Eight small used classics we found this week for the price of a new Kia Picanto

Sadly you won’t be getting the full-on Turbo for this price - or even the next five brackets, really - but you can still squeeze in a Renault 5 Gordini if your coin lands right. With just 53k on the clock and a saving of nearly four grand on the Picanto, this example makes for a wonderful investment.

It’s unsurprising the first two slots are taken up by classic French hot hatches, since this genre and this period go together like Ben and Jerry. If the Renault doesn’t quite float your boat, how’s this Peugeot 205 GTI for a swapsies? Better still it’s a convertible, so you also get the entire sky for your £12k’s worth.

Perhaps another obvious choice, but the original Volkswagen Beetle is a unanimous favourite for this list. You’re not short on examples either, with no less than 17 million Beetles squatting in each of the UK’s postcodes. Our pick is this slammed resto mod, which has been plucked straight from an ‘80s American car meet. Lovely.

OK, it’s over budget by £310, but it’s a low-slung, bright yellow, 45k-mile Porsche 914 from 1973. Surely that’s worth cheating for? It’s also been given a few sporting touches, like spotlights and racing vinyls, so it should love a country lane joyride as much as it does a proper day out on track.

Let’s keep the flamboyant theme going with a 660cc Suzuki Cappuccino which has a turbocharger bolted on to it. The list of modifications is lengthy, including an upgraded ECU, intercooler, dump valve and even, wait for it, the passenger seat from an RX-7! Surely all this amounts to a more tempting purchase than the Picanto?

It’s not easy to find a ‘Frogeye Sprite’ Austin Healey within this week’s budget, but put your very best Del Boy impression on, and you just might be able to land this example. It’s turning 65 this year, making it the oldest car on this list and, with a bit of work, one of the very best classic lightweight sports cars around too.

Oh come on, how can you not love the original Fiat 500? Small, cutesy, possibly terrifying on a motorway, you get the gist. This one’s about as close to factory fresh as you’ll find for this price too, and with cities only getting more congested and emissions regulations growing in power, the 500 could be the perfect way to stay ahead of the curve.

We urge you to click on this link for an instant dopamine shot. The Austin Mini is small enough as it is, but what if you were to make it even smaller by cutting away everything behind the seats? Well, this is what you get, and the world is a better place because of it.