Ford Puma, Toyota Yaris Cross GXL 2WD Hybrid & Skoda Kamiq 85TSI - We Compare 3 of the Best Small SUVs in Australia

As we’ve already pointed out, our price benchmark for this test was the $30,000 mark. Both the Skoda Kamiq 85TSI and Ford Puma (the base model is simply called Puma) have the same starting price of $29,990, but the Puma's is an MSRP price, before on-road costs, where the Kamiq 85TSI's sub-$30K sticker is a drive-away deal (its official MSRP is $27,990 for the auto tested here).

Meanwhile our third contender is the Toyota Yaris Cross. We’ve chosen it in mid-grade GXL trim, with the mid-spec front-wheel drive hybrid engine option. It wears a slightly taller MSRP than the other two cars here at $31,990. Now, to be clear, we could have chosen a Yaris Cross GXL without the hybrid drive option ($29,990) but we really wanted to see if Toyota’s signature hybrid drive would be a silver bullet here, and the GXL trim is most reflective in spec level against the other two cars.

The Kamiq has an 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen.

In terms of multimedia, all cars here deliver. Both the Puma and Kamiq have 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreens, while the Yaris Cross has the smallest unit at 7.0-inches. All are capable of supporting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, but only the Kamiq offers it wirelessly (albeit as part of a $3800 Tech Pack). 

The Puma has an 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Interestingly the only car here to not offer wireless phone charging as standard is the Yaris Cross. The Skoda does away with old-school USB-A ports, swapping them out for a USB-C only setup, so you might want to invest in a few converters.

When it comes to built-in navigation the Puma and Yaris Cross have it standard at this grade, but it again falls into the Skoda’s Tech Pack.

The Yaris Cross has the smallest multimedia screen at 7.0-inches. Image: Rob Cameriere.

All cars have digital displays in their driver’s instrument binnacle, but the Ford Puma misses out on a fully digitised dash, making do with old-school dials. The Yaris Cross has quirky digital elements, while the Skoda thoroughly impresses with its fully digital ‘Virtual Cockpit’ it shares with VW and Audi products.

All cars on this test get push-start ignition, but annoyingly the Puma is the only car not to pair this with keyless entry.

In terms of wheel size, all three cars are different. The Kamiq has massive 18-inch alloys, even here in the base grade, while the Puma gets small-looking two-tone 17-inch rollers, and the Yaris Cross looks decidedly base on its 16-inch single-colour rims.

The Puma gets small-looking two-tone 17-inch rollers. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Each car has its own unique addition to the spec list. The Skoda adds the luxury of a powered tailgate, rare at this price, while the Puma bizarrely has standard message seats for the front two occupants. Meanwhile, the Yaris Cross is the only car in this test to have a front- and top-down surround view camera suite.

The Yaris Cross looks decidedly base on its 16-inch single-colour rims. Image: Rob Cameriere.

All cars here make do with manually operated cloth seats, but all also impress with standard LED headlights.

Finally, each car also has a competitive safety suite, with some items notably omitted or option-packed away. Read on to the Safety section later in this review for more on that.

The Kamiq has massive 18-inch alloys. Image: Rob Cameriere.

A winner here? This section is probably the closest of them all, but I’d give the Skoda a nudge for its impressive array of tech and practicality inclusions over the others. Plus, if you really want you can option the handful of items it misses out on.

Why pick a light SUV over a light hatch? Ask most people and they’d point to how they are more practical. Are they? And which of these three is the most practical? Let’s take a look.

All cars are so close dimensionally, with the Kamiq being the longest by a small margin, the Yaris Cross being the tallest by a small margin, and the Puma being the widest by a small margin.

Hopping in the cabin and each feels quite different. Behind the driver’s seat, the Kamiq feels much more like a hatch than the others, with the seat being set in the lowest position, its doors also seem to offer the widest opening angle of these three, both front and rear, so for ease of access it’s about in the middle of the SUVs here.

The Kamiq’s rear seat offers the most legroom out of the three cars. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Between the driver and front passenger, the Kamiq gets a very small triple cupholder which couldn’t fit our 500mL test bottle, a large cubby under the climate controls with a wireless charging bay, large bottle holders with bins in the doors, and a smallish centre console box with a 12-volt outlet on the front of it. The Kamiq has four USB ports but they are USB-C only, so bring some converters. It’s worth noting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity did not work on our test car (across multiple phones, cables, and converters), but we’re putting this down to a glitch for now.

Annoyingly, while the Kamiq is the only car here with dual-zone climate, fan speed and vent choice controls are managed through the multimedia screen.

The Kamiq’s rear seat offers the most legroom out of the three cars here and is also the only car with rear adjustable air vents. There are small pockets on the back of the front seats.

