Kia Rio

The KIA Rio has a unique selling proposition. It's the only 5-door Ford Focus-sized car with a UK list price of just £5,995. The same price as a tiny Daewoo Matiz and very nearly half as much as a new MINI Cooper. You can have it any colour you want as long as it's Cherry Red. But you do get a decent 74bhp 1,343cc multipoint-injected overhead-cam motor that takes the Rio to sixty in 12.6 seconds and on to a top speed of just over a hundred. And a proper manufacturer's three-year warranty, a driver's airbag, seatbelt pretensioners, body-colour bumpers, a 60/40 split-folding rear seat and plenty of luggage space. In short, a lot of car for the money.