Urban Reviews

Affordable cars from China have overrun the Australian market, forcing once favourites from Japan out of the top-10, and putting pressure on the rest hailing from South Korea to Europe.Yet amongst this, one Indian manufacturer is hoping to ride the affordable Chinese wave as an alternative.Mahindra has had a resurgence in Australia, releasing an array of surprisingly competitive new products as part of a renewed global push toward a wider audience.The car we’ve nabbed for this long-term test, the oddly-named XUV 3X0 is the brand’s latest.It’s a crossover SUV which represents the entry-point to the Mahindra line-up, starting from a very keen $23,990, drive-away.As rival Chinese brand Chery might know, though, just being affordable isn’t enough. The cars have to be good, too.Does the XUV 3X0 have what it takes or will you be wishing you spent a little more? Read on to see what I found in my first month.Okay, let’s set the scene before we get into impressions. You can have one of these from the aforementioned starting price, but the one we have is top of the two-variant range, the AX7L, which is priced at $26,990, drive-away.For exactly the same money, you could get into the best selling Chery Tiggo 4, also in top-spec Ultimate form, with the larger MG ZS Turbo (basic Vibe form, $25,990, drive-away), and Haval Jolion (basic Premium form, $26,990, drive-away) also options.If you’re looking for something from a longer established brand, your options include the ageing Hyundai Venue (auto - $25,750, before on-roads) or the Suzuki Fronx ($28,990, before on-roads), both of which are more size-appropriate in this city crossover space.So your choices are a larger, better equipped car from China, an older car from Korea, or a more expensive car from Japan.Some food for thought is the equipment list, which stays just on the right side of good, with a few omissions.The 3X0 ticks all the key boxes - 17-inch alloys, LED headlights, synthetic leather interior trim, dual 10.25-inch screens for the digital dash and the multimedia touchscreen, wireless phone connectivity and charging, as well as a panoramic sunroof, 360-degree parking camera, and Harman Kardon premium audio on this top-spec one.It might not have a few luxuries such as heated and power adjusting seats like a high-spec Tiggo 4 for example, but for a small basic car it feels the part.Looking at the 3X0 from the outside, I’m pretty impressed with its sharp design. From a brand once known for its particularly hideous takes on the standard SUV archetypes, the 3X0 is maybe its best looking car yet, featuring sharp contemporary headlight designs, a cohesive design front to rear (the larger Scorpio is yet to feel so tidy), angular design motifs with some nice highlight detailing and trendy touches like the two-tone roof and diamond-cut alloys.You could hardly tell from the outside that the 3X0 is an older Korean car underneath. Yep, that’s right, the 3X0 can trace its underpinnings back to the SsangYong Tivoli thanks to the South Korean automaker’s time being owned by Mahindra.It’s much more obvious inside, where some switchgear is identical to the SsangYong, while other bits, like the lower portion of the centre console also share a familiarity.The digital dash and multimedia touchscreen, however, feel much more modern, giving the cabin an up-to-date touch courtesy of Mahindra’s latest software, which is easy to use.Aesthetically, the screens are pretty much the only thing keeping the 3X0’s interior in this decade, with old-school plastics and too much of the much-maligned piano black cladding the dash, but there’s something refreshing about the simplicity of it all.Those paying attention would have noticed the glorious abundance of buttons and dials making everything in this car easy to control and proving you can still build an affordable car without hiding all the climate functions in touchscreen sub-menus.My initial impression continues behind the wheel where the 3X0 feels like a car from 10 years ago but somehow in a good way.Let me explain. Too many compact SUVs in this class are dynamically a mess and dull to steer thanks to their continuously variable transmissions (CVTs), or are otherwise unintuitive in daily traffic thanks to fuel-saving dual-clutch automatics.Generally, you have to splash for something more expensive or to a hybrid to make many options in this class nice to drive.Not so in the 3X0. Don’t get me wrong, this car isn’t particularly special in what it offers, but it’s the refreshingly straightforward combination of a gruff little 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine (82kW/200Nm) and a real old-school six-speed automatic transmission which makes it a surprising pleasure to steer.Its relative light weight and firm suspension keep it tidy in the corners, while little boosts of turbo surge are enough to put a smile on your face without getting out of sorts.Even the steering is a straightforward power assisted set-up without an annoying amount of artificial software weighting as in some of its Chinese rivals.I even found myself not needing to scroll through a bunch of sub-menus to turn off the usual array of poorly-calibrated safety systems. The 3X0 either doesn’t have them, or they’re not annoying enough to warrant turning off.In a way, this is a brand new car for someone who wants an old car. Tired of the annoyances of many modern vehicles, the 3X0 is a fun, basic little car to hop into as a palette cleanser.Our little crossover isn’t doing so great on the fuel consumption front. According to my calculations (which I had to do because the computer only shows the consumption in km/L rather than L/100km), the 3X0 is drinking around 