Honda Jazz (around an 04 plate), Renault Clio (older shape around 05 plate). Have a look on ebay – some decent cars available.
Autotrader would be the other place – just put in your search criteria and see what comes up.
If you remotely know your way around a car don’t bother with the AA or
RAC check. They have so many caveats in them they are not worth it. Basically they say that at the time they checked it the car looked ok but if anything goes wrong after that point its nowt to do with the guv.
One other thing to check is the mot history. Ask for the V5 ref no and pop that into the online MOT history checker (Link)
Check the mileage stacks up each test to spot clocking and look for any significant past failures and in particular any advisories on the latest test. If there are advisories ask if they were done or not and factor in the cost of rectifying them if they have been left.