It always seems to be a little unfair that the prime time for buying a new car in Ireland – when the new number plate kicks in, with the first 251s hitting roads on January 1st – also coincides with the time of year when many of us seem to be broke, vaguely downhearted and nursing a colossal hangover.
With that in mind, it’s surely important to maximise your motoring budget. Cars have become increasingly expensive in the past half-decade, as the world deals with energy and employment crises, and spikes in inflation. That said, there are some truly cheap and cheerful cars still on sale, and here are the five most affordable cars you can buy in Ireland right now.
One disclaimer: we’re basing this on the published list prices, and it’s not always possible to get hold of one of these cars, at list, from every dealership owing to stock levels and back-order times. That said, if your dealer can’t supply you with one of these, at the published price (leaving out delivery charges) then you should be, very pointedly, asking them why.
Dacia Spring
Cheapest list price: €16,990. Current offer of €499 per month on 0% hire purchase with no deposit
Yes, the cheapest new car on sale in Ireland right now (well, almost; we’ll come to that in a minute) is a fully electric model. Will that finally put the kybosh on the Facebook commentariat who instantly respond to any post about EVs with “they’re all too expensive, I’m sticking with my old diesel”? Probably not, but we can hope. In any case, the Dacia Spring is good enough to be able to ignore such complaints. At its starting price of €16,990 (that’s including the €3,500 SEAI grant, but minus €645 for metallic paint, and €945 for delivery charges) you get the basic Expression version, which has a mere 45hp electric motor, and a range of 225km. Fast charging? You’ll have to upgrade to the pricier €18,790 Expression 65hp model. Still, you do get air conditioning, Bluetooth phone connection, a digital instrument display, rear parking sensors, and a clever clamp on the dashboard that turns your phone into the Spring’s infotainment screen. It’s not fast, but the Spring is light (975kg; incredibly slim for an EV) and actually kind of fun to chuck around the place, although it can sometimes wallow and wobble on its soft springs. An ideal car for those who don’t drive regular long journeys and who want to run their car on buttons and pocket fluff (if you’re charging on the cheapest night rate, the Spring’s 26kWh battery could cost as little as €2.50 for a full charge).
[ Dacia Spring gives you only what you needOpens in new window ]
Fiat Panda
Cheapest list price: €17,250. Current offer of 3.9% APR finance package
Everyone’s kind of forgotten about the Fiat Panda, mostly because it’s been on sale since 2011, and even then it wasn’t an entirely new model, but a reworked version of the older 2003 Panda. Still, it’s a thoroughly good small car (if you can ignore the sitting-in-a-phone-box driving position and the non-existent Euro NCAP rating) with perky performance from a 70hp 1.0-litre hybrid engine that’s capable of returning 4.8-litres per 100km. It’s cheap, but not cheerless with an interior that actually feels better-built than you might expect, and it’s tiny dimensions and ease of parking will come as a cold-water-shock to anyone used to an SUV. Like Hugh Grant, it’s ageing but still charming, and much better value than the more obviously cute 500. Standard kit includes a seven-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, rear parking sensors, air conditioning, electric front windows, and rain sensing wipers. Fiat charges €750 for delivery, and €695 for metallic paint.
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Dacia Sandero
Cheapest list price: €18,240. Current offer of €534 per month on 0% Hire Purchase with no deposit
Little surprise that there’s two Dacias on this list, as the Franco-Romanian brand has long since been the undisputed king of motorised value. However, there’s a salient point in terms of rising car prices being made here – when Dacia first arrived in Ireland in 2013, the cost of this basic Sandero hatch would then have bought you a top-spec four-wheel-drive Duster. Nonetheless, the current Sandero represents excellent value for money simply because it no longer feels like wearing a hair shirt. The original Sandero was ruthlessly built down to a price, and could actually feel pretty miserable inside. This one doesn’t, thanks to mostly good-quality materials, plenty of space, and exterior styling that looks understatedly smart even when parked next to the likes of a VW Polo or Renault Clio. There’s a useful 328-litre boot, and the 90hp turbocharged 1.0-litre engine is peppy, although the five-speed manual gearbox feels short one ratio. Basic Essential models get LED headlights, cruise control, air conditioning, and the classic Dacia phone clamp, which turns your phone into the car’s infotainment screen. Metallic paint is €645 extra, and delivery is €945.
Kia Picanto
Cheapest list price: €18,490. Current offer of €159 per month on 0% APR PCP finance package with a deposit of €6,450
The Picanto, like the Fiat Panda, has been around a while now, although with the first versions of the current Picanto going on sale in 2017, it’s a bit younger than the Grandpa Simpson-like Fiat. Even so, it seems to come from almost another world, where people bought small, nippy, economical cars such as this instead of hulking great SUVs. The Picanto manages to look and feel a bit more sophisticated than most other cars on this list, thanks to recently updated exterior styling and a cabin that’s well put together, even if it’s largely made of relatively cheap materials. There’s only one engine choice, but that’s a peppy 63hp 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol unit, which should easily see you past the 5.0-litres per 100km barrier in daily driving. Thanks to weighing less than a tonne, the Picanto is actually rather good fun to drive, and it doesn’t even feel truly out of its depth on big motorways, although the tiny 255-litre boot is a bit of a limitation at times. Standard spec includes diddy little 14-inch alloy wheels, an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system, rear parking sensors, lane-keeping steering, cruise control, and tinted glass. Metallic paint costs €250, and Kia doesn’t quote a specific delivery charge.
[ Kia’s new Picanto wins big in the little leagueOpens in new window ]
Hyundai Inster
Cheapest list price: €18,995. Current offer of €175 per month on a 4.99% PCP finance package with a deposit of €6,648
This is the second electric car on our cheapest cars list and definitely the most sophisticated car here. If the Hyundai Inster is indicative of what’s the come in the line of compact, affordable electric cars, count us in. The styling and much of the mechanical package is filched from the Korean-market Casper petrol-powered car, but the Inster has a cute style all of its own, thanks to those expensive-looking pixel-style lights. The cabin looks and feels far more high-end than you’d expect at this price, with a pair of big 10.25-inch digital screens for instruments and infotainment. The rear cabin is also the most spacious here, thanks to sliding rear seats that allow you to trade boot space off against legroom. This basic version, with is 42kWh battery, promises a range of up to 320km, which is useful enough for most of us. Standard kit includes those screens, single zone climate control, 15-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, parking camera and lane-keeping steering. Hyundai Ireland charges a €950 dealer delivery fee, and paint options for the Inster are in the €295-€595 range.
[ Hyundai Inster: Small EV with a big personality set to shine in 2025Opens in new window ]
Wild card: Citroën Ami
Look, technically the Ami is not a car. It’s legally speaking a quadricycle and that’s why it can’t be in the overall cheapest car list. However, it does cost just €9,995, which is hardly anything if you think of it as a car, or possibly slightly too much if you think of it as an upturned plastic bathtub with the motor from a food mixer. Actually, that’s possibly a little unfair as although the Ami is necessarily ultra-simple and stripped-down to the bare basics, it does feel like a proper little car, albeit one with only two seats, a 45km/h maximum speed, and an 75km range on one charge of its tiny battery. That said, if you live in town and don’t venture on to roads wider than a city street very much, then you might just be able to get by with an Ami and it’s certainly amusing to drive. Wrap up warm if you’re buying one in January, though. Citroën charges €175 for a sticker pack (all Amis are the same basic blue-grey as that’s the colour of the plastic they’re made from), and there’s a €750 delivery fee.
[ Citroen Ami is more electric appliance than car but it’s ideal urban transportOpens in new window ]