7.4L/100km which is too high for such a compact unit.Perhaps it's the fact I drive it a little more aggressively than I would otherwise, as I try to push the turbo surge and resulting fun out of the meagre 82kW on offer, but it’s still a number I’d expect to see out of an older non-turbo model.One cost of having a six-speed auto, it seems, is driving style will weigh more heavily on how much fuel you use.It’s also a bit of bill shock having to refuel this car sooner than expected and during a fuel crisis. The roughly 450km travelled on my first tank of fuel cost me a whopping $61.33 at the pump, three times what it might cost me to travel the same distance in a larger EV.Next month we’ll talk about practicality, some quirks I’ve found and see if we can drill down on that fuel consumption a little more.Acquired: June 2026Distance travelled this month: 446kmOdometer: 6880kmAverage fuel consumption this month: 7.4L/100km

Although it was never a huge seller, the GM2 (Honda’s in-house code) Honda City four-door sedan was eventually replaced by the GM6 model, and with that update came a bigger car in pretty much every direction, further differentiating the City from the more popular Honda Jazz hatchback.The GM6 City was both longer and taller than the car it replaced and, crucially, there was an extra 50mm in the wheelbase, giving both a larger cabin and more boot space. Clearly, Honda had worked out that City buyers were a pragmatic bunch.Mechanically, not much had changed, though, and the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with its fairly meagre 88kW remained the only choice. You could still get a five-speed manual, but only in the entry-level version, and just about everybody who bought a City brand new specified the continuously variable transmission (CVT) anyway.Trim levels were also unchanged with the VTi the base version and the VTi-L for those who had a bit more to spend. The VTi-L step-up got you paddle shifters for the CVT (an affectation, to be sure) a leather-clad steering wheel, better stereo and 16-inch alloy wheels. Curiously, the VTi had simple, steel wheels of 15 inches.Generally, yes. Even though the City is built in Thailand and not Honda’s home-base of Japan, quality seems pretty good. You also get Honda’s engineering flair in the case of the zingy little engine with its variable valve timing and great fuel economy. But that doesn’t mean the City will appeal to keener drivers out there; the suspension is too soft and the steering too slow for that.If you don’t need the arguably more versatile packaging of a hatchback, then the City’s roomy interior and boot makes plenty of sense.Just bear in mind that `good’ doesn’t mean sexy.But in this case it does mean safe and the City scored the maximum five stars for safety in local independent testing.Like the vast majority of Hondas built anywhere in the world, the City seems to be pretty robust and able to go the distance. That, however, is on the proviso that it’s been maintained, but that goes for any make and model.Overall, instances of major failures and owner complaints are few and far between.Probably the most common problem exhibited by the Honda City is a CVT that shudders on take-off or slips or jerks when the driver applies a load to the driveline. The good news is that, unlike many CVTs from other makers, the Honda’s unit is a lot stronger (possibly due to the fact that Honda makes its own CVT to its own standards) and problems like these are often fixed with a change of transmission fluid to replace the old, dirty fluid.The exception is the model year 2014 City, a batch of which was fitted with an incorrect shaft within the transmission. Under high loads, this shaft could sheer off, leaving the vehicle with either no drive at all, or locked front wheels. A Honda dealer can check the VIN of a particular City and know whether it was affected by this.Most experts reckon the CVT fluid should be changed every 50,000km to keep everything running smoothly and reduce wear to a minimum.The exception to this good track record will be the City that has been neglected in regards to its routine maintenance. The complex little engine uses a maze of tiny oilways to power its variable valve timing and lift function (which gives the engine its sparkle). But if regular servicing has been missed, these oilways can soon fill up with sludge and dirt, at which point the engine can’t perform properly.The City also uses a timing chain, so that component should last the life of the car and not need periodic replacement like a toothed rubber belt in many other makes and models.The City GM6 was recalled twice, the first for that CVT with the dodgy internal shaft that could fail at any time. The other recall was for a batch of cars built across 2019 and 2020, in which the electric fuel pump could suddenly die, leaving you stranded wherever that failure occurred.You can search for more recall data at: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/That 2014 batch of Citys with the iffy shaft in their CVT are the ones to avoid now. Although if the car has been fixed as part of the associated safety recall, then the modified City should be just as robust as any other City. But if the City you’re looking at is a manual-transmission car, disregard the above as it was only the CVT that was affected.Beyond that, buy on condition and service history rather than build date.The majority of Citys have never strayed too far from the, er, city. Nor have they been embraced by couriers and Uber drivers, so you don’t see too many with a lot of kilometres on board.That said, there’s absolutely no reason to think that a well-serviced City won’t push through the 200,000km mark with