we highly commended it in the 2026 Carwow Car of the Year Awards.

It may as well have been plucked out of an arcade machine with its pixelated styling, while there’s a smattering of old-school Fiat logos dotted around the exterior as a nod to Fiat’s past. The Grande Panda E looks like nothing else on the road.

The interior is just as eye-catching. While all of the Grande Panda’s plastics are hard and scratchy, they’re in a rather fetching shade of blue, so the little Fiat feels cheap and cheerful inside - not just cheap.

It’s spacious both front and back thanks to the tall roofline, while the standard-fit infotainment screen, driver’s display and LED lights mean the Grande Panda doesn’t feel barren. It’s very easy to drive around town with a tight turning circle and light controls, and it’s fine on the motorway – if nothing more than that. It’s almost fun on a twisty road, too, but unremarkable otherwise.

You can only have a Grande Panda with a 44kWh battery for a claimed 199 miles of range, but seeing as the small Fiat is best around town, that shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance.

Best for: off-roading for cheap
The Dacia Duster has always been synonymous with affordable off-roading, but the latest version takes that winning recipe and sprinkles more refinement to make it easier to live with every day.

To keep the price down for entry-level Essential models you do have to go without some creature comforts, namely the built-in infotainment system – instead you get a smartphone holder and a Dacia app for all your basic functions. Everything you need, but it does feel a touch spartan inside, particularly with the analogue dials.

Budget allowing, it’s worth paying about £2,500 extra for the Expression trim, which adds a digital driver’s display and a 10.1-inch touchscreen, which is slicker than anything seen in a Dacia before. It also displays a rear parking camera.

Entry level versions are only available with two-wheel drive, but if you want off-road-friendly four-wheel drive it’s available on all other trims, as is a city-friendly hybrid, though this does start pushing prices up.

That said, even a fully loaded hybrid is reasonably priced compared with other SUVs, and the Dacia Duster can more than hold its own on a tough green lane. Sure, it will struggle with the more hardcore features of your local off-road centre, but we’ve found its light weight and four-wheel drive system help it scamper over rough terrain and up muddy inclines just as comfortably as the bigger, pricier Toyota Land Cruiser.

That doesn’t mean it’s not also a decent family SUV if you never plan to take it off the beaten track. It’s not perfectly at home in the city thanks to poor visibility, but it performs well enough, especially with the hybrid engine, which lets you pootle about on the silent electric motor. Things feel secure and stable at higher speeds, if a little noisy.

Where the Duster really wins points is bang for your buck. The rugged exterior styling gives it character, it’s spacious inside and has some clever practicality touches, such as the YouClip system, which uses mounting points around the cabin that let you attach things like clamps, phone holders or even lights. Neat.

Best for: affordable electric motoring
Buying an electric car doesn’t have to break the bank, as proved by the Citroen e-C3. There are some compromises to keep the cost low, but if you’re not doing mega miles on the regular it’s a fantastic electric city car.

For a start, it looks great, with baby SUV looks giving it a hint of rugged appeal despite the fact it’s unlikely to ever venture further off-road than a gravel driveway. Meanwhile the interior uses a clever mix of materials to hide the fact it’s clearly been built to a budget, such as the strip of fabric across the dashboard.

Despite the low cost you get pretty good kit as standard, such as a 10.3-inch infotainment screen that is pretty basic but covers all the essentials, and can be bypassed with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. There’s also LED headlights, a head-up display and rear parking sensors.

You only have the choice of two trims, and for about £2,500 extra the top-spec model adds heated front seats and steering wheel, automatic air conditioning and a heated windscreen.

Both trims come with a 113hp motor and the same battery pack that offers a range of up to 199 miles in official tests, though our time with the car indicates this is more likely to be around 160 miles in the real world. That’s likely to drop further in winter too, because you can’t get the e-C3 with a heat pump to improve cold weather range, which is a shame.

Best for: big car feel
If you’re after a small car that doesn’t feel like a small car, the Skoda Fabia should be top of your shopping list.

It’s always been a head over heart purchase, the Fabia, but therein lies its appeal. It’s a simple, no fuss hatchback that offers sensible practicality other similarly sized cars could only dream of.

That’s best demonstrated in the boot, which at 380 litres is bigger than you’ll find in the Volkswagen Polo. The Renault Clio offers more capacity, but then it’s not as roomy for passengers; the Fabia allows four adults to travel in comfort.

Basic SE models get some decent equipment such as an 8.3-inch infotainment system, LED headlights and keyless entry and start. And while most budget cars limit your engine options on the entry-level trim, the Fabia has a choice of four engines and transmissions. All are petrol-powered, but the entry-level 80hp option should be avoided if your budget can stretch to one of the more powerful alternatives. The priciest option is the 116hp engine with an automatic gearbox.

If you can stretch to an SE L Edition model, you get the bigger, better 9.2-inch infotainment screen and the Virtual Cockpit digital instrument display. However, if you’re doing that, it’s only about £500 more to get the top-spec Monte Carlo Edition, which also adds some sporty design touches.

Even if you go for this model, the Fabia isn’t exactly sporty to drive, but it soaks up bumps nicely around town and is more quiet and refined on the motorway than most small cars.

Best for: easy-to-use infotainment
The Renault Captur could so easily be just another small, hybrid SUV – but it’s genuinely stylish and really practical, meaning you get head-turning looks without stomach-turning running costs.

As well as the smart exterior, you get a solid interior that comfortably matches German alternatives for build quality. Interior space is a touch hit and miss – it’s fine for those in the front, while those in the back should be happy enough so long as you don’t try to squeeze three in. The ISOFIX mounting points are a bit of a faff to get to, though. Fortunately all is redeemed in the boot, because at 484 litres there’s enough for a weekly shop and your kids’ sports gear at the same time.

Although the hybrid engine is better around town, thanks to its automatic transmission and potential for electric driving, if you’re looking to cut costs the cheapest version comes with a 90hp petrol engine and manual gearbox.

Stepping up to the mid-spec Techno trim should be your target if the costs make sense, because then you get built-in Google services for the infotainment system. As a result, you get one of the easier-to-use infotainment systems on the market, and means you don’t necessarily need to connect your phone for music streaming and maps.

Best for: company car choosers
It would be easy to disregard the latest MG HS if you’ve spent any time with its predecessor – but this one is a massive improvement and is available with a seriously impressive plug-in hybrid engine.

You’re not going to confuse it for a premium car, but it’s such good value for money that it effectively competes with bigger cars on price. For example, it costs about the same as a Ford Puma, but it’s closer to a Ford Kuga in size.

If you’re being really budget-conscious then there’s a petrol engine with an automatic or manual gearbox that costs about the same as a posh city car like the Audi A1. And that doesn’t get close to the MG HS’s 507-litre boot space.

The real headline story is the plug-in hybrid. Yes, it’s a lot more expensive than the petrol, but it’s cheaper than equivalent PHEVs and has a massive 75-mile range. That means incredibly low running costs if you can keep it charged, and if you’re considering the HS as a company car, means you’ll pay considerably less benefit-in-kind than PHEV versions of the Kia Sportage or Ford Kuga.

The cheapest models get a 12.3-inch infotainment screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, while entry-level versions of the plug-in hybrid also get a digital driver’s display. Whichever engine you go for, all trims come with MG’s driver assistance tech such as adaptive cruise control.