Best Cars of November 2010

Sorry for the delay in posting this one! It's been a busy month!

This month an upgraded Ford Fiesta enters the mix. Also the Honda Civics come with better warranties for a limited time (resulting in them sneaking into third place). The Hyundai i30 Trophy is no longer available (resulting in it no longer being a contender) and the Impreza R is back in the running.

#1 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $23,990

Pros:

• Sedan
• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating
• Made in Japan
• Subaru resale value

Cons:

• None

#2 Mitsubishi Lancer SX

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,990

Pros:

• Sedan
• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating
• Made in Japan
• 5 year, 130,000km warranty

Cons:

• None

#3 Honda Civic Limited Edition

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,990

Pros:

• Sedan
• 5 year, 140,000 km warranty (for a limited time)

Cons:

• Thai import

Best Cars of October 2010

The Peugeot 207 Sportium is now added to the list as it's cheap enough and it runs on normal ULP (apparently)!

Impreza is sadly off the list so the top 3 has changed.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer SX

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,990

Pros:

• Sedan
• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating
• Made in Japan
• 5 year, 130,000km warranty

Cons:

• None

#2 Ford Focus 2010 LX

Base Model Estimated Price: $22,580

Pros:

• Sedan
• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 Trophy

Base Model Estimated Price: $23,490

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating
• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality

Best Cars of September 2010

The Hyundai i30 now has a special limited edition "Trophy" model - one good thing about it is that it makes the wagon variant affordable. Besides that, not much change.

#1 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,740

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• Subaru resale value

Cons:

• None

#2 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,290

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 Trophy

Base Model Estimated Price: $23,490

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality

Best Cars of August 2010

The Hyundai i20 is now available but there's still not much change in the leaderboard.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,790

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty


• Awesome sale price

Cons:

• None

#2 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,740

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• Subaru resale value

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,390

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality


• Only hatchback models available

Best Cars of July 2010

Thanks to the EOFY sales, some cars are much more affordable which is why the Subaru Impreza is back on the leaderboard.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty


• Awesome sale price

Cons:

• None

#2 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,740

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• Subaru resale value

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,390

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality


• Only hatchback models available

Best Cars of June 2010

Not much change to last month except a slight change in prices.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,590

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty


• Awesome sale price

Cons:

• None

#2 Ford Focus LX

Base Model Estimated Price: $22,790

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,340

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality


• Only hatchback models available

Best Cars of May 2010

The criteria has actually changed once again since the Honda Civic's price has taken a dive to $24,990, hence the limit is now $25,000 for this month.

The Lancer is still out at front and the reasonably priced Ford Focus takes its place.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty


• Awesome sale price

Cons:

• None

#2 Ford Focus LX

Base Model Estimated Price: $22,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,030

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality


• Only hatchback models available

Best Cars of April 2010

Due to a change in criteria (increase in limit to $28,000) and a model going on sale (Mitsubishi Lancer) the scoreboards have changed once again.

#1 Mitsubishi Lancer Activ

Base Model Estimated Price: $21,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan


• 5 year, 130,000km warranty


• Awesome sale price

Cons:

• None

#2 Mazda 3 Maxx

Base Model Estimated Price: $27,507

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Made in Japan

Cons:

• None

#3 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,490

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• One of the largest choices for under $28,000


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality


• Only hatchback models available

Once again a change in limit

Due to a change in circumstances, the price limit has increased to $28,000. It basically reflects the same price as a mid-spec Honda Civic (which is similar to the car I've got now).

Best Cars of March 2010

No changes here except the Kia Cerato Limited Edition is even cheaper.

#1 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,990

Pros:

• Subaru's good resale value


• Sedan


• Made in Japan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Slightly larger than current car


• 3 year, unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• None

#2 Kia Cerato Limited Edition

Base Model Estimated Price: $20,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• One of the largest choices for under $25,000


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Kia's poor resale value

#1 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,490

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• One of the largest choices for under $24,490


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality

Best Cars of February 2010

Once again I've changed the criteria. Basically I now compare cars to what I currently own in various facets such as fuel economy, size, safety, etc. The finalists are surprisingly similar to the one before last month's, although in a different order.

#1 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,990

Pros:

• Subaru's good resale value


• Sedan


• Made in Japan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• Slightly larger than current car


• 3 year, unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• None

#2 Kia Cerato Limited Edition

Base Model Estimated Price: $22,990

Pros:

• Sedan


• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• One of the largest choices for under $25,000


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Kia's poor resale value

#1 Hyundai i30 SLX

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,490

Pros:

• 5 Star ANCAP Safety Rating


• One of the largest choices for under $25,000


• 5 year unlimited km warranty

Cons:

• Korean cars have a perception of poor quality

Best Cars of January 2010

With stricter requirements on what qualifies as a viable car, I only had a list of 4 to shortlist from... these are the three that came out top (and these are including cars from the Light class).

#1 Subaru Impreza R

Base Model Estimated Price: $24,990

Pros:

• All-Wheel Drive


• Subaru's good resale value


• Larger class

Cons:

• Space Saver Spare

#2 Toyota Yaris YRX Sedan 1.5i

Base Model Estimated Price: $23,998

Pros:

• Good Fuel Economy


• Full Size Spare

Cons:

• Smaller Class

Base Model Estimated Price: $23,990

Pros:

• None

Cons:

• Space Saver spare


• Smaller Class

New Year and New Criteria

With the arrival of 2010 I've decided I'll change the criteria somewhat to even further limit options - I'll now only look at assessing 5-star ANCAP cars, however I will include Light cars as well.

The reason for the change is that I want to ensure whatever our next car is will be safe foremost and I don't mind the downgrading of size since some Light Cars are actually getting larger in size (almost to the point where they are the same size as smaller Compact Cars).