Best used cars for less than £5,000

Whether you’re a new driver or looking for a cheap and reliable first car, or you fancy a second car that’s fun to drive, or a practical main family car that doesn’t break the bank, there’ll be a thing here for you. You’ll be surprised at how awesome some of these cars are, too.
(PS. Obviously this is a list about used cars, so plenty of factors will affect their price. But basically, you should be able to get any one of the following cars at a reasonable age and with not-outrageous mileage for £5,000 or less. And there’ll be a decent amount of choice.)

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Fiat 500 Dacia Sandero Citroen C1/Toyota Aygo/Peugeot 108 Honda Jazz Nissan Leaf BMW 1 Series Mazda MX-5 Nissan Figaro Audi TT VW Up/Skoda Citigo/Seat Mii Renault Grand Scenic

There are gazillions of Fiat 500s knocking about, mainly because Fiat masterfully pulled off that thing of making every single one of them feel unique to their owner; you didn’t “add options” to your Fiat 500, you “personalised” it. The 500 isn’t actually a great car – it’s cramped and unsuitable for anyone over 5’10” – but it is fun to drive, cheap to run, there’s a plentiful parts supply, and it’s kind of classless in the same way that Aldi is these days.
Click here to find your perfect Fiat 500 for less than £5,000

For £5,000 you’re surprisingly close to the price of a new one, the Sandero being officially the UK’s cheapest new car unless you include the Citroen Ami. But that’s not really a car, so you shouldn’t. A few grand will get you a good, low-mileage Sandero. It’s a bit ‘rough-and-ready’, but it’s spacious, well-built, and judging by the volume of high mileage examples available, very reliable.
Click here to find your perfect Dacia Sandero for less than £5,000

At some point around the start of the 2010s, Toyota and Peugeot-Citroen decided to combine their powers for the greater good. Like when Marvel and DC got together, except instead of saving the universe, they helped cost-conscious drivers in the European mainland save money. With three variations of a well-priced runabout. Nice. Small, cheap, and reliable, any one of them is worth a look.
Click here to find your perfect Citroen C1 for less than £5,000

A few years back, the go-to opening for any Honda Jazz review was to declare its status as the new car with the oldest average buyer age. Late 60s, we seem to recall. There are two ways of looking at that: “UGH! BORING!” Or “the voices of experience know a good thing when they see one… I should listen.” The latter is the right way. The Jazz is small outside but near-miraculously large and flexible inside. And it’s extremely reliable. A great £5K car.
Click here to find your perfect Honda Jazz for less than £5,000

A used first-generation Nissan Leaf is one of the cheapest ways of buying and running a car, because you can pick up a 2015 model with less than 80,000 miles for less than £2,000. Reliable five-seat family hatchbacks don’t get much cheaper, and if you’re charging it at home, every mile will cost pennies. Granted, you’ll be lucky to get 80 miles from the battery in the winter, but in reality that’s more than enough for most as a day-to-day runabout.
Click here to find your perfect Nissan Leaf for less than £5,000

Used BMW 1 Series World is a vast empire with literally thousands of cars in it, ranging from two-decade-old, massive mileage first-gen cars for a few hundred quid (that you should probably avoid), to £50K M135s with delivery mileage. So be picky, and for a few grand you could own a prestige hatchback that looks and feels four times the price you paid.
Click here to find your perfect BMW 1 Series for less than £5,000

I’ll be honest, I think the Mazda MX-5 is overrated. (With apologies to my colleagues Catherine and Dan, both paid-up MX-5 fans.) Underpowered… nothing to look at… super cramped for any adult of above average size. But, they are a ‘proper’ driving experience at the core: rear-wheel drive, lovely steering feel, nice manual gearbox, top-down summer day wind-in-hair LOLs. Classic stuff. In my opinion you’d be a fool to pay 30-odd grand for a new one when you can get basically the same experience with a mid-mileage late-2000s car for £3K. Do that.
Click here to find your perfect Mazda MX-5 for less than £5,000

I had one of these. I bought it for £500 after the previous owner had parked outside my office and left it for so long that the interior had developed its own ecosystem. It stank. But after a valet and some minor remedial work, it passed its MOT. Not recommended as a daily or long-distance car – it doesn’t have airbags, is less practical than a BMX, and it’s slower than the average Tipping Point contestant. But if you want something different that probably won’t lose money when you sell, and you like attention, this is the car for you. (They were definitely laughing WITH me, not AT me. Definitely.)
Click here to find your perfect Nissan Figaro for less than £5,000

History will show the Audi TT as one of the most iconic and successful car designs ever. There’s been three of them since 1998, but they’re all instantly recognisable and all do basically the same thing: comfort, quality and style, but also surprisingly practical. You’re probably best avoiding the first-gen model (1998-2006). It’s hard to find a good one and it feels old to drive now. But £4-5K will get you a good second-gen car with a full service history and plenty of miles left.
Click here to find your perfect Audi TT for less than £5,000

No longer in production, but probably still the best city car ever made. Pick whichever one you think has the nicest looking lights, because they’re all otherwise identical. What’s so great about the Up is its obvious focus on function over form. It’s spacious, has a driving position better than you’ll find in some much bigger cars, and for a runabout is really refined. The three-cylinder petrol engine sounds great, giving it a hint of much needed character. Plus it’s safe (five-star rated by Euro NCAP at launch), and cheaper to run than the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience.
Click here to find your perfect VW Up for less than £5,000

Renault Grand Scenic

With this you’ll get seven seats, lots of space, reasonable running costs and plenty of equipment, all for less than £5,000. If you have a big family, or just need a car with a massive boot that isn’t an SUV, here you go.
Click here to find your perfect Renault Grand Scenic for less than £5,000