Relative to the second hand market? Yeah. Unless you want something that is going to be absolutely no bother, and that doesn't need anything at all done to it, then you can spend a few thousand pounds at most and still get something in reasonable nick. For instance, my current car came with around 17,000 miles on the clock and cost £1,300.
A Prius would cost me £21,995 - around 16 times as much. Though there are far more expensive cars out there, that they can't even get basic security right is fairly disgraceful....
Minor nitpick: new cars are not without bother. It's just that when (not if) something breaks, you don't pay for the repairs. But you still have to go through the hassle of taking it to the garage, driving a rental in the meantime, etc.
And if you take depreciation into account, you can do a bloody lot of repairs on a used car before it's more expensive than a new one with free repairs.
A Prius would cost me £21,995 - around 16 times as much. Though there are far more expensive cars out there, that they can't even get basic security right is fairly disgraceful....