Drive Car of the Year 2014: Best Small Car

Australia's best selling cars - and a value-packed Skoda - battle to steal the small car crown from the Ford Focus.

December 12 2014

David Morley

Drive Car of the Year 2014: Best Small Car

Australia's best selling cars - and a value-packed Skoda - battle to steal the small car crown from the Ford Focus.

- Read the latest news and other Drive Car of the Year category reviews here

The small car market globally has recently been the battleground for new technologies that are increasingly becoming mainstream.

It wasn't too long ago that smaller capacity, turbocharged engines, CVT gearboxes and dual-clutch automatic transmissions were novelties; but not any more.

DCOTY 2014. Best small car.
Photo: Mark Bean — DCOTY 2014. Best small car. Photo: Mark Bean

In fact, three-quarters of the field in this category uses a either a dual-clutch automatic or CVT transmission.

But small cars are also one area where some manufacturers are not afraid to stick with conventional technology and improve it with a raft of tweaks and fine-tuning.

Mazda's Skyactiv efficiency technologies are a great example of something old being new again with the Mazda 3 continuing with a normally-aspirated engine and a conventional automatic gearbox.

With such diversity of philosophy, it's no surprise to learn that all four cars here have a distinct character and flavour.

But equally, some of them do a better job than the others both in terms of how they actually drive as well as how well they fulfil the brief as cars that will be called upon to do everything from city commuting to interstate runs with a load of passengers.

Despite its solid reputation for reliability and the promise of low running and ownership costs, the Toyota Corolla didn't really set the field alight dynamically speaking.

The CVT transmission in the Corolla might be great for efficiency, but it detracts from the driving experience especially in hilly country at highway speeds where it tends to hunt around a little more than we'd have liked.

The transmission also features 'artificial' steps or 'gears' which attempt to make the car feel less alien, but actually detract from the CVTs inherent efficiency.

But the Corolla is huge inside (think the first Australian-made Camry as a comparison) with a vast boot, although that's let down a little by the Corolla having a hard rear seat and a sharp ride on high frequency road irregularities.

The engine in the Corolla is also starting to show its age and equipment levels are not perfect with no satellite-navigation and no climate-control. It does, however, get a reversing camera at this price.

We'd have to say the Ford Focus – our carry-over champion – also lacks for a bit of standard gear, too.

There's no navigation, no reverse camera and silly little details like not having an obvious storage space for a phone or wallet and the annoying manual-shift button for the gearbox remain to confound us.

But the Focus comes into its own in the actual driving and, despite a relatively poor fuel-consumption rating, it's a great car to drive.

The dual-clutch transmission is about the best around in this price segment and the engine is smooth and willing.

The Focus also steers well with a flowing feel at speed but, ultimately, while it has no real vices and remains a quality product, the rest of the small-car world seems to have moved on a little.

Skoda's Rapid is an interesting car from a packaging point of view with a body that is equal parts hatchback and station-wagon.

It's reasonably well equipped and includes touches like the panoramic roof that makes the interior feel ultra spacious.

There's a premium feel to the rest of the presentation, too, and the turbocharged 1.4-litre engine feels strong and offers good flexibility.

Like the Focus, the Skoda uses a DSG gearbox which might cause reliability headaches down the track.

Skoda (part of the VW-Audi group) says it has fixed the flaws in this technology, but until enough cars have proved this, the jury's still out at Drive.

One of the most hyped new small cars for a long time, the Mazda 3 really makes a statement.

With optional autonomous braking, a reverse camera and navigation, our Maxx model was really only missing parking sensors and climate-control.

The 3 is a bit tighter in the rear seat than the others here and the boot isn't the biggest while servicing might be relatively expensive.

Beyond that, however, there's a lot to like and the 3's long suit is its dynamic abilities combined with potentially phenomenal fuel economy.

Mazda has told us that it has deliberately stayed away from turbocharged engines because of the fuel-economy penalty when they're actually making boost.

And when you drive the Mazda3 with its 2.0-litre non-turbo engine and look at its official fuel-consumption number of 5.8 litres per 100km, you can understand the argument.

But more than that, the Mazda has a very natural feel to the way it steers and there's good body control with a supple ride.

Only a little suspension and road noise intrudes, even at freeway speeds.

In the end, the Mazda's conventional technology was good enough to claim the silverware this year, with a split decision for second as the Skoda and Focus shared the second step of the podium and the Corolla in fourth place.

Judges' Votes

Mazda 3 6

Skoda Rapid 16

Ford Focus 16

Toyota Corolla Sedan 22