Cheap fast cars 2024 – the best budget performance cars on the market
If you buy right and do your research, you can bag a genuine performance car for as little as £2500. Here are our top second hand picks
Bang for your buck. It's an American term, but it’s hard to think of a better phrase to describe the concept of getting a lot of performance for not a lot of cash.
In today’s world of £50k Civic Type Rs and £85k BMW M3s, it seems like obtainable performance cars are thin on the ground, but there’s still a host of affordable evo icons available on the used market. We've gone in search of models that can be bought, maintained and enjoyed relatively cheaply.
Set yourself an upper limit of £10,000 – about £4k less than a new Dacia Sandero – and you’ll find everything from V8 bruisers to lightweight roadsters, with top speeds in excess of 150mph and 0-60mph times beginning with fives and sixes.
We’ve trawled through the classifieds to pick a range of models that start from just £1000, and cover a wide range of performance and practicality considerations. This isn’t a buying guide, but where appropriate you’ll find links to cars we’ve covered in more depth elsewhere.
Consider it more of a shopping list – a selection to tempt you when you want to park something a little more exciting alongside your financed family wagon, or if you’re ready to take the plunge into ownership of your first proper evo car.
Top ten cheap fast cars 2024
- Mini Cooper S (R53)
- Renault Sport Clio 172
- Toyota MR2 (Mk3)
- Ford Fiesta ST (Mk7)
- Volkswagen Golf GTI (Mk5)
- Porsche Boxster S (986)
- Mazda MX-5 (ND)
- Renault Sport Megane 265
- Vauxhall Monaro
- Honda Integra Type R (DC2)
Mini Cooper S (R53)
The original BMW Mini has become something of an icon in its own right, and in Cooper S form, it's one of the best affordable hot hatches you can buy. 168bhp might not sound like a lot in today’s world of 400bhp+ mega hatches, but when it’s pushing just 1140kg, the results can be rather exciting. Particularly with the kick of a supercharger under your right shoe.
Early R53 Cooper S’s have a raw edge to them compared to later cars; they feel smaller and less grown up, and sometimes a little uncouth in terms of their ride quality. The flip side is that the R53’s four-square, roll free cornering stance gives it a pugnacious attitude and sense of fun that can be addictive. Plentiful supply on the used market makes them very affordable, too – just £2500 will bag you a decent example.
Renault Sport Clio 172
While not ‘fast’ in the way some other cars on this list might be, a car as small as the Clio packed with a 170bhp 2-litre engine isn’t what you might call slow, either. Early phase 1 172s are rare these days (easily identified by their softer styling and 15-inch OZ wheels), but phase 2 cars are plentiful and inexpensive – you can pick one up for as little as £3500.
The 172 (and later 182) doesn’t just excel on track though, as they’re equally at home on B-roads. A basic 172 takes barely longer than seven seconds to hit 62mph and there’s good feedback from the controls. Desirable Cup versions are lighter (1011kg) with less kit (there was no ABS) and are even better to drive.
> Renault Sport Clio 172 review
Toyota MR2 (Mk3)
Most people gravitate towards the Mazda MX-5 when looking for a sub-£4k roadster, but the truth is, Toyota’s third-generation MR2 is a more satisfying driver’s car when compared to the NB MX-5. It feels tauter, more agile and more keyed into the road – in fact, it’s hard to think of anything that matches its honest, back-to-basics thrills for the money.
The MR2 is packaged tightly around its mid-engined layout, leaving you with a tiny front boot area; it’s achilles heel as an everyday sports car. But if you can get past that, the purity of the driving experience is wonderful – the MR2 treads lightly across the ground on relatively skinny tyres, encouraging the driver to use every drop of power from its 1.8-litre engine to pick apart the road. As an entry point to sports car ownership it doesn’t get much better.
Ford Fiesta ST (Mk7)
Ford axed the Fiesta ST last year, but fear not – the hot hatch hall-of-famer is still available on the used market, and presents fantastic value in Mk7 form. A tidy ST will set you back around £5k, and makes for a brilliant everyday hot supermini and potential track car to boot.
A gutsy 1.6-litre turbo engine characterises the ST, giving it the classic ‘small car, big engine’ feel and the ability to surprise some purpose built sports cars. To drive, the Mk7 is a hoot, with a sharp front end that bites into the road and sometimes has the rear swinging around to follow it. Its damping is well judged too, providing excellent control without shattering into every bump and crevice in the road. For what the Fiesta lacks in cabin quality and badge kudos, it more than makes up for by being so richly rewarding to drive.
