- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.4i, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
125kW, 218Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (91) 9.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Medium sedans: Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Magentis, Holden Epica, Toyota Camry
If you're not happy with your new Epica, Holden will give you a refund - providing you buy another similarly priced car. Joshua Dowling looks at the options and tests the $30,000-something mid-sized sedans.
As their name suggests, medium cars tend to be middle-of-the-road when it comes to excitement. They're the cars we have to have, instead of the ones we lust after.
But there is obviously some appeal. Sales of mid-sized cars have increased 81 per cent in the past six years and sales of large cars have decreased 46 per cent in the same period.
The rising price of petrol isn't the only reason for the change in buyer preferences (most mid-sized sedans have four-cylinder power). They are affordable, well-equipped and relatively roomy. Medium-sized cars are slightly smaller than a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon but they're by no means cramped. And, in our increasingly congested cities, they're easier to park than big Aussie sedans.
The market has been buoyed by a raft of new models such as the Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro and, of course, the Toyota Camry, which has been the biggest seller in its class for the past 13 years in a row - that's a longer dominance than the Commodore has had over the Falcon.
With that in mind it's big news when a new player arrives on the medium-car scene - especially when that player is Holden.
Holden has been weak in medium-car sales; its European-built Vectra was generally well regarded but it was overpriced and buyers stayed away in droves.
Holden's answer to this dilemma is the Korean-built Epica. But is it good enough to challenge the longstanding players - Toyota and Honda - and its Korean peers, Hyundai and Kia? To find out, we gathered the $30,000-something mid-sized sedans - the cheap seats in the medium-car class - and put the Epica to the test.
The verdict
Holden deserves credit for the improvements made to what is effectively a 10-year-old car under the skin but that can't take away the fact that the newer competition outguns the Epica.
We've strongly praised the Honda Accord VTi in the past but the competition has moved forward in the past 18 months or so. It's a roomy car and the most refined of the group but the Accord VTi needs curtain airbags and stability control as standard on the four-cylinder models to catch up with the competition.
It was a tough call between the Hyundai Sonata and Kia Magentis, which both offer five-year warranties. Perhaps you choose the car with the most safety gear? The Kia has stability control as standard whereas Hyundai charges an extra $990 for it.
The Kia Magentis came close to winning this comparison test. It's hard to dispute its long list of equipment, its $2750 price advantage over a Toyota Camry equipped with curtain airbags and, by medium-car standards, it's even okay to drive.
But the Camry gets over the line for sound reasons. You're likely to get the $2750 premium back when you eventually sell it because the Camry's resale values are stronger (and Kia's are yet to be established in this class), its servicing costs are lower and it's a better all-round package.
Where's the Mazda6?
The Mazda6 is the second-biggest seller in the medium-car class and would have been included in this comparison, however, with a revised model imminent Mazda did not have a car available for our test.
Based on previous experience with the Mazda6, its Made-In-Japan quality, safety (six airbags, including curtains, are standard although stability control is only available on the $40,000 Classic Sports Hatch) and good equipment levels would have put it in the top three places in this group.
Criticisms? The Mazda6 is noisy compared with its rivals and relatively expensive, with the base model automatic sedan starting at $31,990, which would have made it the dearest of this group.