lots of life left in it. In any case, a high percentage of Citys for sale right now have less than 100,000km on their odometers, suggesting lots of reliable motoring still to be had.We’d often advise against the version of any car with a CVT, but the Honda’s in-house CVT seems a lot better than most of the rest out there. So there’s no problem with a City with two pedals if that makes life easier. It will certainly make the car a lot easier to unload come trade-in time, too.And since the price difference between the VTi and the ritzier VTi-L version is a lot less now than when the car was brand new, there seems little reason not to opt for the more luxurious latter variant as a second-hand buy.Prices for early GM6 Citys start at around the $9000 or $10,000 mark, but they’ll nearly always be high-mileage cars (say, 160,000km or more, if that bothers you).Prices top out at closer to mid-to-high teens and for that, you’ll be buying a low-kilometre car in excellent condition. Just don’t forget to check the service history.Even though the City was not a huge seller here, parts and servicing are no problem. You can tap into the Honda dealer network and pay a little more, but the popularity of the Honda brand means there’s a huge aftermarket and enthusiast scene for the brand.Global popularity for Honda products generally means there’s also a healthy online marketplace for sourcing spare parts, service items and accessories.The City sales story is one of steadily falling volumes as the years have passed. Although the car sold a few thousand units in its first year or two of sales, buy the end of 2019, that figure had fallen to just over 600 sales for the year.That’s not a judgment on the Honda, but the reality of the small sedan market in this country as we shifted to hatchbacks and, notably, SUVs.

The GAC Aion UT is the first GAC I’ve ever driven, so I went into this review not really knowing what to expect. Sort of like walking through a room in the dark, in a house that isn’t yours.It was full of discovery but without all the falling over and toe stubbing. First, what is the Aion UT? It's a fully electric small hatch that almost crosses into SUV territory with its slightly elevated ride height.At 4270mm long it’s a similar length to the BYD Dolphin, but shorter than an MG4 Urban, but it does match the MG's price at $31,990 before on-road costs. That’s for the entry grade Premium Aion UT tested here. The price is impressive. It’s an electric car for the same money as a petrol car of a similar size, like a Honda HR-V.The Premium grade has an almost identical features list to the top grade luxury, from powered and heated front seats to a 14.6-inch touchscreen. All it misses out on really, is ventilated seats, wireless phone charging and a power tailgate. The Aion UT is not just an affordable small car, it’s more practical than many larger vehicles thanks to clever storage andplenty of cabin space. The UT’s 2750mm wheelbase is on the longer side for cars this small and that’s a good thing for occupant space and excellent rear legroom is the result. Rear headroom is more than adequate too, thanks to a tall and flat roofline.Storage is outstanding with a deep centre console bin and an area underneath for bags. There’s even a hatch under the dash that opens to reveal a netted pocket. There are door pockets, cupholders and a phone tray up front that doubles as a wireless charger if you stump up the extra $4000 for the Luxury grade.The 321-litre boot isn’t enormous but it's large for a car this size with enough space for a week’s worth of shopping for my family of four or a couple of smaller luggage bags.The main practicality downside is the lack of physical buttons in the cabin for functions such as climate control and media. There are none at all apart from on the steering wheel and the window switches.Instead, all controls are accessed through the central touchscreen and not only is that more awkward to use but it's a safety concern. A driver could easily be distracted just trying to turn the cabin temperature down.We lived with the Aion UT for a week doing what families do: from school runs and weekend sports to grocery shopping and family visits. This is a front-wheel-drive electric car with a 60kWh battery and 150kW/210Nm motor. That battery size is good for 430km of driving range (WLTP) according to GAC and after 250km in one week there was 170km left, making that claim accurate. Our average energy consumption was 15.6kWh/100km according to the trip computer, which is less than the official 16.4kWh/100km.In the city and urban areas where we live the UT shines with brisk acceleration, its quiet and smooth nature, good visibility and small size. On motorways, as we found during a trip to a regional area, the UT feels slightly vulnerable among the trucks and the stability was tested in the windy, rainy weather. There were times I wished we were in something larger and higher up.The driving position is let down by the steering wheel's lack of reach adjustment. I got around this by adjusting my seat, although it's not ideal.Also not ideal is a persistent driver alert system that reminds you to slow down and avoid distraction. It activates far too easily and interferes with concentration while driving. It’s not just the driver being hassled either. My front passenger was told on one occasion not to put her feet on the dashboard even though they weren’t - she had her legs crossed and this seemed to trigger the system.Finally the styling of the Aion UT isn’t appealing to me. GAC boasts that the little electric car was penned at its Milan design centre, but Chinese rivals like Zeekr and BYD have much more interesting and beautiful creations.

