With parts, knowledge, and community easier to find than ever thanks to the internet, there’s probably never been a better time to buy your first classic car. After a mad flurry of activity in the classic market following the pandemic, things have settled down a bit now too, so some of the most recognisable classics on the road are relatively affordable.
Below we’ve selected a handful of cars that we believe are the best starter classics, blending entertaining driving characteristics with manageable pricing, easy maintenance and broad communities that can step in with help and advice as you find your feet.
Volkswagen Beetle
The Beetle has several factors on its side as a starter classic. It was, and still is, ubiquitous – the most numerous single model ever built – and while numbers have thinned significantly, by classic standards it’s still very common, which makes them easy to find. Their popularity also means there’s an enormous, global community around the cars for advice and social events, and also a vast aftermarket, to the extent you can virtually rebuild a car from scratch, let alone maintain it.
Maintenance is particularly simple on the Beetle too. The rear-engined layout makes mechanical parts fairly easy to access, and for the ones that aren’t, the arrangement, plus the fact the Beetle’s air-cooled so there isn’t any coolant to deal with, makes it one of the easiest cars of all from which to unbolt and drop out the engine entirely for bigger jobs. Throw in the fact the Beetle is robust, and unique to drive, and it makes a lot of sense as someone’s first classic.
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Citroën 2CV
Almost everything that applies to the Beetle can also be said of the Citroën 2CV. Another prewar design that survived for decades afterwards and sold in the millions, the 2CV is if anything even simpler than the Beetle. It’s got half the number of cylinders for a start, and working on the flat twin engine is a doddle, helped by being able to remove most of the metalwork around it. Like the Beetle, the engine design is reliable and long-lasting, too.
The rest of the car is more flyweight in nature than the chunky-feeling VW but that’s part of its charm, and the 2CV’s legendarily plush ride quality and strong roadholding are both qualities the Beetle can’t hope to match. Performance of even the later, larger-engined cars is modest, even compared to the hardly ballistic VW, but few accessible classics feel as happy driven to their limits and beyond. Roll back the fabric roof and you also have a convertible; 2CVs are a genuine pleasure on warm days.
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Morris Minor
Continuing the people’s car theme, the Austin and Morris Minis would be an obvious choice here, but really it’s the Morris Minor that fulfils that role the best. It’s often considered Britain’s favourite classic, a familiar sight at car shows, and one major advantage it has over the Mini is that you can get a nice Minor for a lot less money; there are downsides to being a fashion icon, and the Mini’s high prices are one of its biggest drawbacks.
Most Minors use a similar BMC A-Series engine to the Mini though, and this well-understood design is both easy to find parts for and easy to work on – possibly even more so in this longitudinal application, since the Minor is rear-wheel drive. The drivetrain layout also makes the Minor an unexpected hoot to drive; it’s famously the car in which Tiff Needell learned to drift around corners, the torquey A-Series, excellent rack and pinion steering, and skinny tyres making you feel like Jim Clark on the way to the shops. It’s also a bit of a darling to look at (the Minor, though Tiff’s alright too) and there’s plenty of support from classic car clubs. Practical, too, thanks to the bubble-shaped cabin and a large boot.
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MGB
If the Minor is the default British starter classic then the MGB is its sports-car equivalent. It’s another familiar face at car shows across the country (and popular in the US too, which was an enormous market for MG throughout the 1950s to the 1970s), and while that familiarity has bred contempt from some, its status as the go-to classic sports car has arguably been usurped by the Mazda MX-5. Today the MGB could almost be considered the alternative choice, and prices have remained fairly static for over a decade, rather than rocketing out of reach as some other roadsters and coupes of the period have done.
The B’s B-Series engine is no high-revving screamer but it propels the car with reasonable gusto, and it’s also simple to work on and nearly as well-supported as the smaller A-Series engine. It’s another car that you can pretty much build from scratch, with everything up to and including a whole new shell available, budget permitting. Throw in two distinct body styles – a roadster and the GT coupe – as well as the availability of six (in the MGC) and eight (MGB V8) cylinder engines, and the B covers all the bases.
Mazda MX-5
Just as the MGB once became a little too familiar, mention of the Mazda MX-5 must also be wearing thin for some. But like the MGB, its popularity is entirely justified; it’s a sports car for the people, one that is affordable to almost everybody and can be enjoyed by anybody that fits. It long ago eclipsed the MGB’s 18-year production run (as of 2026, the MX-5 has been sold for 37 years across four generations), and has more than doubled the B’s sales tally, with production numbers somewhere in the 1.2 million range.
As far as classics go the first and second generations (1989 to 1997, 1998 to 2005) are currently the models that best fit the definition, though at more than twenty years old, the third generation is creeping towards classic status, too. All are as good as unburstable mechanically but their lives can be cut short by something familiar to owners of the older British and Italian roadsters that the MX-5 apes: rust. Handling and performance is half way between an MGB and a twin-cam Lotus Elan, but a vast aftermarket means they can be tweaked well beyond the scope of either. Their reliability, excellent handling, and welcoming community make them the ideal starter sports car.
BMW 3-Series (E30)
If you prefer rear-wheel drive classics with a German flavour then the E30 generation BMW 3-Series most comprehensively fits the bill. Its value as a starter classic is decreasing as prices go the other direction, but to paraphrase a well-known saying, if the best time to buy an E30 was fifteen years ago, the second best time is now. For a truly classic BMW, before airbags, flush-fitting windows, and low-profile tyres, the E30 remains one of the more affordable ways into the marque.
