The Top 10 Best Cars for $30,000

It’s very important to remember, when shopping at this kind of budget, that you must not put pressure on yourself to buy the first vehicle you see or drive. This will be especially important for younger people who’ve probably never bought a car before.

Treat this money with respect and make sure no dealership undermines you by trying to force you to pay a deposit or sign a contract. This is your money, therefore you make the decisions - and 30 grand might seem trivial to others, but it’s your hard-earned ticket to a new car.

Make sure you keep the homework stage separate from the buying stage. Check out the three or four cars you’re most interested in, try them out, pore over them, do a Pro/Con list, and do all this on the same day so it’s fresh in your mind.

Then wait a few days before making a decision, and be firm on your budget, put an offer to the dealer for the car you decide on, even to the point of being happy to find a different dealer.

The big benefit of buying a new car in the 30K range is you get a safe, modern, reliable vehicle that comes with the necessary features for driving on today’s roads, with minimal creature comforts which you don’t really need and just cost more.

Did you know? If you're buying with finance (e.g. a car loan or novated lease), you can usually arrange this before you start picking out cars.

Next time you see the current Mazda 3 in traffic, take a moment to appreciate the level of design effort that’s gone into particularly the rear end of this car. It’s arguably one of the best-looking vehicles on sale right now, so you’ll never have to compromise on looks - however subjective aesthetics are - and to some, they are important.

If you’re a performance-focused person, you’ll want to consider the (35K) G25 Evolve SP which is lighter than the top-spec models, but if you’re capping your budget at that 30K ceiling, the Evolve, with a bit of firm negotiation, will be a trusty modest family car that balances cost against features.

The boot is a decent size, the back seats offer reasonable legroom for most adults, and you’ll manage to get all the necessities in the footwells and boot with the addition of child restraints attached by two ISOFIX points and three top tether points. Plenty of safety gear comes standard on the lower grades, too, which is the bonus of buying a new car today.

The latest of Hyundai's small SUVs to come to life, which sadly does not include a firecracker 'N' performance version. But at least it’s cheap and comes with plenty of gear for any concerned parent wanting to put their adult babies into a safe little SUV - ‘safe’ for you, ‘SUV’ for them, right?

Venue is a pretty compelling package, offering snazzy, trendy looks (says an unfashionable early-30s millennial using such terms), but gets important safety features like auto emergency braking, blindspot detection & collision avoidance, and lane assistance. Not that we should be relying on these features to ever substitute our kids paying full attention to the road. But if they save a life by working once in a thousand hairy situations, they’re worth every cent.

Venue is compact, so don’t expect long-distance roadtrips to be especially fun with ears between the knees, but for running around university it’s a perfect size. The engine is pint-sized too, a 1.6L four-cylinder non-turbocharged four-cylinder making just enough power to be useful enough to move its 1.2-tonne weight, and it only takes regular 91 RON unleaded, unlike many Euro competitors.

The good thing is you can have the top-spec Elite version for bang-on your 30K budget. Just make sure everything you need to take will fit.

To get the most for your money, it's worth comparing Hyundai finance options.

If you want all the legroom, boot space and features of an SUV, but you don’t want to pay as much money upfront or in ongoing fuel costs for the rest of your ownership years, buy a Cerato. Seriously.

Compared with various SUVs, you’ll get significantly better fuel economy because it’s 300-500 kilograms lighter. The old Sportage GT-Line cost $50K (weighing 1.7 tonnes); Cerato GT-Line: $32K (weighs 1.4 tonnes) - both full of fuel. Boot size? Sportage: 466L. Cerato sedan: 502L. In either hatch or sedan form, Cerato has great cabin space without being excessively spacious, while also being

Negotiate hard for a GT-Line and you should be able to get pretty close to your 30K budget, but don’t be dismayed if you need to settle for a Sport+, because it’s still a very well equipped vehicle and drives just as well, only it’s tailored more for normal drivers, not the performance oriented.

Vitara has a simple cabin, a basic features list, and a dead-easy infotainment system. You get lots of child-proof plastic trims which will be easy to clean, the boot space isn’t vast but will cope with small families, young adults, Nanna, or it makes for an ideal second runabout car.

You’ll need to remember to tip 95 RON petrol into it, not 91 - but don’t be dismayed because fuel is relatively cheap. The only real issue is mis-fuelling: putting in the wrong octane fuel (too low) is not good and could have mechanical consequences for the engine. So make sure it doesn’t happen.

Suzuki makes great little engines and pretty reliable vehicles, but the compromise is refinement - they are not especially comfortable or quiet or civilised. Over bumps and on coarse roads you will get tyre roar and the suspension will thump worse than most other SUVs. But other SUVs are significantly more expensive, and it’s not unbearable. Suzuki Australia also has a pretty good reputation for customer service and the outright cost saving you enjoy on the sale price will mean the 12-month servicing won’t even be noticed financially.

While you’re considering a Suzuki Vitara, you might be lured into thinking the Jimny is a good road-going family alternative. It’s not. Don’t buy it. Jimny is as rough as guts and belongs unregistered on a farm next to the Massey Ferguson, in my view. I’m quite fond of Vitara, it gives you the gear you need, some features you want and in an affordable package, which is all you require in this segment. Vitara is Suzuki’s halo car (not the ‘hero’ Swift), so they put the effort into this car.

However it does get a bit pricey if your budget is especially tight and you want all the toys. The expensive top-spec Turbo asks nearly 40K, so you might want to negotiate hard for the mid-spec Turbo (FWD) for bang-on 30K. It’s gonna be the best value: the features, minus AWD which you don’t really need unless you live rurally or have a steep driveway, in which case try a Subaru Impreza.

If you’re this far down the list, you’re probably looking for something European. The Volkswagen Polo is a pretty versatile, very comfortable small hatch.

Of this list, it’s certainly going to be one of the most pleasing to drive and live with on a daily basis - without spending a huge lump of money, as is the case with most Euro cars.

Having said that, Polo does mean forgoing some features in order to have that prestige feel. For example, you don’t get adaptive cruise control as standard on the $25K Style, yet it’s on a base Kia Cerato with the safety pack. The Cerato gets dynamic guidelines in the reversing camera, power folding door mirrors, keyless entry, and a much bigger boot, plus more legroom.

You get the Polo because you want the crisp handling, the firm but well-damped suspension and the perky 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine (which takes premium 95 RON fuel, by the way), and you want the slick-shifting seven-speed DSG gearbox - and less for the software.

If you do want adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, park assist and power folding mirrors, you need the optional ‘Driver Assistance package’, which is $1500.

Negotiate hard for a GTI and you’ll be very satisfied driving it on backroads and in suburbia.

Read our guide if you want to compare Volkswagen finance options.