Five used car bargains you can find for under £2,000 – including ultra-rare two-seater and ‘wildcard’ mini EV
CAR experts have revealed five of the best second-hand bargains you can pick up for under £2,000 – including a “wildcard” mini EV.
You can even find the little hatchback loved by Wayne Rooney for less than what the Three Lions star earned per day during his career.
The team over at Top Gear compiled a list of some of the best budget motors on the market today.
Given that, according to Auto Trader, the average price of a used car in the UK sits at between £16,000 and £17,000, these ultra-cheap alternatives are a real steal.
And it’s not like you have to sacrifice space, performance or luxury for the price, with a couple of sports cars making the cut.
Meanwhile, there are still plenty of top-notch hatchback options for those happy to settle for less room in favour of low running costs and cheap insurance.
Audi TT
Example price: 2003 TT with 115,000 miles for £1,800
Just this year, Audi brought the curtain down on the TT’s 25-year production run.
One perk of such a long time on the showroom floor is that the Mk1 TT, from 199-2006, can now often be picked up at cut-price rates.
Boasting 221 horsepower and a decent fuel economy of 30mpg, it was reasonably priced at £27,775 when new.
Adjusting for inflation, that comes to over £51,000 today and yet some astonishing depreciation means they can be found well within the budget.
Nissan Figaro
Example price: 1992 Figaro with 66,000 miles for £1,200
It’s pretty remarkable how cheap the Figaro is when you consider that only 20,073 were made as a one-off in 1991.
Of those, only few thousand came to the UK, making it a bit of a collector’s item.
Fans of Dr Who may recognise the iconic lime Emerald Figaro as the runaround of Sarah Jane Smith in the Sarah Jane Adventures spin-off.
Watch out for rust accumulating over the years but other than that the Figaro makes a lovely, nippy city car for as little as £1,000.
However, thanks to their rarity, they can be quite hard to insure and may need specialist cover at a higher premium.
Mazda RX-8
Example price: 2005 Rx-8 with 70,900 miles for £1,399
Everyone knows and loves Mazda’s MX-5 but its underappreciated cousin the RX-8 is a lesser-known bargain.
It was only made between 2003 and 2012 and left the European market in 2010 without a direct successor named.
While only available in hard-top, it actually offers a little more space than its more acclaimed relative with similar performance.
One quirk was that Mazda offered a version with so-called “suicide doors”, which were hinged at the back rather than the front.
Ford Sport Ka
Example price: 2004 Sport Ka with 70,000 miles for £1,450
The Sport Ka is a fun and practical little hatchback that’s great as a starter car.
If you don’t believe us just ask Wayne Rooney as the footie star owned one during his time at Everton in the early part of his career.
He had it decked out in the colour of his boyhood club after picking it up at the tender age of 17/
It has less than 100 horsepower so isn’t exactly a hot hatch but can still work well as a cheap and cheerful city car.
Ligier Ambra
Example price: 2002 Ambvra with 10,000 miles for £1,600
The Ligier was dubbed a “wildcard” selection, especially as it isn’t really a car.
The little EV is a microcar, meaning it can be driven on an AM motorcycle licence, which can be achieved from the age of just 16.
Just be aware that, as a microcar, it is not subject to the same safety requirements and larger vehicles, meaning it should be treated more like a four-wheeled moped than a car.
All example prices based on online second-hand listings at the time of writing.