Top Five: Family cars under $30K
The Aussie small car segment is rich with choice. Here are five of the best to try on for sizeSmall cars are a big deal in Australia, regularly accounting for the top performers in the passenger car sales charts. Fittingly, the motoring.com.au top five recommended list includes three picks from the pointy end, in terms of popularity – the Mazda3, Hyundai i30 and Volkswagen Golf.
The Motoring Recommends sub-$30K small car choices the last 12 months included four cars that made the grade in 2014. Peugeot’s return-to-form 308 hatchback and wagon is the new entrant this year, bumping Ford’s Focus.
You can buy any one of our recommended cars with confidence. However, distinctly different personalities that arise from the various brands, countries or origin and design philosophies spoil the consumer for choice, and it’s quite likely one of them will fit you better than the others.
The multi-award-winning Volkswagen Golf, despite the brand’s Dieselgate woes, continues to offer a spectacular breadth of abilities that few rivals can match.
The Hyundai i30 majors on value and dependability, and comes backed by a generous five-year warranty.
Mazda’s 3 fills the fun-to-drive niche, and the current third-generation model brings new-found refinement, interior quality and efficiency.
The Skoda Octavia is a Czech take on the Golf – it uses much of the suspension from the Volkswagen, and shares its engines and transmissions – but with a different design flavour and more cabin and cargo space.
Our fresh recommendation for 2015, the Peugeot 308, marks a return by the French maker to the qualities we once loved in its cars, such as smart design and fine ride comfort. It’s a terrific steer.
Volkswagen Golf
Volkswagen’s Golf is a cut above its small-car rivals, and that applies from the brilliant 92TSI right the way up the range.
In almost every area that matters, the evergreen German hatch (and wagon) does it better than most. Take cabin accommodation, for example. The Golf’s interior is cleanly styled, beautifully built using rich materials, and well equipped.
On the move, occupants are isolated from the goings on of the suspension and tyres to the extent that they could be in a premium car and/or a car from a size segment up.
The 92TSI offers just enough performance combined with fuel frugality – it’s effortlessly efficient. The larger 2.0-litre turbo-diesel offers a stout 340Nm torque figure, with even better economy, although the brand’s emissions cheating scandal leaves a black cloud hanging over exactly how clean its emissions are.
The performance-oriented 2.0-litre petrol turbo is a potent, characterful engine that does duty in the superb GTI and GTI Performance and, in higher output form, in the Golf R.
Each of the performance variants is capable of effortlessly and entertainingly sprinting along a sinuous back road, but our pick is the GTI Performance. If you want a six-speed manual, however, skip this auto-only variant and opt for the great regular GTI.
A wagon body variant adds strings to this all-rounder’s bow, and is offered with the same excellent engine/variant line up, save for a 2.0 turbo GTI version. The Golf R wagon offers an alluring practicality/performance blend.
Hyundai i30
Appealingly fresh styling and an ample five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty sell the Hyundai for precisely what it is – a lively, honest small car that won’t let you down.
Models such as the Active and Active X with a 1.8-litre petrol four-cylinder and a six-speed automatic gearbox contribute the lion’s share of sales. With prices from $21K, they certainly have value in their favour, although these versions aren’t necessarily the pick of the line-up.
Sweet spots in the Hyundai i30 range include the wagon variant – called the ‘Tourer’ – which sets the i30 apart from hatch-only rivals. The Tourer has an independent rear suspension, which brings a ride and handling upgrade compared with the torsion beam rear suspension of the hatch.
Diesel ‘CRDi’ versions cost about $2600 more than the equivalent petrol, but use a third less fuel. They make sense if you cover a lot of kilometres, and your many trips often take you out of town.
In current Series Two i30s, a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox replaces the conventional torque converter automatic in diesel versions, adding further to their appeal, and contributing to the superb sub-5.0L/100km economy.
The more powerful SR model gets an upgraded 2.0-litre petrol engine in Series Two form, also.
Mazda 3
Mazda’s sporty-looking 3 projects a fun image, and what you see is what you get. The model retains the athletic character introduced with the ‘zoom zoom’ era a decade ago, and in third-generation form delivers its most compelling and complete set of small-car skills yet.