Of course, it also comes packed with the brand’s “Simply Clever” touches, like an umbrella in the driver’s door, an ice-scraper in the fuel cap, a collection of nets for securing objects in the boot (plus a removable torch that doubles as the boot light), and a double-sided floormat.

In terms of total boot space, the Kamiq falls between the other two on this test, with 400 litres (VDA) of storage. There is a space-saver spare under the boot floor.

There is a space-saver spare under the boot floor. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Next up, the Puma. Despite being wider than the Kamiq, the Puma somehow feels narrower behind the wheel, but this is probably to do with its swoopy design-focused roofline which eats interior space. Dark pillars, small windows, and very close-quarters dash elements make the space feel smaller still. At least the trims on the doors and armrest have padded surfaces for your elbows.

The Puma scores a similar three-cupholder arrangement between the driver and front passenger as the Kamiq, but the two large ones actually fit our test bottle. It also gets an odd little angled bay under the climate unit which can wirelessly charge your phone, and a tiny console box which houses this car’s only USB-C port. There is also a USB-A port and 12V outlet sticking out the top of the transmission panel. Useful you get all three, but I can’t help but feel like the uncovered USB-A port will fill with debris.

The door cards feature long angled trenches with cutaways for bottles. These just fit our test bottle. The rear doors aren’t quite as large as the Kamiq’s for access, although the seats are noticeably high.

The Puma offers the most ordinary support and comfort in the rear seats. Image: Rob Cameriere.

This makes for again a slightly claustrophobic space, and the Puma offers perhaps the most ordinary support and comfort in the rear seats.

My knees are hard-up against the back of my own seating position in the back, but headroom is okay. The Puma offers flimsy nets on the back of the front seats and no power outlets or adjustable air vents for rear passengers. The bottle holders in the doors accepted our 500mL bottle.

Boot space in the Puma is the largest of the three cars here despite its descending roof and design-led boot lid. It offers a total of 410L which is very good, even encroaching on some mid-size SUVs. While it doesn’t quite offer the same storage tricks as the Kamiq, the boot floor can be raised to be level with the loading lip or removed entirely to reveal a huge area underneath. The Puma has a space-saver spare wheel.

The Puma has a space-saver spare wheel. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Finally, there’s the Yaris Cross, which has a light and airy cabin feel with a tall roof, big windows, and an upright seating position. As already mentioned in the design section, the lack of a centre console armrest box is a notable omission for practicality purposes. The Yaris’ three large centre cupholders just fit our 500mL bottle. There are two cubbies cut out of the dash design, but annoyingly neither are rubberised so you could lose your objects in a corner or when accelerating.

At this grade, the Yaris Cross gets a single USB-A port awkwardly sticking directly out of the dash, and a 12V outlet hidden at the back of the main storage cubby. There is no USB-C or wireless charging available.

There are reasonably-sized bottle holders with small trenches in the front doors, but that’s about where it ends for front passengers.

Oddly, the Yaris Cross’ rear doors don’t open very far. This could be a particularly annoying issue if you frequently fit a child seat or load lots of luggage into the back-seat area. This problem also affects the Corolla and Yaris, so seems to be a Toyota-wide issue.

The back seat trim in the Yaris Cross is noticeably stadium. Image: Rob Cameriere.

The back seat trim, like the Puma, is noticeably stadium (you sit much higher than the front two passengers), but leg and headroom behind my own driving position is decent. The seats offer middling comfort, but the Yaris Cross is the only car here to offer centre cupholders via its drop-down centre backrest. The bottle holders in the rear doors only just accepted our 500mL bottle, but there are no power outlets or adjustable air vents afforded to rear passengers.

Boot space is the smallest of the three here at a still decent 390L. Like the Puma, the boot floor can be raised to be level with the loading lip, but the Yaris Cross’ party trick over the other two is its fully split-folding rear seats. It is also the only car here with a full-size steel spare under the boot floor (something it loses in top-spec AWD guise).

The Yaris has a full-size steel spare under the boot floor. Image: Rob Cameriere.

So, do we have an overall practicality winner? Yep, it’s the Skoda Kamiq again with its large doors, superior cabin-space, and neat but meaningful additions.

All cars are so close dimensionally. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Well one car here should easily take the cake, right? You would hope the Yaris Cross, with 20 years of hybrid development behind it, would easily be the victor, and I’m pleased to report it is. And by quite some margin, too.

The Yaris Cross wears a sticker number of 3.8 litres per 100 kilometres for combined cycle fuel consumption which is, in fact, one of the lowest non-plug-in hybrid or EV fuel consumption numbers on sale in Australia today.

Over our testing loop our Yaris Cross returned an at-the-pump measured figure of 4.8L/100km, which is excellent considering the lack of freeways. But then, this where Toyota’s hybrid system thrives, in urban environments. No wonder it only needs a 36L fuel tank.

