Best Of
Best used cars for less than £3,000
You’ll be amazed by how much car you can get for three grand or less these days. Here are some of our favourites.
Words by: Mark Nichol
Published on 17 February 2025 | 0 min read
It doesn’t feel like £3,000 should get you that much car these days. It’s not that three grand is an inconsequential amount of money – it’s obviously a lot. But with the average price of a used car currently about £16,500, the thought of getting something decent for less than a fifth of that seems unlikely, right?
Nah. Check these cars out. All kinds of shapes and sizes and styles here.
Nah. Check these cars out. All kinds of shapes and sizes and styles here.
Jump to:
Suzuki Swift Toyota Aygo Ford Fiesta Mini Hatchback Dacia Duster Nissan Qashqai Skoda Octavia Jaguar XF Citroen C3 Picasso BMW Z4 (PS. Obviously this is a list about used cars, so plenty of factors will affect their price. But you should be able to get any one of the following cars at a reasonable age, in decent condition, and with non-outrageous mileage for £3,000 or less.) (PPS. If you’ve got a bit more budget, check out our favourite used cars for less than £5,000 here.)Suzuki Swift
Reliable, cheap to insure, five-door practicality and genuinely fun to drive, a three grand Swift is very easy to recommend. Especially as a first car. A Swift Sport is within reach for this money, too – a cult classic because it proved you don’t need big power for big driving LOLs.
Similar sort of thing: Toyota Yaris
Click here to find a Suzuki Swift for £3,000 or less
Toyota Aygo
The Aygo/C1/108 trio was the result of a Japanese-French deal to make a cheap and reliable runabout. In theory, you combined the reliability and precision engineering of Toyota with… whatever Citroen and Peugeot fancied bringing along. Anways, it worked, and loads of people bought one, so now there are plenty of them about. Cheap to run, insure and fix. Two thumbs up.
Similar sort of thing: Citroen C1/Peugeot 108 (obviously)
Click here to find a Toyota Aygo for £3,000 or less
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is the archetypal first/cheap car, and has been since the year Rocky came out. More than 15 million have been sold, which means that while you won’t be unique in a Fiesta, you will easily be able to find a new clutch or wing mirror or whatever. And for cheap. A wise, if unoriginal, choice.
Similar sort of thing: Vauxhall Corsa (obviously)
Click here to find a Ford Fiesta for £3,000 or less
Mini Hatchback
Brilliant to drive, but older Minis don’t have a stellar reputation for reliability. Maybe it’s because BMW couldn’t build them fast enough in Oxford. They’re everywhere, right? That means there’s LOADS of choice, though. Be picky – find a car with a complete service history and a non-horrifying MOT record – and even for three grand, you should be okay. Should.
Similar sort of thing: DS3
Click here to find a Mini for £3,000 or less
Dacia Duster
You can actually pick up a used Duster for much less than three grand – this is a car that cost less than £10k when new, remember. So, for the price of a quite nice watch, you could have a 50mpg SUV with four-wheel drive, five-figure mileage, space to spare and…get this… a CD player. Dig out that B*Witched album.
Similar sort of thing: Suzuki SX4
Click here to find a Dacia Duster for £3,000 or less
Nissan Qashqai
The Billy Bookcase of cars, there’s not much left to say about the Nissan Qashqai. So we asked AI for a sentence: “…a compact crossover known for its stylish design, efficient engines, and advanced technology features. It offers a comfortable ride, good fuel economy, and practical interior space.” There you go, a sentence as unique as, well, a Nissan Qashqai. The usual £3k rules apply: lowest miles, best history, and Bob’s your Mackem uncle.
Similar sort of thing: Mini Countryman
Click here to find a Nissan Qashqai for £3,000 or less
Skoda Octavia
We’re obviously going to mention the taxi thing here. For £3,000, a newer Octavia with massive mileage has probably been a venue for endless small talk throughout its life. Whether you want to take the risk on a car that’s been stop-starting for so many miles is your call, but you might be better off looking for an older, lower mileage version that hasn’t ever been ‘forensically valeted’. It’s a phenomenal car.
Similar sort of thing: Honda Civic
Click here to find a Skoda Octavia for £3,000 or less
Jaguar XF
Slightly precarious one, this. A £3k XF is an insane amount of space, quality and prestige for the money, assuming you find a good example. Negotiate the minefield carefully: insist on a full service history, check its MOT record (You can do that here), and pay for an AA inspection if you want to be really sure. That’s all good advice for any of these cars, to be fair.
Similar sort of thing: Alfa Romeo 159
Click here to find a Jaguar XF for £3,000 or less
Citroen C3 Picasso
Before the Citroen C3 Aircross there was the Citroen C3 Picasso, a car that eschewed the SUV styling trend and is all the better for it. Shamelessly practical, it offers an enormous amount of space yet has city-friendly dimensions. The unusual styling is aging well, and it’s dirt cheap to run. Complete reliability is far from guaranteed, but it’s worth a punt at this price.
Similar sort of thing: Ford B-Max
Click here to find a Citroen C3 Picasso for £3,000 or less
BMW Z4
It’s amazing just how gracefully the original, two-decade-old BMW Z4 is growing old. It’s only really aged by the lack of LED lights, and an interior that doesn’t house a GINORMOUS TOUCHY SCREEN. Find a good one, refurb the wheels, stick a personal plate on it… bosh! Most people will think you’re in a 50k sportscar. If that's the sort of thing you'd like people to think.
Similar sort of thing: Mazda MX-5
Click here to find a BMW Z4 for £3,000 or less