Ten affordable future classics on the used car market right now

Affordable investment cars are lucrative things, because keeping a car on the road is often an expensive past-time for anything that can even be considered a classic. Analysis organisation Cap HPI has compiled a list of the most promising future classics on the market, with the cars available from as little as £1650 on PistonHeads. Take a look at this year’s hottest future classics below.

Westfield’s Lotus Seven-like models have always been the also-ran of the lightweight segment, with rival Caterham grabbing headlines consistently with volume of models. But, as we explained recently, Westfield has been working away quietly, with unlikely projects in autonomous pods and a mid-engined sports car on the way next year.

Another lightweight sportster due to gain value, the VX220 was Vauxhall’s rival to the Lotus Elise. It never quite reached the same level of success as the Elise, hence the lack of a follow-up model. Vauxhall’s loss is the used buyer’s game, though, as the model’s scarcity, barely aged looks and still razor-sharp dynamics mean it’s looked back upon fondly.

Being one of the only cars left in production on Cap HPI’s list has got to mean something, although it’s been a while since Audi shoehorned a 3.2-litre V6 under the TT’s bonnet. With models such as the TTS and TT RS following, the subtle 3.2 V6 is easily forgotten, although its cult appeal is now beginning to spread.

Described by some as the greatest hot hatch there’s ever been and widely revered as a pinnacle for Peugeot, the 205 GTi was available as either a 1.6-litre or a 1.9-litre. As the oldest car on the list, numbers are dwindling - latest figures suggest there are as few as 1400 left on the road.

History has been kind to the Z3 - at launch, it was dismissed as having style but little in the way of driving thrills to back it up with. But fast-forward 21 years and the BMW is far daintier and lighter on its feet than many of the flappy fabric and folding hard-top-models that have arrived since.

Face it - it was always going to happen. Citroën’s big barge from the mid-2000s sold in predictably tiny numbers, but it had the comfort and style to guarantee it modern classic status from birth. Latest figures suggest there are 622 left on UK roads, which is surprising, given that the car peaked at less than 1000. Exclusive-trim, HDi-engined automatics are the most common.

The last Mini, produced by Rover in its dying years between 1986 and 2000, is another on the list, joining its numerous predecessors produced across the rest of its 41-year production run as a modern classic. So loved is the Rover Mini and its otherwise-badged predecessors that prices have already risen, and bargain-basement, neglected examples are becoming ever more scarce.

No, not the first GTV - they’re already £40k-plus. The latest addition to the modern classics camp is the GTV produced between 1994 and 2004. It’s little surprise that it’s gained modern classic status as 1) an Alfa Romeo, 2) a sports car and 3) the embodiment of 1990s zaniness, quad-headlighted and rear light-barred and all.

Firmly fitting into the ‘oddity’ category of modern classics, the Cube first made it to the UK as a grey import in its simply-styled second generation, but was sold here officially - and unsuccessfully - between 2009 and 2011. Funky, as-it-says-on-the-tin styling and trademark Nissan solidity (it was based on the Micra) mean there are plenty left on UK roads.

It’s not easy for the Mazda RX-8. Constant rumours of a rotary revival from Mazda (which have so far turned out to be a pile of Wankel), reliability woes and never quite reaching the cult status of the RX-7 render the RX-8 rather unloved. These reliability woes have taken a good portion of RX-8s off the road, meaning the solid examples left have started to take off in price from the yellow-sticker figures they’ve sunk to in recent years.