Car Shopping in 2025

It's that stage in life where we are looking at a new car. I thought I'd write up something quickly about what's out there, but there's a bit more to this whole thing.

We got our family car back in 2012 - the mighty Skoda Octavia RS TDI. Going for a performance diesel was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I got a car that was incredibly fun to drive, had plenty of power, was incredibly efficient for long-distance driving, and had a boot that could take everything thrown at it. I still love the car, but it shows it's 13 years on the planet now. Just before Christmas, we gave it a very thorough service and got new tyres, but it requires a bit more work - replacing some parts in the front end, fixing the AC and a new electrical fault where the power cycles in and out randomly (which I managed to "fix" by pulling out the fuse).

We ran well with just one car, but as the demands increased with a school-aged kid, we got a runabout, a well-priced deal on VW Golf Comfortline. It's super practical, relatively comfortable and does everything well. It also has some work that needs doing.

When both cars started to play up, I decided we needed to have a bit more of a realistic "end-of-life" scenario in place. The plan was to keep the Skoda, given its practicality as a family car and lack of appeal in the second-hand market. While it lacks the mod-cons of carplay and electric seats, it eats the kilometres and will do most of the 1000 kms back to Wagga on a single tank.

I've made it a habit to use our increased use of rental cars when travelling to take the opportunity to test drive other vehicles, especially EVs. So, over the last couple of years, I've driven the Polestar 2, Kia EV6, Tesla Model Y, BMW i4, the ICE BMW X3M, Audi Q2 and Cupra Alteca. I'll include some driving notes at the end of the post[1].

I want an EV - they are simply nicer cars to drive. That said, the price of EVs has been much higher than their ICE rivals. Pricing has gotten sharper in the last year, so come 2025, an EV is on the cards. While I would love to spend the money on a Polestar 4 with all the extras or a Volvo XC40 (which we have test-driven), we don't have that kind of money. We did a test drive of the EX30 Volvo when it came out, and while I love the car and the interior, there is no way to get any one of us to sit comfortably in the back seat. It made me very sad.

With stiff competition from Chinese EVs coming into the market and another swathe this year, fingers crossed that all brands get pushed to compete more on price. There are a bunch of cars that are more our price range now which we haven't had a chance to see:

A Saturday Drive

On Saturday, the family went window shopping. The plan was to get a sense of the cars (looks, materials, feel and space), consider what mattered to each of us, and create some criteria for assessing them.

MG

We started with the MG, which I had high hopes for as I had seen many of them around. There's a lot around, as their pricing is pretty sharp. That said, the MG4 did not pass the family test. Backseat comfort is key in our family given the size of our offspring, and we rotate who gets back seat duties. While we didn't test drive it - the fit and finish felt off, and there were some weird ergonomics and placement within the cabin. Noticeable issues were getting comfortable in the driving position, and despite being shown the top-of-the-line model... it all looked cheap.

Leapmotors

Next we headed to Leapmotors, a bit of a wild card but on the way to the BYD shop. The new C1 is an SUV, somewhere in the mid-size, but it is pretty big on the outside. On the inside it's impressive. This was on another level in comparison to the MG. The fit and finish were way more impressive, comfortable and almost sumptuous in comparison. My daughter was in heaven – the back seat gets limousine-like levels of space and comfort. The sales guy seemed keen to get us into the car for a drive, so we went out. Driving it felt light and nimble, slightly unnerving because a car this size and weight shouldn't be. All the systems worked, and we warned about all the driving aids (that can be turned off, but maybe not as a default). The speed limit was helpful as the car accelerated gracefully and silently. Although the car's dynamics weren't up to test, it felt pretty capable in the city and during the brief highway stint we did. I doubt this will be a "fun" drive, but in terms of comfort, this was a standout. I was shocked at the end of it. I did not expect that much car and quality of finish for that price point.

Cupra

We then went for lunch and on to Cupra to inspect the Born. This is a car that's recently had a massive discount applied from around $65,000 driveaway (all fees and registration) down to $49,990 – which is how it made it on the list. This seems like a direct replacement for the Golf, it's a small hatchback, but I was surprised at the amount of space available inside. The seats are sporty, comfortable and supportive in the front and back. The new cars have an "interior" pack that removes the middle seat in the back to make it a 4 seater, which, to be honest, is honest. There is ample leg room, the kind I wish the EX30 had, and upfront, it was great too. This one is going in to be booked for a test drive as it wasn't available on the day.

BYD

The final stop of the day was BYD. These are the new go-to Chinese EVs, and I was surprised at the premium feel of the Dolphin and Seal inside. That said - these are the absolute opposite of the Tesla minimalist aesthetic. There are buttons everywhere and a giant rotateable screen. Fit and finish seemed good, but the cars seemed overwhelming on the inside. The sales guy informed us they had no demonstration cars - they've cleared their entire inventory. My pick of the two would probably be the Dolphin. Given its pricing, I had pretty low expectations, but it was pretty good overall in terms of space, features and comfort.

Thoughts

So, at the end of the day, I probably ended up in a very different place than going in. I had thought the MG4 would make a strong case for itself, but we all saw significant drawbacks. The Cupra Born made a massive case for itself given its proximity in price to the MG4 model we were looking at, and having the Cupra badge, I'd say that this could actually be a very fun car to drive. Initially, we were thinking about replacing the VW Golf, but the Leapmotors C1 shook that up. That's a lot of money for the car, and I can see it being a pretty sensible choice. But at the same time, given the money being spent, it might be worth thinking about going bigger and stretching the budget a bit further and replacing the Skoda. Without getting ridiculous, that could include:

Another option is to look at the second-hand market, but it can be unpredictable, and it is not entirely clear how that relates to leasing options and taxes.

What did come out of the day was some good discussion about what we want out of the car and some criteria to mark them against:

I plan to weight each criteria and then score each viable option that passes the family test. So, there might be a few updates to come!

Test Drive Notes

With a couple of links to longer reviews I got around to writing.

Car Notes
Polestar 2 Really great car and driving experience. I love the brand ethos, but its not that cheap, especially the way pricing is done with feature "packs". I didn't love the centre console, but if pricing was better I would easily look past that.
Kia EV6 It does a lot of stuff right, but I felt the interior felt cheap and weird material choices (velour style seats, nope). Also the driving aids drove me up the wall. Never has a machine pinged so incessantly by things I am more than aware of.
Tesla Model Y I wanted to hate, but it's a great car. Rental was the base battery size, so that was the only issue. I can see why people like the car and the sold so many. But Elon.
BMW i4 Great driving experience, but the battery and efficiency is problematic given the price.
BMW X3M Great driving experience, felt a lot smaller than the size of the car to drive. Is expensive and thirsty.
Cupra Alteca Great car - probably the right size for our family trip. Handled 2 adults, an almost-teenager, dog and luggage on very long drives. The downsides were the thirsty petrol engine and the fact that the ride was too firm on bumpy NSW roads.

  1. See table above ↩︎

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