The 2026 Cupra Formentor VZx is currently the flagship trim level in the line-up, although this will change once the Audi RS3-powered VZ5 arrives later this year.It’s priced from $69,990 before on-road costs.Power comes from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with 245kW and 420Nm. This is 17kW and 20Nm more than before.It’s mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with drive sent through an all-wheel drive system. This update has picked up a trick torque-splitting rear differential that allows for a ‘Drift’ mode.Cupra claims the Formentor VZx can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.8 seconds. Launch control is standard.The Fomentor VZx is claimed to consume 8.3L/100km (8.5L/100km with the Extreme package) on the combined cycle according to ADR 81/02 testing. There’s a 55L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 98 RON premium unleaded petrol.Using this claim the Formentor VZx has a theoretical total range of 663km.Standard equipment includes 19-inch forged alloy wheels, LED headlights, a hands-free power tailgate, 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.9-inch touchscreen multimedia system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system, wireless phone charger, interior ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, leather-accented upholstery, electrically adjustable and heated front seats.A panoramic glass sunroof is optional for $2000, plus the $7000 Extreme package adds matrix LED headlights, six-piston Akebono front brakes and Sabelt front bucket seats.The Cupra Formentor originally received a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2021 and this has been renewed for the updated model based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2025.There are 10 airbags including rear-side and front-centre airbags as standard, plus autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control with lane centring, a surround-view camera, as well as a parking assist.The Formentor, like all other Cupras, is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little lacklustre for a mainstream brand now as many have moved to conditional eight or 10-year terms.Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.There are three- and five-year pre-paid service packages available that are priced at $1090 and $2190, respectively. In the latter case, this means each service averages out to almost $440 which is fairly average for a European car.

If you go right back into Honda history, you may recall the original Honda City was a tiny hatchback with odd, upright looks and a good dollop of charm. But fast forward to 2009 when this version, the GM2 hit showrooms, and the whole City concept had grown up somewhat.Yes, it was still a small car and undercut the Honda Civic in terms of price and size, but didn’t Honda already have the Jazz hatchback to fill the gap left by the original City?Or course it did. So where did that leave the City? Well, kind of in a no-man’s-land, and considering it was more or less mechanically a Jazz in sedan’s clothes, Honda was making things hard for itself. At this end of the market, hatchbacks were always the stronger players in Australia, by a huge margin in most cases, too. So the City’s straight-laced duds were pretty much guaranteed to hold it back.Launched here in 2009, the City was built in Thailand and was available in VTi and VTi-L specifications. All Cities were four-door sedans and the engine was the same in every variant; a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine making 88kW and 145Nm. The only mechanical choice lay in the transmission and you could have a five-speed manual or a five-speed conventional automatic.But even though it was somewhat ignored by new-car buyers, as a used-car buy, the Honda starts to come back into the running as buyers’ original concerns over fashion and fripperies are replaced by a focus on reliability and long-term prospects.The City was a slow seller, but that had nothing to do with its quality or reliability. Instead, the somewhat dowdy four-door sedan styling was the sticking point, combined with the fact that everybody in this market segment really wanted a hatchback Honda Jazz.As a used-car, however, that fashionista stuff goes straight out the window, and the City re-emerges as a smart buy thanks to its sharp build quality and long-term prospects. This type of car was also usually bought brand-new by pretty conservative buyers who understood proper maintenance. And that makes the City an even better bet now.The City faithfully follows decades of Honda tradition by being well made and