11 Light Car mega-test

Now I know how school principals feel when they speak at assembly. With 11 of the marketplace's finest small cars gathered before us, I wanted to congratulate them all.

Every one of these cars has worked hard to better themselves over the past few years and is special in their own way. Their parents should, rightly, be proud.

Today’s Light Cars have a level of safety, luxury and technology that was exclusive to prestige cars less than a decade ago. All cars in this group test have at least six airbags (some have a seventh, to protect the driver’s knee) while others have voice-controlled audio and phone systems.

All but a few now have license-saving cruise control as standard. Until a few years ago, cruise control wasn’t even available in this category of car.

It’s a sign of the times. We are downsizing our vehicles, and expecting more from them.

It’s easy to marvel at these infants of the automotive world; in most cases they’re the smallest and cheapest vehicles from each manufacturer and therefore provide a brilliant insight into how each brand is tracking at the top.

The Australian Light car class is tough business, with slim margins and cut-throat competition. It’s said that some companies even lose money on the cheaper models in the range just to get customers into their brand – and recoup the cost later on more costly cars.

So Light cars are quite a quandary for manufacturers: they have to give the customer their best shot, but not by tearing up too much money. It’s more of a competition to see who can lose the least amount of cash, rather than who can get rich the quickest.

In the process some cars turn out better than others. After all, not everyone can be dux of the school.

With a host of new arrivals – and improvements from some of the older kids in the class – it was exam time for the second-biggest segment of the Australian new-car market.

Here’s how the current class of Light cars compares in motoring.com.au’s biggest back-to-back test to date.

See how each of the 11 cars went in the mega-test:

motoring.com.au's Light Car road-test comparison: