Cars over $30,000 arriving in 2011

Carsguide has sorted the genuinely new from the merely tarted up, the noteworthy from the non-entities and the relevant from the rest so families car buyers can chart the year ahead with certainty.

More conventionally, the latest VW Jetta's arrival in the third quarter with twin clutch autos and direct injection turbo petrol and diesel engines should finally cement its identity as something other a Golf mitt boot. Meanwhile the Golf Blue Motion provides slighter consumption than the Prius.

Romance language accents are lent by Citroen's C4, with its frugal diesel HDi engines, and rapid DS4 variant in September. Kia's Optima, due next month, mightn't be as big as either of the formerly top two big two, but the sizeable and stylish Peter Schreyer designed sedan is bigger than its predecessor Magentis and about 100 times easy on the eye.

The make or break Alfa Romeo Giulietta is here in a few weeks, likely to be (over) priced against Audi's A3, with sophisticated MutliAir engine but only manual transmissions for now, twin clutch jobbies coming later.

Petrol electric propulsion Lexus style should be relatively affordable - some $50,000 or less - with the imminent arrival of the CT200h hatchback, which might look a bit like a Mazda3 but runs along Prius lines.

Volvo's V60, the five door counterpart to the allegedly "naughty" S60, is here in March. Unless it includes a spare tyre, don't bother waking us.  The family car market doesn't mean fleet fodder Falcodores. Due in the second quarter, VW's Passat, especially in wagon form, gives very little away to the big Aussies size - or price-wise, and leaves them behind with its cutting edge drivetrains. That said, Falcon's first ever four - a 2.0L turbo petrol unit - is eagerly awaited.

Competition comes in July in the form of Peugeot's 508. As its first full size sedan in yonks, it'll be interesting to see how the big Frog fares in a big pond. The French accent grows more pronounced with the Renault Latitude, a replacement for the unloved Laguna.