reliable. Chronic problems are few and most owners have enjoyed trouble-free experiences with the Honda.Although it’s a very clever mechanical system, Honda’s V-Tec variable valve timing system operates on tiny oilways and passages. That means any dirt of sludge in the oil is bad news as it can block these oilways and cause the V-Tec to simply not work. It’s certainly not a common problem on these cars, but a check of the service history is mandatory.We’ve also heard of a few Citys where the heater’s blower motor has failed. The first symptom will be a fan that only works on the flat-out setting. Replacing the fan is the only permanent fix, apparently.The majority of other complaints surround the build quality (this was a Thai-built car, not Japanese, remember) and things like high levels of interior noise. Again, the thinner carpet fitted to many Thai-built cars might be the culprit. Either way, the City never quite measured up to Honda’s otherwise lofty quality standards.The City is relatively free of recall notices apart form one major safety issue. The car was caught up in the Takata airbag fiasco that saw millions of cars affected by potentially faulty airbags that could injure and even kill passengers in a crash.As time passed and more and more cars were added to the list of affected vehicles, more and more recalls were issued for these airbags. A Honda dealer should be able to identify whether your car has been fixed or not. In some states, cars that have not had their Takata airbags replaced cannot even be re-registered.Beyond that, the City has a pretty clean record with just one other recall being for a potential fault within the clever V-Tec engine valve assembly. In some cases, a spring could break, allowing the car to stall without warning.You can check the details at https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/.Since pretty much all Citys of this generation were affected by the Takara airbag recall, there’s not much to choose between the various years. Buy on condition and service history rather than build date.There’s the odd City out there from this generation with better than 200,000km on board, backing up the car’s reputation for overall reliability. But most of them for sale right now have travelled fewer kilometres than that, backing up the typical usage profile of the people who bought them brand-new.You can still find them with less then 100,000km showing, but we wouldn’t be put off by one with 160,000km on the odometer, provided the service history is complete and intact.A facelift in 2012 was the only real change to the City formula across its 'GM2' lifespan. And while it didn’t amount to a whole lot, it did bring thicker windscreen glass and carpets to help muffle some of the interior noise the vehicle was criticised for when new. Beyond that, buy purely on condition and service history.And, of course, if the budget will allow, buy the VTi-L for its extra standard equipment, since the price difference between VTi-L and the base-model VTi will be very small now.Prices start at around the $7000 to $8000 mark and top out at about $12,000 for exceptionally clean examples with moderate kilometres. Those prices are, in fact, pretty much line-ball with the City’s stablemate the Jazz. And given the latter’s hatchback layout and much greater popularity, that starts to make the City look a bit expensive, to be honest. That said, somewhere around $10K for a modern small sedan with a decent pedigree and plenty of life left in it is hardly extortion, is it?Even though the City was not a huge seller here, parts and servicing are no problem. You can tap into the Honda dealer network and pay a little more, but the popularity of the Honda brand means there’s a huge aftermarket and enthusiast scene for the brand.Global popularity for Honda products generally means there’s also a healthy online marketplace for sourcing spare parts, service items and accessories. Be wary of any overseas seller you haven’t used before, as aftermarket parts quality can vary enormously.Buyer indifference when it was brand new meant the City is now pretty thin on the ground as a used buy. In fact, after a brief flurry of sales when it was first launched, annual sales of the City dropped back to less than 2000 per year. Even a price-cut for the facelifted version in 2012 couldn’t stop the rot and probably less than a thousand City’s were sold after that.And that is why there’s now maybe a half a dozen GM2 Citys for sale even on the bigger online sales sites. Compared with the 40 or 50 Honda Jazzes from the same period for sale right now, you can see how the consumers voted.

