Cars with park assist

Take the stress out of the multi-storey car park with these used cars equipped with park assist

BuyaCar team
Mar 29, 2021

If parking your car is by far the most stressful part of your day, then you'll be pleased to know there are cars available now fitted with systems to make the job a whole lot easier. 

Cars with park assist take the challenge out of parallel parking and the stress out of multi-storey car parks by literally taking the steering wheel out of your hands and doing the hard work for you. The system works together with parking sensors to guide you and your car safely in a recognised space, all you have to do is control the speed when the car tells you to.

The very latest self-parking cars even take the pedals away from you and control all aspects of parking, even while you’re outside the car in some cases. We don't recommend this though because these systems are still in their infancy and do require some supervision from the driver, just in case. Even the most advanced systems will occasionally run into kerbs or switch themselves off when they sense something unexpected.

More and more vehicles are being fitted with park assist technology; even relatively cheap small cars such as the Peugeot 208, Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa offer it as an option. We’ve highlighted some of the best cars with park assist currently available on BuyaCar below, but when it comes to making a purchase, be sure the model you've chosen is equipped with the park assist technology because in most cases this will need to have been specified when it was new.

Best cars with park assist

Best cars with park assist

1. Ford Fiesta

Best small car with park assist

A £400 option on Titanium and Titanium X Fiestas, Ford’s Advanced Auto Park Assistance will steer the Fiesta into and out of parallel parking spaces, and into bay spaces too.

It’s easy to use, with clear on-screen graphics, and one of the most affordable new cars that comes with this type of system.


2. Peugeot 3008

Best family SUV with park assist

Available as a £450 option on all but entry-level Active 3008 model, the Visio Park 2 technology is extremely quick and accurate at finding a suitable parking space and manoeuvring the Peugeot into it, while the driver controls the accelerator and brake.

It can steer the car out of a tight parallel space too, and everything is displayed clearly on the dashboard screen, thanks to a 360-degree camera.


3. Mercedes C-Class

Best family car with park assist

The very latest version of the Mercedes C-Class, which has been updated and goes on sale this autumn, comes with Active Parking Assist, which controls steering, acceleration and braking. Automatic cars can even switch between first and reverse gear.

However, the limited availability of these cars means that you’re more likely to find an earlier model with a park assist system that only controls the steering.


4. Nissan Leaf

Best electric car with park assist

The only Nissan currently available with ProPilot Park, the current version of the Leaf will manoeuvre itself into parking bays and on-street spaces autonomously, while you simply hold down the relevant button.


5. BMW 5 Series

Best luxury car with park assist

Gimmicky it might be, but remote control parking systems are undeniably impressive; allowing you to get out of your car and then send an instruction to drive itself into a space or garage, without anybody inside.

The fact that you need to line the car up with the space beforehand, and that parking right next to another car will likely infuriate its driver, does limit the system’s practicality in real life. This is likely to mean that few buyers will shell out the £2,500 needed for the optional equipment to enable remote parking on the BMW 5 Series.



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