Offered in both sedan and hatch form, the current Mazda 3 checks off some of the small criticisms levelled at earlier generation versions to grow into a well-rounded small car.
Ride quality and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) suppression left room for improvement in the first- and second-gen 3. And while the current car can’t match a Golf – few cars can – the Mazda marks a big improvement in the quietness and comfort stakes.
The 3’s cabin too, like much of the Japanese brand’s contemporary line-up, marks a leap in terms of materials, fit and finish.
Mazda’s small car also uses less fuel than it used to, in both 2.0- and 2.5-litre petrol, and 2.2-litre turbo-diesel form.
The 2.0-litre is the staple engine in the mainstream Neo, Max and Touring, with the punchier, big-block mill picking up in the sports-slanted SP25.The 2.5-litre engine fills the torque hole found low in the rev range of the 2.0, and has a great note, but is not strictly necessary if you’re simply seeking a fun, reliable run-around.
The turbo-diesel is very desirable, but is offered only in the flagship XD Astina hatch. While richly equipped with terrific standard safety inclusions, the XD Astina variant is relatively pricey.
Skoda Octavia
Skoda’s Octavia remains a lesser-known not-so-small-car alternative. But it has more in common with the increasingly popular Volkswagen Golf than you might realise.
Platform buddies, the pair shares the Volkswagen MQB chassis/suspension component set, which means the Octavia drives a lot like a Golf – very well, in other words.
However, there are differences, such as the simpler torsion beam rear suspension in the lower level Octavias, which means they don’t cruise quite as smoothly as a Golf. Multi-link rear suspension is found in 1.8-litre petrol turbo and RS versions.
But, don’t assume that the Skoda is a sub-Golf proposition. In many areas, it represents a uniquely appealing package.
A regal lift-back body variant liberates a level of cargo versatility space you don’t find in a hatch, yet it looks like a classy sedan. Meanwhile, the wagon version swallows more stuff than any $24K rival we can think of.
The grown-up looks and sheer level of space offered in the Octavia might suggest a big engine, but the range opens with a 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine offering surprisingly sprightly performance with startlingly good fuel economy in the order of 5.7L/100km on the official combined cycle.
A bigger 1.8-litre turbo-petrol four and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel complete a three-tiered mainstream line-up, which is crowned by a quick ’n’ practical Golf GTI alternative, the 2.0-litre turbo powered Octavia RS.
Peugeot 308
It’s not often that taking the path less followed is also the smart thing to do, but it certainly applies to choosing Peugeot’s 308 from the sea of alternatives.
The previous generation of the French maker’s small car shared a lot with the 307 model that preceded it. And the 307 was a small-car alternative to forget. Yet, in the shift to an all-new platform, today’s 308 is firmly in the frame for switched-on new car buyers, thanks to the brand’s return to the qualities that made it great.
The 308, which is offered in both hatchback and wagon form, is sharply yet safely styled and brimming with appeal.
A turbo-petrol and diesel engine line-up opens with a 96kW 1.2-litre three-cylinder, paired with either a six-speed manual or automatic gearbox. The step up is either a 1.6-litre petrol or a 2.0-litre diesel with a standard six-speed auto. They’re more powerful than the 1.2, if not quite as characterful.
The 308 is generously specified and a rewarding drive all the way up from the entry-level Access variant to the flagship 2.0-litre turbo-petrol and diesel GT variants. However, it’s not essential, aside from desiring extra features and equipment, to spend beyond the excellent $22K 308 Access hatch.
The Touring (wagon) is offered with both the turbo-petrol 1.6 and the turbo-diesel 2.0; you can’t have the three-cylinder engine in the wagon body. We prefer the petrol for its slightly more enthusiastic handling and still-excellent flexibility and economy.
The 308’s fine chassis dynamics and well-judged suspension calibration carry across the range, although the top-shelf GT versions do ride a bit more firmly than the mainstream models and the upcoming 308 GTi hot hatch brings a whole new level of performance.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
