Best Large Cars of May 2011

It's rare for large cars to come under the $35,000 mark which is why we've got only two contenders: the Toyota Aurion and the Ford Falcon XR6 (which is on sale). The Toyota Aurion wins this round being cheper and having better fuel consumption.



The XR6 is not too much more but has a whopping 11.1L/100km in terms of fuel consumption, making it second.

Best Medium Cars of May 2011

#1 in the Medium Car list is the Suzuki Kizashi. It has decent fuel consumption and a very attractive price: $29,990 for a medium car.



The Mazda 6 Classic lost out due to being slightly more expensive and having worse fuel consumption.



In third place we have the Ford Mondeo which again is even more expensive than the Kizashi and Mazda 6, and even worse with fuel consumption.

Best Compact Cars of May 2011

It's probably no surprise, but the best value compact car is the Hyundai i30. However, it's not the Trophy trim level that is on sale at the moment which offers the best value, but the standard Diesel. True the car is over $25,000 in price but the 4.7L/100km consumption from its frugal diesel engine means you save money in the long run.



Coming in second place is the Mitsubishi Lancer SX. The fuel consumption is reasonable for a petrol car (7.6L/100km) but the main reason it's good value is thanks to its incredibly low purchase price of $20,990. To give you an idea, the Toyota Yaris is more expensive than this car, and it's smaller..



Thanks to a most recent sale, the Volkswagen Golf is also a viable option, slotting in at third place. While the Golf is still pretty pricey with its upfront costs when compared to the competition, thanks to German engineering, its engine is a real miser when it comes to fuel consumption.

Best Light Cars of May 2011

In terms of pure value for money, the Ford Fiesta is the best in this class. For around $20,000 you can get a car with miserly fuel consumption (4.4L/100km in fact) although you'll need to buy the Diesel version to enjoy it.



Coming (a very close) second place is the new Suzuki Swift which is the best value petrol light car you can get.



In third place we have the Ford Fiesta's cousin, the Mazda 2 Maxx which somehow has a slightly higher fuel consumption than the cars in first and second place.

New scoring criteria

With ever-rising fuel prices, I became curious to think whether in the long run (or at least 10 years) whether it was worth buying a hybrid car or a diesel variant of a particular car compared to the petrol ones (which I've usually been reviewing). Often a hybrid or a diesel is more expensive, but maybe the initial cost would outweigh the long term fuel costs for some of these models?

Consequently I raised the limit to $35,000 for a new car so I could include at least one hybrid, the Honda Insight. This also means I'm able to once again provide ratings for different classes of cars however this time, total cost of ownership (or at least the 10-year cost) is going to be the major deciding factor.

All cars must have a 5 star ANCAP safety rating to get on the list and they will usually involve a trim level above the basic (typically whichever one offers alloys standard - I'm a fan of shiny wheels!).