The best used automatics under £30,000
Six cars that change their own gears, from a £10,250 supermini to a nearly-new electric SUV. Chosen from the 258,020 automatics Indexa holds, driven back to back over two weeks, and ranked by one person who will tell you why.
In this collection
- 01Leapmotor C10 Design
- 02Volkswagen Golf R-Line
- 03BMW 330e SE Saloon
- 04Range Rover Evoque SE
- 05Ford Fiesta Zetec
- 06Vauxhall Corsa Limited Ed.
Written by Rae Holloway, motoring editor
14years testing cars37collections written for Indexa0never paid by a seller
The seam
What the index supplied
- Every price and count here
- The 258,020 automatics figure
- Each model's price spread
- How long each record sat unsold
- Which sellers re-check on time
What a person decided
- The £30,000 ceiling
- That a Corsa belongs beside an Evoque
- The order they appear in
- What to leave out
- Every sentence that is not a number
Figures: nightly, automatic. Judgements: 2 September 2026, Rae Holloway.
Leapmotor C10 Design
The one to buyNothing else under thirty thousand pounds gives you this much car. Two thousand miles, one owner, a 261-mile battery and a warranty that runs to 2030 — and it costs less than a three-year-old Golf with twice the mileage. The catch is the badge: Leapmotor has been selling in Britain for eighteen months, and the index holds 418 of them against 46,640 Volkswagens. If you can charge at home and you do not mind explaining what it is, it is the best value on this list by a distance.
View the record · IX-2025-27450- What the index holds
- 418 C10 records
- Price spread
- £24,900 – £33,300
- This record sits
- 45th cheapest of 186
- Typical days listed
- 31
- Seller re-checks
- on time, 12 of 12
£366 / month
Volkswagen Golf R-Line
The answer if you only want to think about this once. The DSG is the smoothest twin-clutch at the money, 3,910 sit in the index so you can be fussy about colour and history, and nothing here is cheaper to put right when it goes wrong.
- In the index
- 3,910 records
- Price spread
- £18,400 – £29,900
- Typical days listed
- 24
BMW 330e SE Saloon
The most car for the least money on this list, and the only one that does the school run on electricity and the motorway on petrol. It is a private sale at 39,200 miles, so budget for an inspection — 1,204 in the index means you can walk away from a bad one.
- In the index
- 1,204 records
- Price spread
- £12,900 – £24,600
- Typical days listed
- 38
Range Rover Evoque SE
Here the index and I disagree. On price per litre of boot it is the strongest thing under fourteen thousand pounds. Having run one, I would tell you the eD4 engine is the reason it is that cheap. Buy it with the full history this record has, or do not buy it.
- In the index
- 2,140 records
- Price spread
- £9,800 – £26,400
- Typical days listed
- 45
Ford Fiesta Zetec
The small one that is genuinely good to drive. 6,280 in the index, which is why you should refuse the first three you see and hold out for a one-owner car like this. Check the record says six-speed automatic, not the older Powershift.
- In the index
- 6,280 records
- Price spread
- £6,900 – £16,800
- Typical days listed
- 19
Vauxhall Corsa Limited Ed.
The cheapest way into an automatic that is not a gamble: 31,400 miles, full history, £180 a month. It is not exciting and it is not trying to be. This is the one to buy if the car is a tool.
- In the index
- 5,470 records
- Price spread
- £5,400 – £15,200
- Typical days listed
- 22
19,422records across these six models ·258,020automatics in the index ·452,681records in total · sellers who paid to appear here:0
Monthly figures are each seller's own quote, not a common formula — which is why the Leapmotor's looks low for its price.
Porsche Macan GTS
Over the ceiling, and that is the only thing wrong with it. It is the best automatic in the index at any money — it is not under £30,000.
1,190Macan records
Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DIG-T DCT
Three of the eleven cars we drove hesitated pulling out of a junction. The index agrees in its own way: they sit 61 days against a 27-day average for the class.
16,940Nissan records
Audi A3 Sportback S tronic
Nothing at all wrong with it. It is the Golf underneath, and across the index it asks about £2,100 more for the badge on the front.
31,120Audi records
Ford Puma Titanium
The automatic comes only on the mild hybrid, and the index holds 41 of those under £30,000 within fifty miles of a typical buyer. Too thin a shelf to send anyone to.
41within 50 miles
Toyota Corolla Touring Sports
The most reliable car in this whole exercise and the least interesting to drive. If that is a trade you want, take it — 20,310 Toyotas sit in the index and they do not go wrong.
20,310Toyota records
| Car | Boot | Seats | Real economy | Insurance | In the index | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Leapmotor C10 Design | 435 L | 5 | 3.4 mi / kWh | 32E | 418 | £27,450 |
| 02 Volkswagen Golf R-Line | 380 L | 5 | 47 mpg | 22E | 3,910 | £24,750 |
| 03 BMW 330e SE Saloon | 375 L | 5 | 45 mpg + 35 mi EV | 28E | 1,204 | £16,750 |
| 04 Range Rover Evoque SE | 591 L | 5 | 45 mpg | 33E | 2,140 | £13,950 |
| 05 Ford Fiesta Zetec | 292 L | 5 | 52 mpg | 14E | 6,280 | £11,495 |
| 06 Vauxhall Corsa Limited Edition | 309 L | 5 | 50 mpg | 11E | 5,470 | £10,250 |
Outlinedmarks the best figure in its column · orange marks a figure the index itself asserts · boot, economy and insurance are manufacturer figures, not the index's
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