Two popular small cars in mid-range grades, but is the Cerato Sport or Corolla SX our favourite hatchback here?
Australians tend to buy hatchbacks and crossover SUVs, but there is still a market for the humble small sedan. Two of the most popular are the new (and more premium-than-before) Toyota Corolla and Mazda 3. But they’re also two of the most resolved cars in their class. Increased prices on entry grades may dent sales, but it's easier to justify a premium when you're looking at the two flagship models...
A showdown between Australia's three most popular small cars, each tested in mid-range form, priced at about $31K on the road.
While buyers continue to gravitate toward SUVs, small cars haven’t entirely lost their appeal. They account for about one-in-seven new vehicles sold this year, with this cluster of models forming the vast majority of the segment’s sales. We’re testing flagship variants here, with sticker prices between $30,000 and $40,000...
Believe it or not, I’m pretty excited at the prospect of this 2019 Toyota Corolla range review. Not so long ago, you’d have thought I was mad for making that statement, but stay with me for a minute… The Corolla looks better than it has for a long time, it’s more accomplished than it’s ever been in an engineering sense, and there is more than one engine variant worth considering – one an excellent hybrid drive system...
The new Toyota Corolla took us aback when it arrived a few months ago. Far from familiar, its maker has driven the market's top-selling passenger car down a bolder path. Its design is edgier, its handling sharper, its safety tech leads the class, and a hybrid drivetrain is available at all specification levels. And it’s more expensive...
It’s fair to presume a couple of things when you consider that non-premium small cars are amongst the biggest-selling – make that the biggest-selling – passenger cars out there. And it’s also easy to presume that you don’t get much goodness for your modest spend...
Over time, we have forgotten the meaning of what an SUV is. Look up your average dictionary and it will tell you it’s a "rugged vehicle with a truck-like chassis and four-wheel drive, designed for occasional off-road use". Now put that description to the likes of the Suzuki Ignis, Mazda CX-3 or Nissan Juke...
From styling to equipment and value, Holden has take the offensive to the small-car market with its Euro-influenced Astra sedan range. An offer too good to be true? We pitch it against the evergreen, big-selling Corolla to test the measure of the Astra's goodness.
For all the hoo-ha about booming sales of SUVs, the so-called 'small car' segment remains the market's most popular, still accounting for almost 20 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia. Of this, the majority are hatchbacks instead of three-box sedans, which draw people in based on their improved practicality and generally less conservative design approaches...
The last time we took a close look at the small sedan segment in the form of a comprehensive three-way comparison, the new-generation Honda Civic stole the cookies from the previous segment leader, the Hyundai Elantra and a slightly more left field combatant, the Skoda Octavia...
