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Driving in the city can be challenging, especially if you’re commuting through traffic and congestion or if you need to park in a tight space.
Not all cars are best suited to an urban environment, which is why those who commute to cities choose to get a city car.
These cars have features and characteristics that best suit the urban environment and offer a driving experience that excels on these roads.
If you’re looking for a new car best suited to city driving, we at Car Adviser have taken a detailed look at some of the best city cars available in the UK for you to choose from.
These are the top 10 best city cars you can buy in 2024 according to our team:
Driving in an urban area, be that a large town or a major city, can be challenging and uncomfortable in the wrong car.
Specific models and car types are much better suited for that environment thanks to a few particular features and specifications that they have.
City cars are defined as vehicles that are compact and small. This makes them well-suited for inner-city driving because it can make it easier to nip through traffic and get into tight parking spaces.
As many cities have narrow lanes and roads, things can get uncomfortable when driving through a town in a larger saloon, estate, or SUV car. Superminis and smaller hatchbacks make the best city cars and should be the body type you look out for.
Size isn’t all that makes a good city car, though, as there are plenty of other factors you should consider when choosing the best car for you. One of them is the car’s emission level.
Many major cities and towns in the UK are now operating a low emission zone that charges drivers a daily rate for entering the area with a car with too high emissions.
If you’re in the market for a city car to dart around town, you’ll want to find a model that produces low enough emissions to avoid this charge.
There’s no universal minimum requirement, as each city will have its own criteria for what’s eligible, so check any potential cars against your area’s emission level requirements.
As emission levels get stricter and stricter over time, many people driving in the city have switched to hybrid or electric cars, which could be a good option for you.
Don’t disregard practicality when getting a city car too. There’s no point in getting an agile, small, and easy-to-drive car for your commutes and shopping trips if the storage space isn’t big enough to load anything. The best city cars will be the ones that are still small and compact yet offer reasonable storage space.
Finally, a good city car will be an option that is relatively cheap to buy and run. Some of the best city cars you can get are very affordable when bought second-hand or through a car finance package, and you should also be able to find models with high mileage to the gallon. This will mean you can make more trips from A to B without filling up, saving you money in the long run.
With these characteristics defined, here’s a look at some of the top 10 city cars, according to us here at Car Adviser.
Easily one of the most popular city cars of all time, you’ll find these cars darting about town no matter what area you’re in. The reason is that these cars are quality city cars, prioritising driving performance and handling to make them easy to manoeuvre.
They’re beloved by new and experienced drivers alike because of how accessible they are, but they are also an attractive option thanks to their looks That said, much like many other city cars, this little wagon is compact and only comes with room for one passager, making them unsuitable for families. If you need a little more space, you can get the 500L, although getting it does remove some of the charms from the classic model.
For those who want to be conscious about the environment while driving, the Fiat 500 also comes with an electric option, allowing you to zip around town while producing no emissions. This version maintains its typical performance, making it a decent electric car choice.
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If you’re looking for a city car that’s amazing to drive, then the up! may be the best option for you. Thanks to its brilliant quality chassis, this option outclasses other city cars of the same category and price point, making it an outstanding option and easily one of the best city cars you can get.
Unlike many other city cars, the Volkswagen up! is well suited to driving down country lanes as it is city roads, making it a good option if your area is a bit more rural. It handles bumpy roads and remains comfortable even when cruising at higher speeds.
The tailgate is all glass, allowing drivers brilliant visibility, which is excellent for reversing and comes as either a five-door or a three-door, meaning you can get a version that suits your requirements.
The up! also has an electric variety, saving you a bit of money in town, although this model is expensive. The up! also lacks features, as it doesn’t have an infotainment system which can make even new models feel outdated.
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The standard Toyota Aygo is a much-adored supermini and has been a favourite for students and city drivers thanks to its nimble driving style and suitability to urban environments. That said, the Aygo isn’t the most practical car and needs more boot or passenger space.
That’s where the Aygo X takes the slack. New in 2021, the Aygo X takes all that the British public loves about the Aygo and gives it the styling of a crossover.
Not only does this make the Aygo X spacier, but it provides the car with a higher driving position, too, making it a lot easier to see the road ahead of you, which aids inner-city driving.
The Aygo X also has a much better chassis than most city cars, allowing it to soak up bumps and potholes to create a smoother driving experience.
The car has a striking look and will turn heads, with its SUV-inspired side bumpers being a key visual component. Despite being bigger, the passenger seats are still noticeably tight, making them virtually ineffective at transporting passengers.
As it’s new, there are also not many options on the second-hand car market just yet, meaning you’ll have to spend the big bucks to buy this new.
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The Kia Picanto sits on the cusp of being classified as a city car. This is because the car has a big car kit list, is supremely spacious, and is very well put together with quality materials, helping it to stand out in the city car category and become a slight anomaly.
For city drivers looking for a compact car that also offers some practicality, the Kia Picanto is a great option, as it can fit a few passengers and has a good amount of room in the boot for shopping, suitcases, and other items.
If you’re getting a more modern Kia Picanto, you’ll benefit from an improved engine that meets most cities’ low-emission standards, making it a great option for drivers who want to avoid this charge.
