Top 10 cheapest new cars

Hyundai's smallest SUV may not have everything, but at least it’s cheap enough to warrant looking at if your Learner or Probationary driving children insist on an SUV. And it’s got enough to make them happy.

Venue is a strong package, with a front design which should age well, and gets important safety features expected in modern new cars: auto emergency braking, blindspot detection & collision avoidance, and lane assistance. However, teaching your kids to rely on these features, rather than their own eyes, brain and hands could be an accident waiting to happen.

Venue is the same size as a Kia Seltos, Hyundai Kona, Mazda CX-3 and Mitsubishi ASX, all good vehicles which you could also consider. They all get space saver spare wheels, they all have reasonably good boot space and can all accommodate adults in the back seats for short trips. Venue’s wheelbase is 2.52m, Seltos is 2.63, CX-3 is 2.57 and ASX is 2.67 - all within a few millimetres in terms of cabin space, but they’re all marginally longer than Venue, which is 4m exactly - perfect for fitting into a tiny garage or squishy carpark bay. It just depends on what you want - size, or a lack thereof.

Venue is compact, no doubt, so don’t expect long-distance roadtrips to be especially comfortable like a mid-size or large SUV or even a decent wagon would be. But for running around university, making endless shopping trips, picking up the grandkids, and reverse parallel parking surrounded by hostels while taking cover from a stressful in-law - it’s a perfect size.

The engine is a tiny-but-mighty 1.6L four-cylinder non-turbocharged four-cylinder in the top three model grades, making just enough power to move its 1.2-tonnes of kerb weight with relative ease, and it only takes regular 91 RON unleaded, unlike many Euro competitors. The good thing is you can have the top-spec Elite variant with change from thirty grand.

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Did you know? You can sometimes get cheaper finance, such as a car loan or novated lease, when you're buying a brand new car.

The current Mazda 3, in the flesh, is arguably one of the best-looking vehicles on sale. But it has the substance to match, which is what also makes it one the best-selling vehicles of recent SUV-obsessed times.

Honestly, you don’t need an SUV - they’re bigger, more expensive, heavier and don’t actually offer the increased cabin space you expect, especially in the boot department. SUVs allow you to sit more upright, sure, but apart from better loading height for heavy things and the boot floor being a mobile change table, that’s about where the advantages end. If you want to spend about $40K on an SUV, at least consider first whether you could live with a notionaly smaller Mazda 3 which (in sedan form) has the same wheelbase, length and same boot volume as a CX-5 at the same price.

But a CX-5 Maxx Sport doesn’t get the kickass 12-speaker Bose premium stereo, sunroof, 360-degree camera, heated leather seats & steering wheel, or adaptive LED headlights.

If you like performance, a $35K G25 Evolve SP is lighter than the top-spec models, but gets the better power to weight ratio thanks to having the same 2.5 petrol-four with 139kW peak power.

The boot is a decent size too, in either hatch or sedan, but the latter offers more impressive stowage space not taken up by a cargo blind and being 20mm longer. Back seats offer good legroom for most adults, and you’ll manage to get plenty of shopping in the footwells and boot, and installation of child restraints is easy with two ISOFIX points and three top tether points within easy reach.

Plenty of safety gear comes standard on the lower grades, too, which is the bonus of buying a new car today.

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Vitara’s plain cabin, its basic list of features and a ridiculously simple infotainment system are some of the most endearing elements of this vehicle. Stay with me on this.

Child-proof plastic trims are excellent for cleaning, the boot dimensions aren’t a segment leader but there’s enough to cope with average size families or even the kids or grandparents. Vitara is an ideal runabout car.

However, be aware it takes 95 RON petrol, not 91 - but don’t get annoyed by this because fuel is quite cheap in Australia. Just make sure you do not put in the wrong fuel.

Suzuki is renowned for reliable little engines, but it hasn’t done much in the way of safety innovation.

The primary drawback with Vitara is the ride and cabin comfort, which is a bit poor on freeways and rough bitumen; it slams into bumps which reverberates in the cabin.

The reason people by Suzukis is because they’re reliable and do the job, generally, at a bargain price. Other SUVs are much more expensive, because they offer you as much as you think you’ll need. 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.

Vitara gives you the stuff you need, some features you want and in an affordable package, which is all you require when you’re on a budget - you have to compromise, you can’t have everything. Vitara is Suzuki’s halo car (not the ‘hero’ Swift), so they put the effort into this car. However, it does get a bit expensive for the top-spec Turbo, asking nearly 40K, so you’ll need to negotiate hard for a 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. Or there’s Hyundai Venue if you want slightly more ride height..

If you like the feel of a stripped out rally car, a bit like how cars used to feel, Suzuki Swift does that very well - only today you can connect your pocket supercomputer for maps, music and making calls. And you get airbags, stability control, ABS brakes and modern safety aids.

Swift is Suzuki's hero car and they put a lot of effort into making it a great value package, which means, unfortunately, they put fewer dollars into giving you the latest tech, or tuning the engine for our standard unleaded fuel.

Swift uses 95 RON petrol, the interior is very plastic, and there's very little sound deadening to keep wind noise, tyre roar and vibrations down.

If this doesn’t matter to you, plastic interiors are less prone to stains and damage, which is a plus if you need a cheap little car to thrash with kids, a dog or various shopping and commuting duties.

Swift is pleasantly balanced between offering you kit you need like auto emergency braking and adaptive cruise, and not charging you for comforts like heated leather seats, or even gadgets you may never use like hands-free tailgate. As for safety, you get plenty of crash-avoidance features capable of keeping you from having a serious crash, they’re just not quite as polished as the same systems in other vehicles from other brands - but that’s not as important as knowing they work and learning how they function while you drive. Every new car takes adapting, and in time you’ll do the same with Swift’s systems - just try to use them on a test drive to see how they work.

If you don’t particularly like Swift, you could consider Mazda 2 or Kia Rio.

While there’s not a whole lot of pizazz about a Toyota Yaris, in many ways that’s a good thing. A great many people just want a conveyance tool and that’s why, in my view, Yaris is so popular. And you know it will do the job.

But Yaris has gotten expensive compared to others on this list, which is why it’s down here. A top-spec ZR is over $34,000. And Toyota even says it cannot tell you when a new Yaris could arrive in your driveway.

Looking at the base model Yaris, the Ascent Sport, you get some basic software for your phone like Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a seven-inch touchscreen, and DAB+ playing through six speakers. There’s a reversing camera (with static guidelines), but no sensors. Headlights are halogen, but the door mirrors are power-folding. Wheels are steel with hubcaps, seats are cloth. Driver’s gauges are all analogue and the air-con is manual, but hey, you get “Intersection Turn Assistance” just in case they missed that part in your driving lessons. If a crash does happen, you get the new front-centre airbag to protect front occupants colliding.

Look, if you’re trying to get the safest cheap car or the cheapest safe car you can find, the Yaris is neither, and both. Because you do, weirdly, get adaptive cruise control, which is excellent for keeping the vehicle ahead at a fixed distance - and there are eight airbags in the event of a proper crash, which is mitigated against by the inclusion of auto emergency braking. Yaris is a paradoxical car - you should set your expectations very low, and be pleased it’s not as poverty as you perhaps expected. Yet somehow, it still is.

You just have to sacrifice almost all creature comforts. And as a second car, the thrash machine; the dog-friendly, city commuter stop-starter, it’s good. Especially if you don’t mind sticking to a tight budget. Or waiting indefinitely for it to arrive.

Or you could just get a Picanto or Mazda 3.

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