Buy them before we do: second-hand picks for 15 May

Lexus LC 500h Sport Plus, £50,950: It may not be the final word in driving dynamics and can’t drive as an EV, but Lexus’s huge swoopy coupé certainly turns heads. This 3.5-litre V6 hybrid from 2017 is hardly any slower than the regular V8 and much more frugal. Plus, there’s Lexus’s super reliability.

Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid Sport Turismo, £109,000: If the i8’s boot is too small, try this on for size. Practical PHEVs don’t come quicker than this ballistic 2018-reg Panamera estate, which can dispatch 0-62mph in 3.4sec and offers around 22 miles of electric-only range.

Honda CR-Z 1.5 i-VTEC GT, £4500: A fun, reliable and good-value hybrid comes in the curvaceous shape of the CR-Z. Range-topping GT models have heated leather seats and a sunroof. Any car found on this budget will have a relatively high mileage, so check the battery warning light isn’t shining.

Volkswagen Golf GTE, £12,795: ‘Golf’ is an answer to many car buying queries, including a cheap PHEV. For £13k, you can get a 2015 high-miler; newer cars will push your budget to £20k. The versatile hatchback offers zingy acceleration, a well-packaged interior and a circa-20-mile EV range.

Auction watch

Jaguar XKR 4.2 Auto: This 174mph coupé from 2007 has a sledgehammer 4.2-litre V8 and passed through auction for just over £10,000. Four owners from new and 90,000 miles sounds fine, but a last service four years and 10,000 miles ago would make us sweat. We would want to check for any unwelcome noises suggesting supercharger-related issues and that the ZF gearbox had been properly serviced recently. While facelifted XKRs (from 2009) have a more potent 5.0 motor, they go for quite a few grand more, so a 4.2 is worth a punt. Just brace yourself, given Jaguar’s reliability record…

Future classic

Mercedes-AMG A35, £28,000: The first AMG-fettled Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the Mercedes-AMG A 45, offered hair-raising pace and prodigious amounts of cornering grip, but it was very expensive. This entertaining 302bhp A35 model, based on the new A-Class, is AMG’s cheapest and could make a cunning buy for a savvy hot hatch fan. While dreamers may drool over the new A45, the man-maths reality may only stretch to cover the A35 – making used buys highly sought after. Look hard and you’ll find cars with £7000 off list price and just a few thousand miles, and they should hold their value well from there.

Clash of the classifieds

Brief: Can I have a people carrier that will seat eight, please? A £10,000 budget.

Honda Elysion 2.4 VTEC, £9495

Mercedes-Benz Vito 2.1 Traveliner, £9995

Mark Pearson: I don’t like to think of this as an eight-seat MPV; I prefer to think of it as a family man’s Honda NSX. Yup, you see, for starters there’s that lovely 2.4-litre VTEC motor under the bonnet, a typically clever Honda automatic gearbox and irreplaceable double-wishbone suspension all round. It’s a rigid old Hector, too, and has a low centre of gravity. Its luxo interior will cut quite a dash on the school run also. What you got, Felix?