The 2026 Cupra Formentor VZe is the penultimate trim in the current line-up and the only plug-in hybrid (PHEV) offering currently.It’s priced from $68,990 before on-road costs, which is $4000 more than it was previously.Power comes from a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor with total system outputs of 200kW and 400Nm. This is 20kW more than before.This is mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with drive sent to the front wheels only.Cupra claims the Formentor VZe can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.2 seconds. Launch control is standard.There is a 20kWh lithium-ion battery pack as standard which allows for up to 114km of electric driving, according to WLTP testing. AC charging is offered at rates up to 11kW, while DC fast-charging is available at rates up to 50kW.Cupra claims the Formentor VZe consumes an average of 1.7L/100km, according to ADR 81/02 testing. There’s a 40L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.Using this claim, this car has a theoretical total range of 2350km.Standard equipment includes 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a hands-free power tailgate, 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.9-inch touchscreen multimedia system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system, wireless phone charger, interior ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, leather-accented upholstery, electrically adjustable and heated front seats.A panoramic glass sunroof is optional for $2000, plus the $6500 Extreme package adds matrix LED headlights, four-piston Brembo front brakes and Sabelt front bucket seats.The Cupra Formentor originally received a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2021 and this has been renewed for the updated model based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2025.There are 10 airbags including rear-side and front-centre airbags as standard, plus autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control with lane centring, a surround-view camera, as well as a parking assist.The Formentor, like all other Cupras, is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little lacklustre for a mainstream brand now as many have moved to conditional eight or 10-year terms.Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.There are three- and five-year pre-paid service packages available that are priced at $1090 and $2190, respectively. In the latter case, this means each service averages out to almost $440 which is fairly average for a European car.

The 2026 Cupra Formentor V is now one trim level up from the entry-level model.It was previously the entry-level model and is now priced from $57,490 before on-road costs.Power comes from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine producing 150kW and 320Nm. This is 10kW more than the pre-update model.This is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with drive sent through an all-wheel-drive system.Cupra claims the Formentor V can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 6.7 seconds. Launch control is standard.The Formentor V is claimed to consume an average of 7.0L/100km, according to ADR 81/02 testing. There is a 55L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.Using the claim, this car has a theoretical total range of 786km.Standard equipment includes 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a hands-free power tailgate, 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.9-inch touchscreen multimedia system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charger, interior ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, fabric upholstery, electrically adjustable driver’s seat and heated front seats.Optional is a panoramic glass sunroof for $2000 and the $2200 Leather and Sound package which adds a 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system, leather-appointed upholstery and front-passenger electric adjustment and memory.The Cupra Formentor originally received a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2021 and this has been renewed for the updated model based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2025.There are 10 airbags including rear-side and front-centre airbags as standard, plus autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control with lane centring, a surround-view camera, as well as a parking assist.The Formentor, like all other Cupras, is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little lacklustre for a mainstream brand now as many have moved to eight or 10 years.Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.There are three- and five-year pre-paid service packages available that are priced at $1090 and $2190, respectively. In the latter case, this means each service averages out to almost $440 which is fairly average for a European car.

The 2027 Cupra Formentor S is the entry-level version of this small SUV line-up in Australia.It’s priced from $49,990 before on-road costs.Power comes from a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with 48V mild-hybrid assistance and total system outputs of 110kW and 250Nm.This is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with drive sent to the front wheels only.Cupra claims the Formentor S can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 9.0 seconds. Launch control is standard.The Formentor S is claimed to consume an average of 5.5L/100km, according to ADR 81/02 testing. There’s a 50L fuel tank which requires a minimum of 95 RON premium unleaded petrol.Using the claim, this car has a theoretical range of up to 909km.Standard equipment includes 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a hands-free power tailgate, 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.9-inch touchscreen multimedia system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charger, interior ambient lighting, three-zone climate control, fabric upholstery, electrically adjustable driver’s seat and heated front seats.Optional is a panoramic glass sunroof for $2000 and the $2200 Leather and Sound package which adds a 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system, leather-appointed upholstery and front-passenger electric adjustment and memory.The Cupra Formentor originally received a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2021 and this has been renewed for the updated model based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2025.There are 10 airbags including rear-side and front-centre airbags as standard, plus autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control with lane centring, a surround-view camera, as well as a parking assist.The Formentor, like all other Cupras, is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is a little lacklustre for a mainstream brand now as many have moved to eight or 10 years, conditional.Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.There are three- and five-year pre-paid service packages available that are priced at $1090 and $2190, respectively. In the latter case, this means each service averages out to almost $440 which is fairly average for a European car.

