Do it differently: The most underrated cars you can buy - from £1500

The automotive world loves a predictable hero; we fawn over the usual showroom icons and safe-bet premium saloons, leaving the classifieds populated by a sea of monotonous uniformity. But look a little closer, past the aggressively marketed blockbusters, and you’ll find the true automotive gold: the misfits, the overlooked, and the misunderstood. These are the unsung left-field choices that bypassed a play-it-safe public. Whether they were completely overshadowed by flashier siblings, ahead of their time, or simply far too mischievous for the mundane school run, these ten machines offer something far more intoxicating than mainstream approval. From cut-price shooting brakes and stealthy, supercharged V8s to Swedish estates tuned by skunkworks geniuses, we’ve unearthed the brilliant hidden gems that deserve a serious second look. If you are tired of the predictable and ready to take the path less trodden, these are the ten most underrated cars you can buy right now. Hyundai Kona N 2021-2023, 23,000-£29,000 The inexorable rise of Hyundai N has facilitated its expansion from a maker or rorty, old-school hot hatchbacks to a true pioneer in driver-appeasing EVs. Somewhat lost amid its packed timeline is the curio Kona N - aka the shoehorning of the i30 N's flagship 276bhp 2.0-litre turbo engine into a shorter, chunkier crossover. It came with a dual-clutch auto 'box only, to match its more flexible vibe, but its stern ride and mischievous handling hardly scream 'school run'. All the more reason to covet one. Abarth Punto 2008-2014, £4500-£9000 Think 'modern-day Abarth' and I'd wager your head quickly fills with brightly hued Fiat 500s in various states of tune, or perhaps the raucous 124 Spider, another unsung hero, comes to mind. The poor Punto gets forgotten beside both, but it always felt like a better-resolved, more cohesive thing than its contemporary 500s, and it made a decent fist of sportifying Giorgetto Giugiaro's terrific Grande Punto design. Output from its 1.4-litre turbocharged engine ranges from 153bhp to 178bhp. These are beasties, so you might need patience finding one. Volvo V60 Polestar 2014-2016, £22,000-£30,000 Welcome to Polestar's 'sliding doors' moment. Had it stuck to its skunkworks, Volvo-tuning guns, we wouldn't now have a handful of pertly styled electric crossovers to choose from. But we might just have a few more subtly intoxicating Swedish estates to lose hours in the classifieds sourcing. Changes to the mid-2010s V60 T6 were nerdy and expensive: Brembo and Öhlins were among the suppliers, and the resulting 345bhp wagon brought a surprisingly committed ride to a typically strait-laced car. Not really one for the tip run. Renault Laguna Coupe 2008-2012, £1500-£4000 Whether it's an XM, a 605 or a Vel Satis, range-topping premium models from Citroën, Peugeot and Renault typically cut a design dash or break new technological ground, yet they tend to remain shunned by the play-it-safe public. Perhaps most underrated of all is the 'Aston Martin DB9 viewed through frosted glass' Laguna Coupé, which still looks smart today. You could have a V6 engine and four-wheel steering if you wanted, although most occupying the classifieds now seem to be the four-cylinder diesels so revered in their time. BMW 840i Gran Coupe 2019-2026, £27,000-£60,000 A big, brash Bee-Em doesn't fly under the radar in the traditional sense, but this one seems a mite forgotten. The two-door 8 Series felt more 2+2 than spacious four-seater, but its saloonified sibling brought welcome extra practicality without sacrificing style, and it even kept the frameless doors. Our 'unsung' vibe is best filled by the lowest-priced but neatest-driving of them all: the 840i - a rear-driven, straight-six device of the type BMW has always done best. Range Rover Velar P550 2019-2020, £33,000-£46,000 Short-lived, stealthy special editions fall right into 'unsung hero' territory. The P550 — or the Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic, to use its more grandiose title - put the 542bhp supercharged 5.0-litre V8 of other performance JLRs into a subtler, more quietly menacing crossover shape. Essentially a Rangie Sport SVR with the aggression turned down, it's also significantly rarer: fewer than 250 are registered in the UK, according to howmanyleft.co.uk. On those terms, it's a bargain. No carbonfibre bonnet nonsense here: spot one via its quad tailpipes. Volkswagen Bora 1999-2006, £1500-£5000 The Mk4 Volkswagen Golf is the epitome of an overt hero, known for its game-changing design and engineering and the chance to own a slice of Ferdinand Piëch philosophy without spending Veyron money. Its booted Bora spin-off remains the cooler, more offbeat alternative that is way more palatable than any of the Ventos or Jettas that preceded and followed it. Hunt out the 2.3-litre V5 for covert 139mph performance. Kia Proceed 2019-2025, £9000-£25,000 Squint (quite hard) and it's a Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo for a teeny fraction of the price. The first Proceed arrived with unnecessary punctuation as a pert, Audi A3-rivalling three-door to put Kia on the design map; it's perhaps the Koreans' true pivot point from value brand to genuine player. The third iteration switched to a suave shooting brake, however, available in 201bhp GT form and imbued with enough classy, composed performance to ensure its chassis feels almost Panamera-lite, too. McLaren GT 2019-2024, £80,000-£120,000 Crafting a softer, more practical continent cruiser from a mid-engined supercar was always going to have its compromises. The slender luggage bay above its twin-turbo V8 could warm the bottom of your bags up a treat, while a contemporary 570 or 720 already rode with enough decorum for road-tripping. But the GT made us smile regardless. Its subtler styling drips with intrigue, and it's a gorgeous thing in which to take the path less trodden. It was replaced in 2024 by the visually similar GTS, a car suffering its age without integrated Apple CarPlay. Seat Leon X-Perience 2014-2018, £6000-£11,000 Alltrack, Allroad, All-Terrain.. Whichever flavour of jacked-up, rubber-bumpered estate car you're talking, we're probably charmed by it. VW's and Audi's efforts are perhaps best known, but the same thinking was applied to Skoda Scouts and this, the more obscure Leon X-Perience. It offered an appealing blend of torquey TDI and four-wheel drive, yet just 16 examples were sold in its final year in UK showrooms. Unearth one of its slim population and you'll enjoy chiselled looks and decent practicality for comfortably less than 10 grand.

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Do it differently: The most underrated cars you can buy - from £1500

Skip the obvious winners and check out these under-the-radar heroes that went unnoticed

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Do it differently: The most underrated cars you can buy - from £1500

Skip the obvious winners and check out these under-the-radar heroes that went unnoticed

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar