The thing about going for small and economical cars is what you give up to get that economy , most of the figures are done on flat gorund with the windows closed and the air definately off, somthing which most Aussie's aren't prepared to do.
I bought my wife a new car for her Birthday , the year before last and I searched high and low, Saab , audi , bmw , Benz , and all the popular small and mid size cars available and after driving them and doing the sums on price ,running cost and adding in the fact that the girl doesn't like small cars very much anyway, I was left with bmw 318 . . too expensive , Saab . . . .turbo runs premium fuel and services are too costly ,M G sedan . . . . worries about it going down , later proved correct, and finally subaru Liberty.
Liberty offered a budget version with 2 lt a mid range with 2.5 and the gt with 2 lt turbo. The one thing that pushed me toward the Subaru was all wheel drive , the handling ,steering , and brakeing were amazing and a fuel use optimum of 8.5 lt per 100 kms. And the price was right , around 37k in the garage with a full tank and a years rego, and even though she had one of my fuel cards she still worries about fuel consumption , which is very low. After a few months I asked her to tell me outright if she liked or disliked the car , she says she loves it .