Volkswagen's spicy Spanish brand, Cupra, is finally launching the updated version of its Formentor small SUV in Australia. It's now offered in more flavours than ever, ranging from mild to extra hot.

This month we farewell our Hyundai Inster after several months. Are we glad to see it go or is this a pleasantly charming little city car?Before we continue, it’s worth noting that we did get the Extended Range variant back after it had been crashed into shortly after our second month of testing began. Read our second chapter for more on how it compared to the Standard Range, but we managed to finish our testing with this version of the car which, at least on paper, seems to be the pick of the range.As mentioned in the previous chapter though, the Standard Range version (which is $3500 cheaper than the $42,500 Extended Range we have) is completely fine, and in some ways superior.Having recently driven many of this car’s more price-savvy rivals from China, I noticed how nice and relatively unobtrusive the Inster is to drive.While some more affordable cars, even a size up from the Inster, are full of invasive driver aids, annoying ergonomic features or controls, and sub-standard software, the Inster is refreshingly easy to get along with, and does a bunch of the no-brainer EV driving stuff really well.For example, there are four levels of adjustable regenerative braking, from barely noticeable, to full single pedal mode, and these are nicely tuned so that they feel natural, whatever level of electric motor feedback you might be comfortable with.I’ve already mentioned the nice steering and ride in previous chapters, which makes this car feel a cut above its size bracket let alone its price bracket.The active safety features which helped the Inster earn a four-star ANCAP safety rating (harder than you might think for a car this small) are relatively unobtrusive, or at the very least, easy to turn off.The lane keeping aid, which at times can be a bit heavy handed, can simply be turned down by holding a button on the steering wheel for a few seconds, rather than having to dig through menus on the touchscreen. The rest of the safety kit is relatively tame, saving you menu-diving time on start-up.Then there’s the cabin practicality on offer. The Inster is a car seemingly very aware of its limited footprint. To that end, while you don’t get a centre console box, there are bag hooks hidden everywhere, like on the passenger side of the dash and there are fold-out hooks hidden at the edge of the armrest. Clever.I mentioned in the first chapter how surprisingly spacious the cabin feels in both rows of seating, but one trick this car has is a second row on rails.This means you can roll the seating row forward to either reduce or entirely remove legroom and expand the boot capacity massively.It’s a rare feature on most city cars delivered to Australia, but much more common on Asian-market models, like Kei cars from Japan.It means you can have kids or pets in the second row which don’t need as much space, while maximising boot space, or passenger room when you’re not carrying as much stuff. This makes it versatile, but as you might imagine the airport run isn't it's strong suit.Upsettingly though, there’s no frunk. While it might seem gimmicky, frunks can actually be a useful place to put charging cables when the under-floor storage is hard to access because you’re carrying luggage.I took the Inster for a spirited drive before I returned it to really test out its driving chops, and walked away impressed.The amount of grip on offer and the solid feeling of the suspension is backed up with a good amount of agility in corners. It combines nicely with a bit of drivetrain punch in Sport mode to make for a fun little car to really push, even if the Hyundai N-style carbon-fibre-look digital dash overhaul is a bit ill-fitting.It took a significant amount of work to get the tyres to eke out a squeal, to my surprise, and the suspension travel is limited enough that much of the uncomfortable feeling when the battery starts to ‘float’ the whole body of the car on undulating roads isn’t present.Sure, it’s not objectively fast, but probably quicker than you expect, and it’s always better to drive a slow car at 110 per cent than a fast car at 10 per cent.Efficiency wise, the Inster did pretty well. The final number I pulled from the car after around 1500km behind the wheel was 13.8kWh/100km. It’s lower than many of its larger rivals, which do between 14.5 and 17kWh/100km.As for charging, it can be annoying that the port is on the front of the car, because it means you need to go nose in to some spots. At least it’s on the kerb side for when you're using outdoor roadside chargers.The maximum charging speed is quoted at 120kW, but I’ve never seen it go faster than roughly 70kW, even on stacks capable of 150kW. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t need it. The battery is so small it still charges in half an hour or less.Ownership looks like a decent story, too. Not only will this car cost a lot less in charging compared to a fuel alternative, but the Inster only requires a service every two years or a whopping 30,000km.Unfortunately, Hyundai charges $655 per visit. A head-scratcher given a combustion alternative like the Yaris Cross with so many more expendable fluids and moving parts is more affordable to look after.