With less than 3 million, I'd get a Cobra with an A-rated FSD and start trading rare goods.
A Cobra with 40 cargo space (+ shield and fuel scoop) makes 1-1.2 million per hour. Should be more without a shield or fuel scoop.
Type-6 is also usable for that, but you're going to wait a lot until you can fill your hold.
After that, you may want to upgrade to a Type-7, but that one is only useful for normal trading.
Normal trading is utterly boring, IMO, but it's the only somewhat fast way to get to the bigger ships.
It can be compared to hauling the same stuff back and forth between Norfolk and Houston, for hours.
