Fiat Bravo 2007-2014
The reborn Fiat Bravo wasn’t really a match for the contemporary Ford Focus or Volkswagen Golf but was massively cheaper. It deserved to do better in the sales charts. Significantly, Euro NCAP gave it the full five stars for safety at the time. The best reason to buy a Bravo now is that it’s a decent family hatchback, with a big enough boot (at 365 litres) and the poor rear leg room isn’t a problem when there are a couple of Isofix child seats in place. It was one of the widest hatches on the market, too. The 105bhp 1.6-litre diesel delivers an impressive 58mpg, but if you don’t do big mileages, the T-jet engines are great petrols. It’s certainly worth a punt and a better buy than the Punto. It seems to have a decent reliability record; just watch out for worn anti-roll bars and the diesel’s EGR filter getting clogged.