It doesn’t have to be all serious, this business of owning a car. Maybe it’s a girl thing, but sometimes powerful engines just get noisy and expensive, and sometimes luxury cars just get big and heavy. Sometimes, you just want to have fun. Forget the power, forget the silence; revel in bright plastics, Apple CarPlay, white piping, bright bodywork, chunky styling, short wheelbases and short-throw five-speed manual gearboxes mated to small, frugal engines. Laugh and enjoy.
Seven best cars for playtime
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Fiat 500X
From £15,485
Yep, you read that right – not the 500, but the bigger version. It’s more comfy, more practical but has lost none of the joyful appeal or Italian styling of the 500. Our bright red test car had matching bright red dashboard, black and grey fabric seats, white piping and even tiny little interior details like white inset lettering on the back gear knob. Lovely jubbly.
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Mazda MX-5 RF
From £22,195
Quirky looks, spirited performance without an aggressive power delivery and petrol-sucking V6, and it’s still a convertible (RF stands for Retractable Fastback). Despite the extra weight and extra cost, we instinctively feel this is the more fun version. You'll see fewer of them on the roads, for a start.
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Mini Cooper S
From £15,685
Forget the JCW, the PHEV, Convertible, Clubman or Countryman. We just want Union Flag tail lights, which come as standard, and to put the car through Mini’s astonishing Yours Customised serve which can add your name to the car, put Union Flags elsewhere, mix and match colours and patterns inside and out. Play time.
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Land Rover Evoque Convertible
From £46,450
Very much a Marmite car, this, partly due to looks and partly to the suggestion that Land Rover should do a convertible, although we seem to recall a fabric roof was an option on a 1948 Series I. But have you driven one? We have, in the Alps, on road and off it, and it’s damned fun off-roading in the sun with the roof down, and those high body sides to protect you from any plastering mud. A unique experience.
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Suzuki Swift Sport
From £17,799
Fun, quick, light and bright yellow. With a turbocharger. Boom. Not the hottest of hot hatches, but that’s exactly what this list is all about. A 1.4-litre engine saves on the fuel and, as Top Gear said, “Fun is top of the agenda”. Tick. And boom.
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Suzuki Jimny
From £14,859
Yup, it’s the second Suzuki on our list, which tells us the company needs to change its branding to focus entirely on being Funmeister 2018. Cheeky, chirpy styling, and can go head to head with any off-roader you care to mention. Says the driver doesn’t take himself seriously, has his head screwed on when it comes to cash, and just needs to get through that there mud. Head v heart? The latter wins.
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Seat Leon ST Cupra 300
From: £34,485
Oh so much fun to see the look on people’s faces when you accelerate past and out of sight in a very boring-looking, small estate car. Seat is our fun brand of the year, with tech like Amazon Alexa and Shazzam starting to enter their cars in Europe (pleeeeasse come to the UK soon). Meanwhile there’s 300 horsepower to play with in this small car and still rooms for the kids.
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