The greatest small cars ever made

Ford Fiesta (1976) Hard to believe now, but this was Ford's first attempt at a car with a tranvserse engine and front-wheel drive.

Volvo PV444 (1947) The small car that announced Volvo to a larger stage. American styling influenced the PV444, which was Volvo’s first unibody without a separate frame.

Citroën Saxo (1996) Citroën’s cheeky little urban runabout proved to be the saviour of many a student on a budget, as well as those who simply wanted a funky city car.

Audi 50 (1974) If you thought the A2 was Audi's first small car, it's not - this was. The 50 was a small hatch that was also sold as the Volkswagen Polo, which was cheaper.

Designed as a cheap people’s car for the French, the 4CV was nicknamed ‘the lump of butter’ due to its shape and the fact that many early models were painted with yellow German.

Volkswagen Beetle (1938) Ignoring its, er, controversial origins, there’s no denying “The People’s Car” laid the foundations for cheap motoring for the masses.

Morris Minor (1948) The Minor became truly iconic and ubiquitous on UK roads. Produced for nearly 25 years, it was the first British car to sell over one million examples – 1.4 million to be precise.

Fiat's answer to the Austin Seven of the 1920s, the original 500 could seat just two and was powered by a tiny side-valve engine that displaced just 569cc and output 13bhp.

Three Fiats in the first six cars proves that this Italian's company's forté is with the small stuff. We would get the Mini two years later, but this was the Italians' take on the economy car.

Honda Civic (1972) It started out as basic transport for the masses with an engine of just 1169cc, but the Civic has since become a luxurious and relatively costly small hatch.