James Ruppert: Interesting cars that won't break the bank

You may not be planning on buying a car, but fate can have other ideas. So when some carelessly distributed builder’s rubble takes out the sump on your prized Volkswagen Golf 4Motion, suddenly you become very interested in the used car market. You may be wanting, like my pal with said dead Golf, a characterful replacement that is cheap and possibly Ultra Low Emission Zone-friendly – and that means petrol power.

As an almost reflex action, I am drawn to just about any BMW 3 Series from previous eras. They are stylish and mostly reliable when looked after properly. I came across a 2005 318i coupé from 2005 with 120,000 miles and a service history for just £1400. When I went back to check on its progress, no one had bothered buying it, so presumably the dealer would be keen to sell at, say, £1200.

Sticking with BMW and going for a Compact on the grounds that it is an equivalent hatchling to the Golf, £1450 buys a 2004 318ti. They actually look quite distinctive these days. This one had a fresh MOT and two keys, which counts for quite a lot. The car had 125,000 miles and looked very tidy, and this was another that had spent a month on the forecourt with no serious movement. Maybe a pattern is emerging.

To complete the trio of BMWs, next up is a 1 Series at similar money. This was a 2008 116i ES with 156,000 miles, and it’s another out-there design that has matured nicely. It’s practically hatchbacked with a couple of extra doors compared with the other Bavarians.

As a break I switched to Audi A3s, which are not always cheap to sort out when they become affordable. So a 124,000-mile 2004 2.0 FSI Sport at £1500 certainly seemed worth a closer look. The condition was tidy and the history was apparently full and all stamped up. Just the one previous owner was the possible dealmaker and the 17in alloys made it all look very pretty.

So far, so German, then, but I do like a certain old-model Swede as the perky hatchback choice. The Volvo C30 is much missed, by me at least. This example was a 2008 1.6 R-Design Sport, so it looks the part. It had 131,000 miles and, like all the others, had an awful lot going for it, not least the fact that it had a dealer warranty, if only a short one.