There are hundreds of cars to choose from between £25k and £30k, which is the absolute heartland for company car user choosers and private PCP buyers alike. They come in all shapes and sizes, with varying levels of quality, performance and desirability.
It’s a buyer’s market, too, with some incredible deals available. But which are the best ones to invest in? We’ve picked out favourite five, of all different varieties, but they have one thing in common – they’re great to drive, well-made and well-equipped.
Audi TT
From £27,265
It’s now 20 years since the first Audi TT made its debut, and the car has eveolved and refined itself considerably since then. From roadgoing concept car to established luxury coupe, the current incarnation might lack the edge of previous TTs, but it’s also a much more mature package. And as such, it also feels far more upmarket. Indeed, there are few cars below the £30k price ceiling that have quite the same premium feel, let alone the sense of occasion. Today’s TT may be more of a GT than a sports car, but that’s no bad thing. For what you get for your money is a stylish, desirable and beautifully engineered package that will retain its value better than any rival.
Land Rover Discovery Sport
From: £28,140
The Discovery Sport is a car with an identity crisis, but it’s a good crisis to have. It’s essentially Land Rover’s replacement for the Freelander, which means that it’s priced accordingly. There are two models in the range below £30k at list price, though in reality you’re bound to get a deal on a slightly more premium example. What you get for your money is a small-ish SUV that does everything the Freelander always did brilliantly well, along with quite a lot of what the outgoing Discovery did, too. That means seven seats (albeit cramped ones in the back) and peerless off-road ability. You won’t get that in a Hyundai Tucson or a Kia Sorento, but you won’t pay that much more for the Land Rover. Plus, it’ll hold its value far better. The Discovery Sport is our pick of the current Land Rover range.
Skoda Superb
From: £19,275
There’s plenty of wiggle room in our hypothetical £30k budget for the Skoda Superb, which is by far and away one of the best luxury saloons (and estates) on the market at the moment. Aside from the latest SUV models, which are great in their own right, the Superb is probably the best Skoda ever, and what’s more, our budget will get you the Superb 280, with 276bhp from its 2.0-litre turbocharged engine and four-wheel-drive. It’s a terrific car to drive, punchy, with tenacious grip and incredible spec. There are very few cars out there that come close on value.
Volkswagen Golf GTI
From: £28,320
The original, yet also still far and away the best, the latest Mk 7 iteration of the Golf GTI offers everything you could ask of it and more. Great to drive, with incredible handling, punchy performance and a choice of six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG gearboxes, it retains the traditional GTI appeal of being subtle yet also incredibly effective. There are few cars out there that are as enjoyable point-to-point, yet the GTI is also a relaxed motorway cruiser, and also a vehicle you’d feel more than at home at tootling to the shops or rocking up at a business meeting. It’s not just an all-rounder, it’s the best all-rounder out there.
Mercedes C-Class
From: £28,160
Previous generations of C-Class have failed to live up to the hype, but the latest generation more than makes up for the lacklustre offerings of 2001 to 2014. The current incarnation is exquisitely detailed and beautifully well-built. In our opinion, it even out-trumps Audi in the interior styling stakes, and that’s no mean feat. The C-Class estate is one of the most elegant load luggers in its class, too. It genuinely feels like a scaled-down S-Class limo, and in a market where it’s competing against the BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 and Jaguar XE, it has an added touch of class that makes it feel genuinely special. No wonder, then, that Mercedes is currently going great guns in the compact executive market, having stolen sales from most of its core rivals. There’s a very good reason.
Looking for a smaller budget? Here are the best cars under 10k
