73: Volkswagen Up – As far as small city cars go this is hard to beat

Volkswagen’s smallest and cheapest car may be not long for this Earth. As electric cars start to swell their ranks, small and frugal cars like this will have less import for car makers in bringing their corporate average Co2 figures down.

And considering that tiny city cars sell only in tiny numbers, at a low price, but don’t cost much less to engineer… Well, you can see where this is going. Which is going to be a shame - the Up (and its Skoda and Seat cousins) is zippy, agile, fun to drive, does 50mpg everywhere, and isn’t left disgraced when you take it out on the motorway.

As far as minimalist transportation goes, it’s pretty hard to beat, actually. Only one thing is missing from the Irish lineup; the effervescent new GTI version. If that were on sale here, it might have been enough to give the Up the No.1 spot on this list…

Best model: Move Up 5dr 60hp for €14,870