Kia also offers a massive seven-year warranty with their cars, meaning that you’ll be able to get the vehicle fixed and maintained for a long time for free, providing that you keep up with the recommended servicing. This is another way you can save money with the Picanto.
The driving performance is also pretty good for Picanto. Although not jaw-dropping, the top range models have 99bhp, giving it a good amount of thrust from a standstill, making it a fun car to drive in the city. That said, it can feel a bit sluggish if you opt for a mid-range option with no turbo engine.
The car also comes with multiple safety features, such as blind-spot collision avoidance assist, lane-keeping assist, and a driving warning attention system, to name a few. This helps make the car safe to drive either on the motorway or in town.
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The Hyundai i10 is a fantastic option when looking for a city car that offers it all, and it has what it takes to be the best city car you can get right now. This vehicle excels in this category because it bucks the trend and goes against the grain.
The i10 is a small hatchback, meaning that it’s typically a lot larger than some other options. Despite its size, it has a lower carbon footprint than some popular city cars, making it cheap to tax while also avoiding emission charges.
The savings do not stop there, as the i10 also has excellent fuel economy, meaning that you will be spending less on petrol, helping to make this car affordable to run and own.
It’s also very easy to drive, with an intuitive biting point and good handling. You can get the car as an automatic or manual; however, the automatic isn’t the smoothest of drives thanks to utilising an automated manual gearbox. It’s also basic on the inside, putting off those looking for a premium car.
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The Renault Zoe is a great starting point if you already have one eye for the future and are ready to embrace the electric revolution.
The Zoe has good driving performance and power for an electric car and can nip about on city roads comfortably. It’s automatic, meaning you don’t have to think about bothering with gears, and it’s also a super quiet car, helping you relax when behind the wheel.
If getting a Zoe made after 2019, it’ll have a range of around 245 miles off a single charge. This is great for frequent short trips and could mean you won’t have to charge the device for up to a week.
That said, the Zoe isn’t a great option if you’re making longer trips regularly, as its mileage may mean you have to recharge the car more often, which could be a pain.
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If you’re looking for something different, then the Suzuki Ignis is an intriguing option as a city car. Styled as a squished SUV, the Ignis provides a good amount of interior space and can seat adults in the passenger seats.
Its SUV body also helps to provide a higher driving position, giving the driver a supreme view of the road in front of them, which can make driving in the city easier.
Don’t be put off by its SUV inspiration because the Ignis actually has a surprisingly small footprint which is similar to the Volkswagen up!. Parking is pretty easy in the car, as it can easily fit into tight spots.
The SHVS versions also use a small battery to convert wasted energy when breaking to give the car a bit of added oomph. Models without this tech may feel a bit slow, and the interior can be basic and fall short when compared to what’s offered by other options.
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The Viva covers all that someone will look for when searching for a city car. It’s a low-cost option to buy, especially when you search the second-hand market, and it also comes with low running costs.
It offers a very accessible driving experience, making it well suited to new and experienced drivers, and it should be easy to handle and control in city environments.
Admittedly, nothing is exciting about the Viva, and it fails to excel in any category that makes a city car great. Instead, it’s okay at just about everything, which is why it’s a good, reliable option.
It offers enough room, a good drive, is cheap, and has all the basic features you’ll expect from a city car.
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The Honda E is a fabulous electric option for those looking for a city car. Bucking the trend in the field of electric vehicles by being very compact, the Honda E is a good option if you’re looking to easily filter through city traffic.
Despite being small, the electric car is mighty and handles and rides as a larger car would, giving it a good feeling of class and sophistication. It feels fast to drive and offers a lot of horsepower, which can sometimes make you forget that you’re driving an electric.
Despite excelling in this area that many electric cars fail at, it does have a striking weakness. The Honda E offers very low mileage, only lasting around 100 miles until it needs to recharge. This means that this electric city car can only exclusively be used for short trips around town.
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Dacia isn’t a brand that’s first to an innovation, typically lagging behind to play it safe with cars that meet the accepted standards. This means that Dacia’s foray into electric vehicles with the Spring comes as a surprise, especially as it’s emerged as a great city car option.
Dacia has always been a budget option, even when buying new, and the Spring is the same as it’s intended to be used as a cheap urban runaround.
With an SUV-influenced body, the driving position is relatively high, giving you a good road view. It’s also fairly large for a city car, which can make it tough to manoeuvre sometimes, but it does mean that it’s one of the best city cars in terms of practicality.
It lasts longer than the Honda E, with a more useful 140 miles per charge. Although it’s still best suited to shorter trips, it can be trusted for a long journey every once in a blue moon.
The issue with the Dacia Spring is that it’s not yet available in the UK due to supply issues, but when it becomes available, it’s an option you should consider.
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City cars are most suited for dedicated driving in urban areas that are typically congested and that are at low speeds. Most will struggle on faster roads, meaning that they may not be a good option if you're commute to work involves a lot of frequent motorway driving.
