BEST CONVENTIONAL CARS

If you need a beautiful car with luxurious leather, all the tech and equipment, a smooth, bristling engine, and sorted handling, a Mazda6 sedan or wagon is also $30K less than any Merc or Audi. Despite also being more reliable than German passenger cars, the 6 wagon isn’t being continued, so get the last of them while you can.

The 6 wagon is a brilliant family car, where most brands have basically given up on proper cars with wagon body styles, and have gone full-SUV. Mazda 6 sales were high in 2023, increasing over 200 per cent compared with 2022.

You get all the desirable features on a modestly-priced variant, without it becoming some bloated whale, as is the case with most top-spec SUVs. That equivalent-spec medium SUV would demand (ballpark) $7000 more.

If you don’t need a large SUV but you want a luxury feel, a ‘Touring’ variant is great value. Sit in the Mazda6 with the logo covered up, you’ll swear it’s from a ‘premium’ German brand. The wagon’s tailgate cargo cover design, is also quite clever. Get the last Mazda 6s before they’re all gone.

Enquire about a new Mazda 6 now >

If you want family-sized performance, the kind Ford and Holden used to offer, Sonata N-Line is for you. Only this car is better in many ways.

There’s a generous 510L boot that beats most midsize SUVs for cubic capacity, and it secures your stuff away from prying eyes and sticky fingers.

Sonata is affordable family transport with very good levels of safety, quality, reliability and practicality - and grunt. The dual-clutch auto is lightning quick, the 2.5 turbo petrol packs a wallop for the price, and because it’s light at only 1700kg with you on board, it’s also pretty quick .

But if you dial it back to ‘Comfort’ and ask it to be a civilised daily commuter, it’ll do that all day without ever feeling bloated, too soft or boring. And at $52,000 before on-road costs, it’s a bit of a bargain.

Enquire about a new Hyundai Sonata >

The Hyundai i30 sedan offers generous luggage space in a package designed to appeal to car enthusiasts who miss old-school hot sedans and sporty handling while still being functional for a potential family of 4 or 5.

Boot space is 474 litres, meaning 20 per cent more than the i30 hatch and 28 per cent more than the Kia K4. But where the Kia gets a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol hybrid powertrain, the i30 sedan sticks to a spicier version of the 1.6 with ‘N’ performance tuning. If you’re not interested in thrilling, dynamic performance, but you still seek that lower profile and more compelling value that a small sedan offers, the range kicks off at a bit over $31,000 - which is excellent value.

Considering the inherent safety, performance, fuel economy and all-round practicality you get with such a car, it’s hard to think why you’d want a small SUV at the same price with less boot space.

The new K4 is a replacement for Kia’s champion Cerato small sedan and offers decent value, especially if you want something mildly sporty or just an affordable commuter car.

You get the benefits of a five-seat family sedan, including two sets of ISOFIX restraint anchor points (just like any medium SUV), an impressive boot space at 508L (better than most small SUVs), and cabin space even for tall people, if a little tight in the back. But the price has strayed into mid-$40K territory - not unlike a medium SUV.

You get the leather seats and power-folding heated door mirrors, tyre pressure monitoring, GPS and DAB+ radio, proxy key with push-button start, there’s rear air-con, pumping multi-speaker premium stereo systems and sunroof.

Front and rear sensors in tandem with the rearview camera offer slick precision parking and ‘Side door exit warning’ keeps kids safe. Kia also offers you a more interesting sedan alternative to a Toyota hybrid if aesthetic matters to you

Enquire about a new Kia K4 or i30 Sedan >

A lot of car for medium-size families needing cargo space, safety and satisfactory comfort levels on a modest 5-seat budget.

SUVs might be the rage, but they’re not all things to all people, because they can’t handle cornering or dynamic performance in emergency stops like a normal car with lower centre of gravity. This is fundamental physics.

Camry can do the wide majority of transport tasks without being exceptional, because most people don’t need exceptional.

Camry in non-hybrid version will not save you thousands on fuel, because of its tiny battery, but it will reduce your emissions from standing start to normal traffic flow. Toyota just sells it using the cost-saving tactic to appeal to consumers like you. Even on an affordable Ascent Sport you get radar cruise, DAB, 6 speakers, LED running & tail lights, full-size spare.

Enquire about a new Toyota Camry >

If you’re strictly buying in the prestige market, BMW is without doubt the brand I recommend most, and the 3 Series is one of those perennial luxury cars that rarely puts a foot wrong.

In sedan or ‘Touring’ spec, which in Australia we call a wagon - and nothing else, thank you - this is a five-seat family vehicle at its core with good build quality and, more importantly, good customer care baked into the ownership experience. BMW Australia doesn’t turn its nose up at you in the event of an unlikely problem. They just deal with it, generally speaking.

When you pour money into a conveyance like this, you expect results, you expect decency, and you shouldn’t have to wonder if your trust will be betrayed.

Consider a 3-Series Touring if you need that boost in practicality (over sedan) without the SUV price premium. Also, the seats are magnificent.

Enquire about a new BMW 3 Series >