Volkswagen Golf GTI (Mk5)
Even when it launched back in 2004, the Mk5 Golf GTI wasn’t the most exciting hot hatch on the planet, nor the fastest. But it was – and remains – one of the very best Golf GTIs of the breed. evo’s Henry Catchpole summed it up after running one for a year: ‘The beauty of a hot hatch is that it can carry five people, do a trip to the Continent, swallow the shopping and still entertain if you decide to take the interesting way home from the shops. And none does it better than the Golf.’
There’s no shortage of used GTIs on the market, but equally, there are plenty of leggy examples out there. Around £7500 will get you into a Mk5 with sensible mileage, making for an ideal daily hot hatch that covers all bases with performance to spare. Edition 30 models are available for £1-2k more, coming with a 227bhp engine rather than the standard 197bhp unit.
> Volkswagen Golf GTI (Mk5) review
Porsche Boxster S (986)
evo first drove the 986 Porsche Boxster S way back in issue 011, and gave it the full five stars straight off the bat. It’s not too difficult to see why; while the regular 986 was ever so slightly down on power compared to its rivals, the 3.2-litre S took power from 204bhp to 252bhp and torque from 181lb ft to 225lb ft. Big increases, and enough for 161mph flat out, with a 5.9sec 0-60mph sprint.
Today they’re temptingly affordable too – you can get a tidy manual S for £7k – thanks in part to concerns about the longevity of Porsche’s early water-cooled flat-sixes. IMS bearing failure is the most notorious fault, but find one with the remedial work carried out and you’ll get a sweet mid-engined chassis and plenty of performance for the money.
> Porsche Boxster S (986) review
Mazda MX-5 (ND)
It might be well over three decades since the original Mazda MX-5 arrived, but the latest ND model follows firmly in the wheel tracks of its forefather in terms of philosophy. Despite coming loaded with modern tech and safety equipment, the ND is less than 100kg heavier than the original, and nails the basics of a great roadster.
It’s not a precision driving tool in the way that a Toyota GR86 is, but there’s plenty of fun to be had in the MX-5’s rear-drive balance, the quality of its gearshift and the sense of lightness that’s permeated through the car. Eight grand can secure a 2014 MX-5 with the smaller 1.5-litre engine, and while its 129bhp output is modest to say the least, the raspiness and rev-hungry nature of the engine makes it a joy to use (unless you’re planning on going anywhere fast, of course).
Renault Sport Megane 265
Renault Sport has dominated the hot hatch scene throughout the years, and while the Megane RS that arrived in 2009 didn’t garner the same iconic status as its predecessor, it’s still a hoot drive. Seriously fast too, particularly in 265 form. With a 261bhp 2-litre engine it gets to 62mph in six seconds flat, and a chassis that makes extracting all that performance a joy.
The Megane RS is highly entertaining on both road and track, particularly in Cup form. Early 265 Cups just about squeeze below £10k, and you’ll struggle to find a more competent and engaging hot hatch for less.
> Renault Sport Megane 265 review
Vauxhall Monaro
Fast cars don’t come much more honest than this: a coupe body, 5.7-litre V8 up front, manual gearbox and power to the rear wheels. The Vauxhall Monaro is, as you might imagine, rather brisk: sub-six seconds to 62mph, and 160mph-plus if you find a long enough stretch of derestricted road.
We drove the regular V8 Monaro (rather than the VXR version) in issue 081, frustrated by its relatively subtle soundtrack (easily fixed) and stodgy steering (not so easily fixed), but still rather taken with its easy-going performance and understated appearance. Four stars was the result, but for around £10,000 in today’s money, the appeal of Holden’s Vauxhall-badged muscle car has grown significantly. Good luck finding a more charismatic V8 coupe for less.
Honda Integra Type R (DC2)
The DC2 Integra Type R is a bonafide evo icon, and one of the greatest front-wheel drive performance cars of all time. It has a precision-built 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine that generates 187bhp on its way to an 8000rpm redline, and there’s an air of motorsport in everything from the figure-hugging Recaro seats to the cold-to-touch silver metal gear knob. That you can pick one up for £10k these days seems like cheating.
It takes some time to get used to the Type R’s appetite for revs and the relative softness of its chassis, but the rewards are there for the taking once you get stuck in. The Integra is alive, mobile and adjustable beneath you, and one of the truly great driver’s cars – front-wheel drive or otherwise.
> Honda Integra Type R (DC2) review
