Finding a completely new car for under £16,000 was a breeze just a decade or so ago. Such is the way of life that now things are much more challenging. Ordering a car straight from the factory for under £16,000 is a real challenge – but options do exist. The question is, are they even worth considering? Well, here are some of the cars you can buy for this budget, complete with whether or not you should bother buying them.
Not Worth It: Citroen Ami
Okay, it’s not so much a “car” as it is a quadricycle, but the Citroen Ami is drivable on the roads and will cost under £8,000 brand-new. There’s a reason it’s so cheap: you only get two seats, it can’t reach over 30mph, and it is absurdly unsafe.
Avoid at all costs; you will find much better choices on this list.
Worth It: Leapmotor T03
You can pick up a brand-new Leapmotor T03 with five doors, 15-inch alloy wheels, and 165 miles of range for under £16,000. It’s genuinely really impressive and makes a lot of sense for the casual city or town drivers out there. If you only travel to and from work or school to pick up your kids, then you can basically run this car for free by charging it at home.
It’s an absolute steal, and one of the best small EVs out there for families.
Not Worth It: MG3
To be fair, the MG3 looks fantastic, and that might con you into thinking it’s worth buying. You will find some deals for under £16,000 out there, though MG does list it for over £17,000. It’s a well-equipped five-door hatchback that feels like it should sell incredibly well – but there’s a big downside. MG issued a recall on all MG3s in the UK over a critical seat failure earlier this year after it scored a critical safety failure in the Euro NCAP safety tests.
This, coupled with MG’s already poor reliability record, means you’re better off spending your money elsewhere for a brand-new car.
Worth It: Dacia Sandero
Did you know you can get a new Dacia Sandero with parking sensors and a rear camera for under £16,000? That’s not even the bottom-of-the-range model either; that one doesn’t have a camera but is under £15,000. Dacia has always been a fantastic value-for-money brand, and the new Sandero reflects that. The only minor downside is that you can’t get it with an automatic gearbox for that price, which might bug some of you.
Regardless, you get a pretty sizeable hatchback for this price, so it’s one of the best bargains for people who love a manual gearbox and aren’t ready to go full-electric.
Your car needs to make you happy, and it helps when you can bag a brand-new one without breaking the bank too much. You absolutely can find a new car for under £16,000 – and there are genuinely a couple of worthwhile choices in this category. Sure, some of them suck, but the Leapmotor T03 and the Dacia Sandero prove that quality doesn’t always come with a massive price tag.
