Micro cars for micro budgets
When you’re looking for a micro car, budget is important, but you also want a small car that’s comfortable to drive. To help, we’ve road-tested four tiny used cars that are perfect for motorists on a tight budget.
Are you looking for a second car or the first vehicle for the newest driver in your family? If you are, it’s worth considering a micro car.
These city-dwelling cars will get you from A to B without a lot of fuss, and they’re cheap to run.
While there are plenty of benefits to driving a small car – they’re more fuel efficient than larger vehicles and cheaper to service – there are some downsides.
The first thing that comes to mind is safety. If you’re involved in a crash, it’s likely you’ll be tangling with a bigger car and will probably come off second best. Don’t let that deter you though, as we compare four compact commuter cars.
The line-up
2016 Kia Picanto Si: Stylish and good value, with a range of surprising features.
2016 Mitsubishi Mirage ES: A roomy vehicle, with a special feature to help manual drivers on hill-starts.
2016 Holden Spark LS: Fun, practical and affordable, wrapped up in a neat little package.
2016 Suzuki Celerio: Cheap to run and surprisingly spacious.
Cost to own and run
The main expenses you encounter when owning a car are fuel, servicing and tyres. Micro cars are lighter, so they’re kinder on tyres, use less petrol and are better for the environment.
However they have little engines that work hard for a living, so they need to be serviced by the book.
If you’re looking to purchase one of these micro cars and its service history is patchy, it’s best to give it a miss.
The 2016 Suzuki Celerio – with the smallest engine of the group – uses the least fuel, saving you money at the bowser.
However there isn’t much to separate each of these cars when looking at overall running costs.
They all use the less-expensive regular unleaded petrol, and our friends on the spanners in the repair industry tell us that so far they haven’t seen any common or serious problems developing.
That’s a comfort for those looking for a cheap car to run and maintain.
The drive
These are small city cars, and they drive like it – don’t expect them to easily handle the bumps and undulations of country roads like the Horrocks Hwy.
They’re perfect for navigating the slalom course of underground carpark posts and are easy to guide into tight spaces.
Engine performance separates these micro cars. The Holden Spark’s larger 1.4L engine easily outperforms the Suzuki Celerio and Mitsubishi Mirage with their 1L and 1.2L engines, respectively.
The Kia Picanto and the Holden Spark have four-cylinder engines, whereas the Mitsubishi and Suzuki have employed three-cylinder powerplants which have the noisy, rumbly engine noise and exhaust note.
For those who haven’t learnt to drive a manual, the Kia Picanto’s automatic transmission will be a hit.
However the other three were sold as manuals – or automatic transmission was an extra cost – so there might not be as many autos on the used-car market.
The Celerio was also available as a dearer CVT version, however the manual is a better driving option to milk the power out of the 1L engine. The manual versions of the Mirage and Spark have hill-start assist – a great feature for those new to driving.
When starting from parked on a hill, the brakes hold the car for a few moments to stop the vehicle from rolling back.
This helps the driver when they’re removing the handbrake and pushing their right foot on the accelerator.
Practicality
Making practical use of the available room in these micro cars is where you must be a little smart and use your Tetris skills to maximise the space.
For starters, all our competitors are five-door hatches, so you have maximum access to the interior. The 60/40 fold-down seats also make for better cargo carrying space when required.
The Mirage and Celerio have the most space, with decent head room and more rear leg room than the other two cars.
However they don’t have as much storage in the cabin as the Picanto and Spark. The front seats in the Picanto and Spark also provide more comfort and support than the Mirage and Celerio.
In-car information technology will be a large factor when younger buyers are deciding which of these cars to purchase.
The Spark, which has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, is the winner here.
