Hatchback Reviews

The choice car buyers have today would have been unbelievable even just a few years ago. No one could have envisaged the number of makes and models now on offer in our market. Buyers now have the choice of a vast number of locally produced and imported cars, among them the Peugeot 308. The French carmaker launched the

Alfa Romeo has released a Series 2 version of its MiTo three-door hatch with the biggest news being the addition of its smallest engine, a brilliant little two-cylinder 875 cc turbo-petrol unit.

This is a great little hot-hatch at a surprising low price.

Nissan Tiida has come - and gone - from the Australian new-car market. And not too many people seem to be sorry. Which is a shame in many ways because it’s a perfectly good small-medium car.

Ford Fiesta Sport and Fiat Panda Easy go head-to-head in this comparative review..star {width:135px;}#article-corpus {width:100%; padding-right: 0;}

A slightly squarer nose and new headlights and LED taillights are the main exterior styling to the 2014 Mini Cooper, but looking inside the cabin will give trainspotters clues, with the speedo and tacho moving from the massive 8.8-inch circular gauge in the middle of the dash to a more normal position in the instrument cluster behind the steering wheel (with heads-up displays for upper spec variants).The Mini Cooper is powered by a turbo 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine with outputs of 100kW of power between 4500-600rpm and 220Nm of torque at a low 1250rpm, with Mini claiming a 0-100kmh time of 7.56 seconds (auto) and 7.66 (manual) and fuel economy of 4.5L/100km.The Cooper S gets a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder, developing 141kW of power between 4700-6000rpm and 300Nm of torque at 1250rpm, with 0-100kmh times of 6.62 (auto) and 6.73 (manual)  and fuel economy of 5.7L/100km. The diesel Cooper D's 1.6-litre is gone in favour of a new 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbodiesel delivering 84kW and 270Nm, with claimed fuel economy of a frugal 3.5L/100km -- a saving of 0.3L. Transmissions for all variants are a standard six-speed manual transmission or optional six-speed auto. 

Ford Fiesta ST and Peugeot 208 GTi go head to head in this comparative review.

It's been a fave, and the third-generation Mazda 3 has the goods to regain top spot.

We've just driven the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R - but there's a little asterisk attached to any claim of this being a full review: We really only drove it on ice - on a frozen lake up in northern Sweden.

The new version of Australia's favourite car among private buyers has arrived. The third-generation Mazda 3 is being unloaded at dealerships, and not a moment too soon.