If you're living in a city or large town, and will only be using the car for short trips to other locations in the area, then a city car is best suited for your lifestyle. However, if you often make longer tips, then you may prefer having something with more space and power.
You also need to consider your family situation to see if a city car is suitable. As they're compact, they're only best suited to solo drivers or, at a push, a couple. If you're looking for a car to ferry children, family members, or friends, think about larger, more practical options.
If you're looking to avoid paying any low emission charges when driving in the city, then getting an electric or even hybrid car is a great option, as they have no, or next to nothing, emissions. That said, they're not a requirement, and there are still many great petrol and even diesel city cars that are below most towns' low-emission criteria.
In the past, getting an electric car would have meant that you'd pay no road tax, which was a massive benefit for getting an electric vehicle, as it would have made owning a car much cheaper. However, from April 2025, electric vehicles will now have to pay road tax in Britain, meaning they're now not the shrewd investment they once were.
If you find a good quality electric car that's practical for you, then there's no reason it can't make a good city car. However, you don't need to look exclusively for these vehicles when getting the best city car.
A car only needs to meet one criterion to be considered a city car, which is that it needs to be small. Typically, car body types such as hatchbacks and superminis will be regarded as city cars.
That said, a few other factors go into making a car a good choice as a city car. This includes things like having good gas mileage, low emission outputs, and decent performance.
City cars are typically budget options, so they should be a relatively inexpensive type of car to get. You should expect a low price for a city price because they usually have low specs, have smaller engines, and are compact, meaning that fewer resources are needed to make them.
When buying new city cars, you'll likely have to pay a lump sum of around £20,000, which models like the Fait 500 coming in at that price point. That said, there is always the opportunity to get a cheaper option, with budget brands like Dacia offering new cars for under £10,000.
When scouring the second-hand market, you'll find many well-priced city cars. That said, it may not be in your best interest to get one older than 2010, as these models could lack the build quality and safety features that have become standard in modern iterations.
When compared generally against other types of cars, city cars usually come out as one of the safest vehicles to drive in. Many models considered city cars have been declared the safest cars on the market thanks to their array of safety features and sizes.
When first introduced back in the day, city cars were fundamental and poorly made, making them not good at protecting passengers if they were in a crash.
These days, city cars will include all the safety features that larger models will have, and some may even contain more. This helps to make city cars incredibly safe to drive and is reflected in how these vehicles usually come with lower insurance premiums.
As city cars are designed to be small and easy to drive in the city, it's best to avoid larger vehicles that can be more tricky to manoeuvre in this environment. Although you should be fine in estate cars and other mid-sized models, larger cars like electric SUVs and people carriers will not perform well when driven exclusively in the city.
Plus, you also want to stay away from fuel-guzzling options. This is because city driving is very demanding for your fuel, thanks to all the breaking and accelerating required to navigate town. Avoid all cars with a low fuel economy, as this will force you to pay more for maintenance.
In the past, city cars were cheap, confined vehicles that lacked build quality and that suffered in performance when compared to other types of cars. This has created a harmful reputation in that city cars are weak and low-quality, which isn't the case anymore.
Many city cars are now capable machines, reaching good speeds while accelerating with pace. Most of them are also very good at handling, thanks to their low weight and small size. This can make quite a few of these cars fun to drive.
Due to their generally small size, many city cars have a reasonably low driving position compared to taller SUVs and other options. This can mean that you may see less of the road, but they still offer good visibility. As many city cars use simple body kits to maintain their cheapness, things like suspension and the chassis can be stiff and bumpy and may not be the most comfortable when driving at high speeds on A roads or motorways.
City cars will typically still struggle to perform as well as luxury saloon, coupe, or estate cars, and may not have the speed to keep up with these models. However, the gap in quality has significantly decreased over time, meaning that city cars are still fun and capable cars to drive.
Due to the constant stop-start nature of city driving, especially during high traffic periods, the frequent acceleration and braking will mean that your car isn't as efficient as if it was driving smoothly on a highway.
This is why it's such a good idea to invest in a city car with good gas mileage, as it will mean that despite engaging in this driving that's bad for fuel consumption, it should still last a long time until it needs to be refuelled again.
There are many reasons why city cars are more accessible to drive in town and other urban environments than other types of cars. The main reason is that they're small and compact. This can make turning into tight lanes and driving among traffic a lot easier, as you take up less space in the road and usually have a tighter turning circle.
The smaller size of city cars also means that they're easier to park and manoeuvre, meaning that you can put yourself into tighter parking bays and find parallel parking much simpler.
City cars also provide a good level of visibility, as there's a lot of window space, meaning that you can comfortably see the rear and sides of the car when driving, helping you to assess better what's going on around you.
Due to the nature of city driving, with a lot of breaking and accelerating, it does mean that cars used for this type of driving will experience faster deterioration and wear and tear more so than cars that are going on longer, smoother journeys.
As a result, you may find that your city car requires more servicing and repairs to maintain a good condition for a long time. This should be fine for modern versions, as the build quality and material used are generally much better than what was used in the past. However, they still have a greater risk of breaking down and needing additional maintenance.
By keeping up with the recommended services for your model, you should be able to make a city car last and be reliable.