If 2026 is the year you’re planning to buy yourself your first car, you may be somewhat nervous. I wouldn’t blame you. Used car prices are higher than ever before, and at the cheap end of the market, bargains are increasingly hard to find.
Where to start, then? Well, I think there are three crucial things to look out for in a first car. You want it to be easy to drive, for one thing, and you want it to be cheap to insure. But above all else, you want it to be safe.
Once you’ve got those things sorted, you can worry about everything else. Reliability? Certainly. Comfort? Nice to have, for sure. Style? Well, yes, but make sure you don’t jeopardise those more important attributes in the quest for something cool. You might really fancy a fashionable Fiat 500, for example, but its mediocre reputation for reliability and underwhelming crash test results should put you off.
That’s not to say you have to drive around in the motoring equivalent of a hair shirt to get something safe, affordable and dependable.
Take the Seat Mii, for example. This cute city car is based on the almost identical Volkswagen Up, but Spanish car maker Seat has gifted the Mii a slice of Latin flair, which means it’s a stylish buy. It also fared much better than most of its rivals in contemporary crash tests, so it should look after you if the worst happens. And certain versions of the Mii come with Group 1 insurance, the cheapest there is.
That’s true of the 2014 Mii Toca I found. On at £3,685, this cracking little car will cost peanuts to run, and at £624 less than its CarGurus Instant Market Value (IMV) – which is to say, what we reckon it’s worth – it’s peanuts to buy, too.
Inside you get a funky interior with surprisingly high-quality materials and cool turquoise accents. There’s Bluetooth connectivity and even satellite navigation, and with just 69,000 miles, this Mii should be a reliable companion. Miis are great to drive, too, with a comfortable ride and perky handling.
Or how about something a little bigger? The Volkswagen Polo has been a favourite among first car buyers for years now, and it’s no wonder, given its solid safety record, big-car feel, and secure road manners.
It’s a car that’s small enough to be easy to park, but big and comfortable enough to still feel at home on motorways, and to carry your mates in the back. So if you dream of four-up road trips with tunes blasting away, this is a brilliant option.
I found a 2010 1.2 Moda, with just 67,000 miles on the clock and sitting in a very reasonable Insurance Group 5. This one’s yours for just £4,199, a very handy £616 below its IMV.
But first car buyers aren’t all made of money. Perhaps you’re after something a little more affordable? Enter the second-generation Toyota Yaris. This is a car that’s renowned for its reliability, but less well known is that it’s as safe as houses, with a crash test rating that went above and beyond almost any of its contemporaries.
It’s a solid, sensible option, then, but the Yaris is still a handsome little car, and won’t look out of place in any college car park. The example is a 1.0-litre TR, which means it gets the smallest engine and sits in a lowly Insurance Group 3, but it still comes with alloy wheels and air conditioning. It’s done 107,000 miles, but given Toyotas are usually bulletproof, it’s still got plenty of life left in it, yet it’s on for just £1,895, a £378 saving over its IMV.
But what if that’s still too much? Well, good news: we can do even better. What if I told you I’d found a first car with a first-class safety rating, low mileage, and a long MOT, for less than a grand?
It’s a Peugeot 207, equipped with the 1.4-litre engine, which puts it in Insurance Group 6: and while that’s the highest of any car I’ve mentioned so far, it’s still pretty low given the rankings go up to 50. And the 207 scored a full five stars when it was tested by Euro NCAP back in 2006.
The best news, however, is that the dealer’s just lopped £800 off the price of this one, meaning they’ll take just £995 for it, a huge £706 less than it’s worth, according to our IMV. If you’re looking to get mobile for the first time, but money’s tight, I can think of far worse ways to do it.
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