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Hi,

Could you recommend a car around 2004-2008 that is of similar size to a Nissan Pulsar SRV 1998 5-dr hatchback please? I'm looking for a newer car that is a hatchback.

The car will mainly be used to commute to work (sealed, 10km one way), montly weekend tramping trips (occasional gravel, mostly sealed), road trips around NZ (mostly sealed) and maybe once a year up a skifield. So I guess I need a car suited for city runs (fuel efficient), but powerful enough for hills (at least 1500cc). Roof-rails would be preferable, but not a big deal.

I'm reading up about cars (your forum is really useful) and I like the look of Nissan Tiida, Mazda Axela and Toyota Allex/Runx. Could you advise which of these three would be most suitable for me please? On average, Axela seems to be about $3000 dearer than Tiida, but I'm not sure why. I'm open to looking at other brands too. I like the look of Mitsi Colt and Honda Jazz/Fit, but they seem smaller - or is that just an illusion?

Cheers,
Nick

Vehicles to consider are the Mazda Axela/2, Suzuki Swift 1.5L-1.6L, Toyota Corolla/RunX 1.5L-1.8L and Mazda Demio 1.5L. They are all good choices with good reputations. The Honda Jazz, Nissan Tiida and Mitsubishi Colt are a practical size for a small car but are better avoided for the CVT transmissions tend to have a poor reputation.