Best Automatic First Cars

Automatics used to mean a jump in insurance group over the equivalent manual, but the gap has narrowed a lot for small cars. These five are real automatic first cars in low-to-mid groups, with genuine used-market price and year spreads, not just the cheapest automatic available.

Prices below are current UK asking prices, checked 4 July 2026, not a fixed number: they move with the market. Insurance group and price both depend on the exact registration year and engine, not just the model name, so always confirm both for the specific car you're looking at (see why that is).

1. Vauxhall Corsa automatic petrol
   2008 to 2017 Asking price: £3,445 to £6,343 Insurance group 6
   £289/mo all in £100/mo fuel £17/mo tax

   The widest price and year spread of this five, so the exact registration matters more than usual.

2. Toyota Yaris automatic petrol
   2011 to 2014 Asking price: £6,860 to £7,390 Insurance group 7
   £279/mo all in £84/mo fuel £17/mo tax

   One of the largest samples in our automatic dataset, alongside Toyota's reliability reputation.

3. Toyota Aygo automatic petrol
   2014 to 2021 Asking price: £5,800 to £9,249 Insurance group 7
   £250/mo all in £71/mo fuel £2/mo tax

   A genuinely small city car with an automatic gearbox, useful if manual isn't an option, and the cheapest to run of this five.

4. Fiat 500 automatic petrol
   2017 to 2019 Asking price: £6,495 to £8,398 Insurance group 8
   £284/mo all in £89/mo fuel £17/mo tax

   A common first-car choice, automatic adds a small step up in group over the manual version.

5. Hyundai i10 automatic petrol
   2015 to 2023 Asking price: £7,866 to £14,057 Insurance group 4
   £253/mo all in £77/mo fuel £17/mo tax

   The automatic i10 market in the lower insurance groups (1 to 3) is almost entirely 2023-2026 nearly-new stock at £13,000+, not realistic first-car buying; group 4 is where genuine used automatic i10s at first-car prices actually sit.

Prices and insurance groups checked 4 July 2026.