BUY BEFORE THEY DIE - Affordable cars

City cars have been a threatened species for a few years, but they're still the perfect solution for many

-  Matt Robinson

WE begin our look at these soon-to-depart cars not just with a model that won't be around for much longer, but one that belongs to a whole class under threat. So many small, cheap city cars have disappeared from showrooms in recent years, the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1 siblings and the Ford Ka being notable examples, while the Toyota Aygo, long a city-car favourite, has been reborn as a small SUV.

Fiat 500
Model: Fiat 500 Dolcevita
Price: £18,085
Engine: 1.0-litre 3cyl petrol
Power/torque: 68bhp/90Nm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
0-62mph: 13.8 seconds
Top speed: 104mph

The problem is, the margins on these cars have long been perilously thin, so the business case for them is tricky to make, particularly as emissions legislation tightens, and car-making costs go up. And then we have our incoming electric age, which makes the profitability side of things all the trickier.