M3 and the Golf GTI-rivalling 318is excepted (the former is outrageously expensive now, the latter mildly so), it’s the four-cylinder models that make most sense as starter classics, both for their lower price tags, and the pure pragmatism of their simplicity. The 316 (both carburetted and injected) and 318i are not fast cars but the four-pots are torquey and smooth, and still punchy enough to occasionally cause clammy palms when the trailing arm rear suspension relinquishes grip. But E30s feel beautifully built, they remain incredibly handsome (regardless of body style: two- and four-door saloons, five-door Touring, and two-door convertible) and they can be used daily too, which goes some way to justifying their increasing values.
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Peugeot 205
If one vehicle is as beloved in France as the Citroën 2CV, it’s the Peugeot 205. Introduced in 1983, it lasted sixteen years and amassed nearly 5.3million units in that time, more than the 5.1 million the 2CV managed in its 42-year run. It won races and rallies (the latter at the very highest level, with the Group B 205 T16), and was as effective a hot hatchback as it was an economical shopping car. It was also a popular first car for millions of drivers, and happens to make a pretty handy first classic today.
While the UK wasn’t the 205’s biggest market it was still popular here, and it’s as easy, if not easier to find a tidy 205 today than contemporaries like the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Nova and Volkswagen Polo. They last surprisingly well, not succumbing to rust quite as easily as some alternatives, and all were powered by fairly stout engines. A well-maintained diesel will go on forever but even GTIs are reliable. The latter are getting unaffordable now though, so as a first classic, we’d stick with the humbler models – they’re still fun and involving to drive, ride well, and the 205’s good looks will never go out of style.
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Austin 7
Now is a great time to buy a pre-war car. Values have softened over the past decade or so as they’ve gone out of fashion with buyers through little more than age – there are simply fewer people around now who remember pre-war cars populating the roads, so there’s not the widespread fondness for them you’d have found two or three decades ago. A car like the Austin 7 though, which has always been down at the affordable end, makes an even better first classic now as a result.
It was another big seller in its day, to the benefit of remaining numbers today. The 7 went through several changes between 1922 and 1939 so there’s some variety in the cars on offer – from true vintage cars to the prewar models that would still have been a familiar sight on the roads of the late 1940s and 1950s. Numerous body styles, too, including saloons, cabriolets, vans and more. All are tiny (if you’re short on storage space, an Austin 7 is among the easiest classics to look after) and have the advantage for less experienced drivers of having a completely conventional pedal layout, which isn’t always the case with prewar cars. Mechanicals are hardy and simple to look after and parts availability is good. It could be the ideal stepping stone into other vintage vehicles, too.
Reliant Scimitar GTE
Brawny styling, six cylinders, a shooting brake body style… no, not the BMW Z3 M Coupé, but its 1960s to 1980s spiritual predecessor, the Reliant Scimitar GTE. Reliant used the Scimitar name on the GT before it and the wedgy Michelotti-designed SS1 after, but the Tom Karen-penned, square-backed GTE is the shape most think of when they hear Scimitar, and today it’s an affordable and characterful way into classic car ownership.
While most affordable classics will net you a small four-cylinder engine, the Scimitar GTE came with, at a minimum, a 2.8-litre V6 – earlier cars had a Ford 3-litre ‘Essex’ engine while those from 1980 onward used the 2.8-litre ‘Cologne’ lump. Both give the GTE pretty healthy performance and a kind of mini-muscle car feel. The fibreglass body can look a little rough around the edges as it ages but at least it won’t rust, so you’ll only have to check the chassis and suspension for corrosion rather than the whole thing. Many Scimitars are automatic, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it pairs well with the practicality and the pliant suspension for a real grand-tourer feel.
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Triumph Herald
The Herald scores highly on several factors that contribute to the ideal starter classic. For one, they’re affordable: Herald 1200 saloons in good condition are a relatively easy find at £5000, and estates, convertibles and coupes aren’t a great deal more, while projects of all variants start at a lot less. Even the related six-cylinder Vitesse models are more accessible than an equivalent classic Ford or MG. The other area in which the Herald makes a great first classic is that it’s easy to maintain, not just due to simple 1960s mechanicals, but for its enormous one-piece front end that hinges forward and allows nearly unrivalled access to the engine. You can’t chat to an owner for five minutes without them mentioning sitting on a front tyre to carry out routine maintenance.
But the Herald’s also fun to drive. Rack-and-pinion steering brings precision, all gears except first have synchromesh so it’s no hardship to make progress, and while you might have seen alarming photos of the Herald’s swing axle jacking up under heavy cornering, it’s otherwise pretty docile (and if you’re looking at a MkII Vitesse specifically, the suspension was much more sophisticated), while the turning circle can give a black cab a run for its money.
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Caterham Seven
The Caterham Seven is a little more expensive than most of our choices, with realistic prices upwards of £10,000 and more usually over £15,000, regardless of era – which for the Seven, is anything from 1974 (post-Lotus) up until the present day. But this pricing floor is effectively unchanging. Whatever you initially spend on a Seven, you can generally expect to get it back months, years, or decades down the line; it’s basically a depreciation-proof car, helping to offset the initial outlay. The long production run means it’s a perpetual classic too, since while there are obvious differences between the earliest and latest Sevens, the basic concept, and general appearance has been the same since the 1970s.
Sevens are spectacular to drive, as much fun as you’re likely to have on four wheels, regardless of engine (and there have been a lot over the years). Steering response is instantaneous and few cars are easier to kick into an easily-caught slide, if it takes your fancy. But access for maintenance is excellent too – the suspension is mostly exposed, and the bonnet removes entirely for engine access – while tried-and-tested engines mean solid reliability and pretty good parts supply.
