If I were shopping for a small new, city‑friendly car in the $20–30k range, I’d be looking for something compact, easy to park, cheap to run, and reliable. I would look at a Kia Rio S, Kia Picanto S or GT Line or an MG3 for simple everyday commuting around town.

The Hyundai i30 is great value for a compact car! I think it’s one of the most popular compact cars in Australia for good reason. I also loved my VW Golf that I had for years, could fit so much in that car and it was great to drive. If you’re buying secondhand, the sweet spot is getting one no older than 5 years old.

I have found that in the past Mirages were a great little car and get amazing mileage. My current car is a Hyundai i30 – if you got the smaller version it would work well too. I find my car gets decent mileage and has a far few extras built in which give more bang for buck like all the sensors it comes with.

We had a Kia stonic and it was great as a little run around car. It was in that price range and had gps, dash cam front and back, push button start etc it was a really good car and I regret that we sold it. We just needed the money and had to make do without it.

I feel like most cars these days are starting at the 35k+ price range just for something basic, with family SUVs now easily in the 50-70k range for something basic! Prices have been crazy. If you dont mind going second, a Toyota Yaris or Corolla are great size cars to get around the CBD, especially for parking

I am very happy that someone has asked this question and it has been posted and this incredible community can hopefully help with some answers. We are also looking at needing to retire our old car and plan to start looking for a different car. I t will be most interesting to read the answers.