The Yaris Cross returned an at-the-pump measured figure of 4.8L/100km. Image: Rob Cameriere.

The Yaris Cross is even capable of running on base-grade 91RON unleaded, which is great from an economical perspective, but perhaps less so for the environment as our friends at Skoda would argue. 

The Kamiq returned a pump-measured figure of 8.3L/100km. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Speaking of the Skoda, our Kamiq wears an official combined number of 5.0L/100km and missed its mark by quite a margin on our test loop, returning a pump-measured figure of 8.3L/100km. This was a shame as you could expect a similar figure from an old-school naturally aspirated 2.0-litre on the same loop. It was also the highest variance of claim to actual out of the three cars here.

The Kamiq requires mid-grade 95RON unleaded petrol and has the largest fuel tank here at 50L.

For our testing, the Puma overshot its claim to 7.0L/100km. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Finally, we have the Ford Puma. It has the highest claimed/combined consumption of the three cars here at 5.3L/100km. Over our loop it had significantly less variance than the Skoda, but still overshot its claim to 7.0L/100km. Like the Kamiq, the Puma also requires mid-grade 95RON unleaded, but has a smaller 42L tank.

Clearly then, there’s something to be said for picking the Toyota when it comes to sipping fuel.

There’s something to be said for picking the Toyota when it comes to sipping fuel. Image: Rob Cameriere.

All cars here come well equipped when it comes to safety, although there was a clear winner here, too.

All three of our contenders have auto emergency braking (AEB) that works at freeway speeds, as well as being capable of detecting pedestrians and cyclists. Only the Yaris Cross has the new oncoming intersection braking feature.

All these cars come well equipped when it comes to safety. Image: Rob Cameriere.

All cars also score lane departure warning with lane keep assist, but only the Yaris Cross comes standard with blind spot monitoring at the grade tested. It is available on both the Kamiq and Puma but is hidden away in option packs.

Check out our table below for more on active safety features, but suffice to say all the light SUVs here score well.

Only the Yaris Cross comes standard with blind spot monitoring at the grade tested. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Where the Yaris Cross starts to pull ahead is its airbag complement. It scores eight, including two between the front two occupants. This is a relatively new innovation which helped its Yaris hatch sibling achieve stellar scores in its recent 2020 ANCAP test. The Yaris Cross has not yet been assessed by ANCAP, but it’s also worth noting it misses out on a centre console box for this reason.

All the light SUVs here score well. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Meanwhile the Skoda has seven airbags, adding a driver’s knee airbag to the standard complement, and the Puma makes do with the standard six (driver, passenger, side impact x2, curtain x2).

On this basis we have to hand the win to the Yaris Cross here, although it’s also worth noting the Kamiq and Puma both hold maximum five-star ANCAP ratings to the 2019 standards.

Three all-new nameplates in a rapidly emerging SUV sub-class, all landing at the same price point. This was bound to be an interesting test. But I’m sure you want to know: does a clear winner emerge?

First, let’s take a look at the kind of buyer each car would suit. 

The Puma is the most powerful, most engaging to look at, and most fun to drive. Image: Rob Cameriere.

If you see driving as a bit more than just a chore and are looking for some engagement behind the wheel, the Ford Puma revealed itself to be the better choice. It was the most powerful, most engaging to look at, and most fun to drive of our three SUVs. It’s let down a little when it comes to its interior trim but keeps up with the others on almost every other front.

The Yaris Cross proved itself to be the most tailor-made for a close-quarters urban life. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Then there’s the Yaris Cross GXL 2WD Hybrid. While we were disappointed by its interior trim, extra cost for the hybrid, and some of its qualities when you leave the confines of a city, it proved itself to be the most tailor-made for a close-quarters urban life. The hybrid system excels in the never-ending stop-start traffic of a city, working to save fuel and keep your drive smooth, proving it’s more than just hype.

For the money, the Kamiq is truly impressive. Image: Rob Cameriere.

Lastly, there’s the Skoda Kamiq 85TSI. We think you’ll prefer it if you’re looking to drive something which feels as compact as a hatch with the ride height of an SUV. But for the money, the Kamiq is truly impressive with its upmarket interior and drive experience, which it pairs with an excellent practicality and spec promise for a stellar overall package.

The Kamiq is our overall winner in this comparison test. Image: Rob Cameriere.

For those reasons the Kamiq is our overall winner in this comparison test, nudging just ahead of the others in our marking scheme. But it wasn’t only there it was the winner - most of the office agreed if you were to live with just one of these light SUVs every day for at least six months, it would have to be the Kamiq, proving it’s the winner on more than just the numbers.