DCOTY 2013: Best City Car

Winner: Mitsubishi Mirage ES

Finalist: Volkswagen Polo 77TSI

Talk about an upset.

Mitsubishi’s budget-focused Mirage has emerged victorious over Drive’s long-time Car of the Year city car champion, the Volkswagen Polo.

Against the judging criteria Mitsubishi’s Mirage was unanimously found to tick all the boxes - and for a considerably smaller sum than that of the German five-door.

The Mirage is priced from just $12,990 plus on-road costs, though the Japanese brand is currently doing deals from only $11,990 drive-away. That’s pretty hard to argue with, given the comfort, practicality and equipment offered in the pint-sized Mirage.

Judges praised the Mirage for its ride comfort, its light, city-friendly steering and small turning circle, the fact it’s fitted with the full complement of safety equipment (six airbags, stability control), its Bluetooth-equipped stereo system, and the thrifty and perky three-cylinder engine. The ES model we tested was fitted with the CVT automatic transmission (priced from $14,490, plus on-road costs), and judges praised the pairing as being “ideal for running around the ‘burbs”.

“The Mirage meets all the requirements for not a lot of money,” one judge stated.

It wasn’t all roses for the Mirage – its interior presentation was criticised for being drab and lacking attention to detail, and the amount of engine noise was questioned by some of our experts.

“It looks a bit cheap inside, and you can tell it has been built to a price,” one judge said.

But in the end it was found to offer a convincing package that has strong ownership credentials on its side, including four years of fixed price servicing (at just $250 per 15,000km/12 month visit), and a five-year, 130,000km warranty.

There’s no doubting the carryover champion, Volkswagen’s Polo 77TSI, is a polished and impressive car. But at $21,490 plus on-road costs it’s heading into territory occupied by bigger – and, frankly, better – vehicles. VW Australia is currently running a $21,490 drive-away deal for the dual-clutch automatic version we tested.

Our judges were again impressed by the refined nature of the VW, from its smooth 1.2-litre turbo four-cylinder engine to its comfortable ride and trusty steering. It may be small but it feels like a bigger, more mature car to drive.

The engine does require premium unleaded fuel, though, and the dual-clutch automatic isn’t without its quirks – and question marks. The impressively low fuel economy largely covers that off, although the Mirage is lower again.

One judge stated: “The Polo is a better car – it’s just a matter of whether or not it’s worth the amount they’re charging for it”.

Another said: “The 77TSI is the pick of the Polo range, but it’s simply too high a price to justify given the amount of cut-throat competition in this segment, and the one above it”.

It was noted that the Volkswagen now comes with fixed price servicing for six years, albeit at a higher cost to the consumer. It requires visits to the dealer every 12 months/15,000km at an average cost of $417.50 per annum. The shorter three year/unlimited kilometre warranty for the Polo also offers less peace of mind.

HAVE YOUR SAY:

Did we get it right? Is the measure of a city car most dependent on the value for money it brings, or should the impressive Volkswagen have retained its crown despite being priced $7000 higher than the Mirage?