Best First Car 2021: Comfort and convenience

Just like most manufacturers of consumer goods, car-makers have responded to customer demand for some level of ‘luxury’ in their product lines.

Unless you’re buying a broom, many consumer items today try to suggest they are in some way special with the fitment of what might be considered premium features.

This is especially so in the car market. Today’s buyers rightly expect their first new car to have more than a stripped-out poverty feel to it.

Even the entry-level cars on test in carsales’ Best First Car 2021 have far more comfort and convenience features than models in the same category back in the early 2000s.

Putting aside their safety and tech features (which we detail in separate sections; see the links below), who knew a leather-clad steering wheel and gear shifter would be standard fare in most of the cheapest new cars available on the market today?

While none of the models on test are by any means luxurious, each of them has key comfort and convenience features such as air-conditioning, power windows/mirrors and remote central locking.

Beyond these basics, almost every car offers at least one upscale feature that some or all the others don’t. Ultimately, some of these hatches have more useful and significant comfort and convenience features than others.

All of them have a five-door hatchback body, with split/folding rear seats for extra load-carrying space and versatility.

The Skoda Fabia 81TSI Run-Out Edition is also available in a five-door wagon body style and the Mazda2 G15 Pure is available as a sedan as well the hatch tested here.

Each car here is front-wheel drive and most have alloy wheels, except for the Toyota Yaris Ascent Sport and Volkswagen Polo 70TSI Trendline, both of which have 15-inch steel wheels fitted with wheel covers.

Most are shod with relatively tall 55 to 65 aspect ratio tyres, with the Kia Rio Sport and Skoda Fabia on sporty low-profile 45-series rubber instead.

Of note for those who tend to drive a lot in more rural locations is the convenience and safety of a full-size spare wheel in the Polo. The rest have steel temporary-use spare wheels.

Rear privacy glass is only included as standard on the Mitsubishi Mirage LS and Skoda Fabia.

The Skoda Fabia also has a sporty theme with a gloss-black treatment for the side mirror shells, roof, rear spoiler and wheels.

Only the Kia Rio has dusk-sensing headlights and none of them have rain-sensing windscreen wipers.

Unusually, given it’s the cheapest here, just the Mitsubishi Mirage has the typically more upscale feature of auto-dipping high-beam headlights.

None have an auto-dipping rear-vision mirror or side mirrors.

The Mitsubishi Mirage also surprises with its single-zone climate control, as opposed to a basic manual air-conditioning unit in the others.

Active cruise control was a premium luxury car feature not that long ago, but three of these budget beauties are fitted with the system: the Skoda Fabia, Suzuki Swift GL Navigator Plus and Toyota Yaris. The rest have conventional cruise control.

Leading vehicle departure alert is another useful feature that warns you if you have not moved off from standstill when the traffic ahead does, but it’s only available in the Kia Rio.

The combination of keyless entry and start is a given in almost every other car category, but not here. The Kia Rio has keyless entry only, while the Mazda2 has keyless start only. The rest have remote central locking, and a traditional blade key for starting.

All except the Mitsubishi and Toyota have a leather-clad steering wheel and gear shifter.

Power-folding side mirrors with auto-fold function is standard in the Kia Rio and Toyota Yaris. The Mazda2 gets the folding mirrors, but not the auto-fold function. All models on test have a heating function to demist the side mirrors.

You won’t see powered or heated seats anywhere here, but the Kia, Mazda, Suzuki and Volkswagen all have manual driver’s seat height adjustment.

All have steering wheel tilt adjustment and all except for the Mitsubishi and Suzuki also provide steering wheel reach adjustment.

Best First Car 2021 contenders:
Kia Rio Sport
Mazda2 G15 Pure
Mitsubishi Mirage LS
Skoda Fabia 81TSI Run-Out Edition
Suzuki Swift GL Navigator Plus
Toyota Yaris Ascent Sport
Volkswagen Polo 70TSI Trendline