Try, Buy, Dream – April 2025

Trying a car has never been easier – lots of car brands now offer subscription services on a monthly basis, with no down payment or exit fee so you can swap in and out of different models with minimal notice. Or you can lock in for longer, on a leasing deal, which still means you just pay a monthly amount and hand the car back at the end of the deal. Additionally, some brands provide 24-hour test drives for a chance to get to know the car before you commit.
Then there’s the Buy choice, whether it’s paying for the car in one hit or signing up to a fixed term finance deal with the option to buy the car at the end. These are cars that make good long-term sense. And finally our fave section, for dreamers everywhere. The new luxe stuff, the wishlist option or the treat yourself splurge, depending on how big that imagined windfall might be. Enjoy this month’s offerings!

It’s a recurring theme but the idea of switching from a petrol or diesel car and into an electric one is often scarier than the reality for many drivers. And once you’ve made that leap into what seems the great unknown you realise it’s actually not as complicated as it first seems. Which is why 24-hour test drives like those available on the electric Mini Cooper are such a great idea. Whether you weave that into your regular schedule to see how it fits with the day-to-day or challenge yourself by doing a trip away to try the whole charging away from home thing it’s a great way to test the theory. And with its combination of compact size, style and fun driving dynamics the Mini is a great sampler for electric driving.
Read our Expert Review

In uncertain financial times locking down your outgoings looks a sensible bet and if a small, affordable electric car looks a sensible addition to the household there are some cracking deals on the Leapmotor T03 at the moment. £199 down and a four-year deal at just £199 per month on a zero per cent rate looks especially keen, the 6,000-mile annual limit on the mileage unlikely to be an issue for a car best suited to short, urban journeys anyway. In one of those not especially spooky coincidences Dacia is offering an even sharper deal on its equivalent (and also Chinese-built) Spring, so if you’re in the market for a small, basic and affordable electric car now is the time.
Read our Expert Review on the Leapmotor T03

A measure of the times we live in you get to hear the Transport Secretary talking about Caterhams on the Radio 4 Today programme but, it seems, the sports car manufacturer is among the British brands set to benefit from a juggle to the rules with the ZEV Mandate. (Very) long story short this means specialist manufacturers like Caterham, Aston Martin, McLaren, Morgan and others will still be able to sell purely petrol powered vehicles beyond the 2030 deadline for the rest of the industry and all the way up to 2035. Meaning if you’d always dreamed of buying – or even building – a Caterham of your own you have an extra five years to make that a reality. By which point the all-electric Caterham Project V it’s also been working on may be a reality, and ready to translate those same thrills into the battery-powered age post-2035.
Read our Expert Review