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Small cars with big value


Yet despite the fuel crisis, you had to look hard.

Of the many flashy reveals at the 2006 Australian Motor Show – with the exception of a painted, half-naked female flasher on the Peugeot 207 stand – the bling on display was largely, well, large.

It's difficult to fathom given the recent surge in the light and small car segment, with sales up from last year by a mammoth 22 per cent, but large cars and SUVs were the big news from the likes of Holden and Ford, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, even the Japanese imports of Subaru and Mazda. Then a bloody Volvo drove into the spotlight.

The C30 four-seat small car from Volvo was all the rage at the recent Paris Motor Show, though from the pictures it was a little hard to see what all the fuss was about.

In the metal, however, the car is a superb execution of modern design, and is a fresh turn for both Volvo and for the small car sector.

Powered by a beefy 162kW turbocharged five-cylinder that would usually push a much heavier load, the C30 promises rapid performance from its heart to its dual-tone alloys that match the aggressive styling.

It is still quintessential Volvo, with overt rear haunches and that unmistakable Swedish nose, while borrowing from the past with a bit of retro fabrics and trims on the inside.

Another emerging trend in the market was highlighted in the C30s interior – only four dedicated seats.

Volvo claimed that the middle seat is barely ever utilised, as the cars in this segment typically carry one, maybe two passengers.

It allows the C30 to be more flexible both in seating and real legroom, and with the rear seats folding virtually flat, and a high bumper and entry point for the split boot, making life easy for heavy shoppers (which should be the majority of this car’s clientele – though it seems the C30 is equally appealing to both sexes).

The C30 will fight for its slice of the little car pie with the likes of the new Peugeot 207 and the Renault Clio – though the latter was conspicuously absent from the show.

Peugeot will bring in the redesigned 207 with both turbodiesel and turbo petrol engines, and the twin-scroll turbo topping the range with an estimated early-thirties price tag should prove a popular flagship for Peugeot’s biggest little seller.

A similar sub-$40K price tag is stickered to the new Colt Cabrio, which will steal sales from the Peugeot 207 CC as it takes its time to get to Oz later in 2007.

In the nearer future, Holden will expand with a handy five-door version of its Astra SRi coupe, while Volkswagen have pared back the Golf GTI into a sexy three-door.

Originally brought in to fill the remaining back-order of GTI variants that at one point had built up to a nine-month wait list in Oz, the appealing $38,490 price tag should see more sales for the already popular model.

But while the market is flooded with buyers looking for the latest in small fuel misers, you had to strain to see them at the 2006Motor Show. The manufacturers would have you believe that bigger is better…