Kia Picanto Hatchback

As well as their dinky dimensions, city cars like the Picanto live or die by their running costs. Tax rules that used to favour cars like this with cheap Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) have now been skewed to hybrids instead so that advantage has gone, though you’ll still find the Picanto a cheap car to run and insure. Official fuel consumption is on a par with rivals like the Hyundai i10 it shares many parts with, the Volkswagen Up and the Toyota Aygo though, as with all, you may not get as close to that official fuel consumption figure as you’d hope. Picanto resale values are also pretty strong, and selling them on is helped no end by a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty, so you should get a fair chunk of your initial outlay back when you come to sell.