> In the UK at least, pretty much every car under £30,000 is utter garbage.

What?

Modern cars are of incredibly high-quality, even at the lower end of the market.

Take a look at what taxi drivers in the UK use. Today, the taxi fleets are dominated by Skoda[0], Kia and ( in London ) Toyota. Those all cost under £30,000. Well under. Yet they hold up well in the daily urban taxi grind.

Mercedes, BMW and other 'premium' brands are notable by their absence from such fleets. That's because they don't offer any quality differential correlating to their price. They mainly occur in the higher-tier occasional-hire market, aimed at people who want image.

[0] That fact that Skoda is preferred over the same parts wrapped in an Audi or VW body is interesting.