Car companies have made tremendous progress in recent years in terms of style, value for money and economy.

The success has been spread pretty much across the range, from city runabouts to flash executive models.

But, for me, the greatest progress has been recorded in the bargain basement areas. City cars of today for £7,000 or so offer the sort of space, power and general pzazz that would have cost £10,000 or more a few years ago.

So, if you’re motoring on a budget, or looking for a suitable second car, you are spoiled for choice.

Among the cheapest is the Nissan Pixo. At £7,195 this is the fourth cheapest new car on the road in the UK behind the rare Perodua Myvi, the Renault Twizy, a wacky electric car, and the Suzuki Alto. In fact, Pixo is based on the Alto, but costs £55 more.

So, what do you get for your money? Well, quite a lot, actually. It’s a city car, so don’t expect too much in the way of power and performance. That said, it handles motorway driving better than I expected. It rides pretty well and handles better than many cars in a class above.

It’s compact. This car is 3.56 metres long compared to the Micra which is 3.78 metres long. But it manages to squeeze a fair amount of space into the cabin while retaining 129 litres of luggage space.

Safety kit is a little light. There are no side or curtain airbags, and luxuries such as electric windows are missing from the base model.

But what you do get is a car which looks decent and which is perfect for town driving. One of the options is a parking sensor at £365, but quite why you would need one in such a compact car is beyond me.

It’s an unpretentious model which aims – and possibly succeeds – in becoming the best cut-price car on the road.

If you want to pay several hundred pounds more, Skoda Citigo and Kia Picanto might give Pixo a run for its money, but they do much the same job as the little Nissan. Pixo is even better value when you compare it with Citroen C1, Hyundai i10 and Chevrolet Spark which all cost around the £8,500 mark.

With rivals such as Fiat 500 and the new Vauxhall Adam aiming to show that small cab be classy, the Pixo is offering a simpler message: small can be functional and affordable.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale Nissan’s ultimate concept car Juke R is going into production. The production version is more powerful than the concept, producing 545bhp from its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 engine. It manages 0 to 62mph in three seconds and a top speed of 170mph. The price? Sit down please, it’s £400,000.