An old favourite is Ford. For less than £10,000 there are two possible models to choose from. These are the Ka and the Fiesta. The Ka is a gret looking car and it is a fun car to drive. Although it is quite inexpensive it is packed full of features. It has a good sound system, power steering, good safety features, ABS and EBD, and automatic stop start technology.

Vauxhall also has two new models available for under £10,000. These are the Agila and the new Corsa three door. The Agila is an ideal city car and looks reasonably stylish. Despite its outwards appearance, there is plenty of space for five adults and there is still adequate luggage space. The Corsa also has bags of style and is very easy to drive. Despite its low price tag it is packed with features and is built to a high standard.

In the under £10,000 bracket Toyota has two models. These are the iQ and the Aygo. The iQ is tiny and comes in at less than 3 meters. It is capable of 93 mph and can return a huge 65.7 mpg. If low running costs are important to you then this 1 litre petrol engine powered car is worth considering. The Aygo is also a small car and its price tag is substantially lower than the iQ and it still comes with plenty of features. It is very economical and delivers an average fuel consumption of 61.4 mpg.

Whilst there are no new Honda models available for under £10,000 if your budget will allow it is worth considering the Honda Jazz which has a list price of a little over £11,000 but with some haggling you should be able to pick one up for close to £10,000. It has good looks, is fully featured and has an economy of 53 mpg.

It was Toyota who used that line “the car in front” and although Toyota is probably not in front at the moment, being in the car in front is something that appeals to our fundamental nature.

A problem with having the best car on the block, or if not the best one then one that people will take notice of, is that it an extremely expensive thing to do if we wish to buy it. Without going over the top, buying a relatively modest car is an expensive thing to do. Even a standard Honda Accord will cost us nearly £22,000 at the showroom. If we took out a loan to pay for it over a three year period it would cost us between £700 and £750 a month.

There is a solution though, and that is Personal Contract Hire. This is an alternative to purchasing a car in which we lease cars for a specific period and after that period return it to the company that we leased it from. If we look at how much it would cost to sort a Honda car leasing agreement, (we are using the online leasing price calculator that is available for free at www.frontierleasing.co.uk) then we can see that with a three year contract it would cost us only £400, a massive saving of over £300 a month.