Buy a car and beat the credit crunch

The stunning Alfa Romeo Spider now has a new addition to the range which adds thousands of pounds worth of extra equipment – for no extra cost.

The Alfa Romeo Spider Limited Edition features comes with 19-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, ‘Italian Frau’ leather upholstery, electrically adjustable and heated memory front seats and the Blue&Me hands-free system with voice recognition and media player – all of which adds up to £3,000.

And the drop-top Alfa – which features a 2.2-litre petrol engine developing 185bhp – costs £25,550, complete with £3,000 worth of free extras.

Seat

The Seat Ibiza supermini is being offered with a no-deposit Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) with an APR of 6.9 per cent.

And if you buy certain Seat Leon, Seat Altea and Seat Altea XL models, Seat will offer upgrades to more expensive specifications.

Models from the Seat Toledo and Seat Alhambra line-up have also had £1,000 shaved from their prices – the Seat Toledo is now available from £14,205 and Alhambra prices start from £15,455.

And the ‘crossover’ Seat Altea Freetrack 4 – said to offer off-road ability and on-road composure – has had its price slashed on two models.

The 200bhp 2-litre turbocharged Seat Altea Freetrack 4 now costs £19,495, and the 170bhp 2-litre diesel Seat Altea Freetrack 4 costs £19,995 – representing a saving of up to £1,400.

Citroen

Citroen is extending its zero per cent finance offers across more of the 150 models in its range.

And to showcase the finance packages’ popularity, Citroen say 70 per cent of the Citroen C4 Picasso models have been sold with 0 per cent finance since its launch.

Buy a new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso with the 0 per cent finance offer and you could save £2,628.32 – compared to a typical 13.1 per cent APR loan from a high street bank.

Vauxhall

Vauxhall is offering up an Agila Design 1.3CDTi 16v with a zero per cent finance option – pay 50 per cent of the car’s £11,195 price, and finance the remaining sum over two years at zero per cent.

If you fancy something a little bigger, the Vauxhall Astra 1.4i 16v is also available with a zero per cent finance package – pay 30 per cent of the car’s sticker price (14,655) and finance the remaining amount over four years with no interest charged.

Before the stunning new Vauxhall Insignia storms onto British roads, you can bag the current Vauxhall Vectra with a zero per cent finance deal.

The Vauxhall Vectra Exclusiv 1.8i 16v VVT – which comes with 16-inch wheels and cruise control costs £15,445 – pay a minimum 30 per cent deposit and finance the remaining amount over four years at £225 per month.

Peugeot

The French carmaker is offering up its Peugeot 207 S – which comes with a 75bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine and air-conditioning – for £9,445, which includes a £1,000 customer saving.

And the cutesy Peugeot 107 – which shares its underpinnings with the Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo – costs £6,295 on the road, including a £1,000 customer saving. The Peugeot 107 Urban Lite comes with power steering, ABS brakes, an MP3 compatible CD player and the ultra-frugal 1-litre petrol engine.

Peugeot has slashed £500 off the price of its 308 hatchback – which will provide the chassis for the sexy new 308 RC Z coupe – and is now being offered for £11,795 with a 95bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine, trip computer and 15-inch alloy wheels.

Honda

Buy a five-door Honda Jazz – which comes with a 1.2-litre petrol engine returning 51.4mpg on the combined cycle – and the Japanese carmaker will offer you a 12 month finance package with a 1.9 per cent interest rate.

Put down a 50 per cent deposit on the 1.2-litre Honda Jazz and after 12 months of payments, you’ll pay just £90 worth of interest with a final price of £9,262.

If you’re after the Honda Civic, Honda is offering any five-door model in the range at a new interest rate of 5.9 per cent APR – for example, the five-door Civic 1.4-litre DSI SE costs £149 per month, and a five-door Civic 2.2 i-CTDi EX with a glass roof, leather, sat nav, cruise control and dual zone climate control costs £285 per month.

And if you fancy some hot-hatch action, you can pick up the Honda Civic Type-R GT for £255 per month at an interest rate of 7.9 per cent.

Mazda

Mazda has rolled out extra equipment across many models in the range – for no extra cost.

The high performance Mazda 3 MPS hatchback – which comes with a turbocharged 2.3-litre engine developing 255bhp – costs £18,995, and now comes with 18-inch wheels and black half-leather Alcantara seats with red a ‘MPS’ embossed logo and stitching.

The entry level Mazda 3 S – which costs £11,440 – is offered with either a 1.4-litre petrol engine or a 1.6-litre diesel, and Mazda have thrown in an auxiliary audio jack, 12V power socket and an MP3 compatible CD player.

And a quick hunt on Auto Trader’s new car search found these bargains…

Subaru Impreza WRX

The new 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX is a world apart from the earlier rally-bred legend – and brings more practicality and everyday driveability to the mix.

We found this 2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5-litre WRX – which comes with a 230bhp engine – for less than £16,000, saving £4,000 off the list price.

Audi TT

The new Audi TT is one of the coolest new coupes on the block – and we found this new 2008 3.2-litre V6 Audi TT coupe for less than £30,000 – saving more than £1,000 on the list price.

A quick hunt around the Auto Trader used car search found these top buy used bargains…

BMW 3 Series

The most searched-for car on Auto Trader’s website and one of the most popular cars in the UK, the BMW 3 Series is the small saloon benchmark – outstanding handling, excellent build quality and a dizzying range of engines marks the Beemer out as the one to beat.

And we found this BMW Approved 2007 BMW 318 ES saloon with just 1,526 miles on the clock for £15,995.

Ford Focus

The Ford Focus has been the UK’s best selling car since it was launched in 1998, and the new model – which we drove in France last year – is a fabulous car to drive.

We found this five-door 2007 Ford Focus 1.6 Sport, with a 115bhp petrol engine and 4,500 miles on the clock, for £8,990 – making a saving of around £3,000.