20.05.12

'Small cars - they're all the same. Awful little sh*tboxes!' Or so ranted a burly type after seeing the light five assembled outside Autocar HQ.

But au contraire, my good fellow, the new breed of small car is far from the austere econo-box of old. And thanks not only to accessible price tags but also the quality of the offerings, the small-car segment is one on the up.

Once you start poking around the marketplace, you find that each brand has a slightly different take on what a small car should be, and that each is trying to fill a different little niche within the small-car world.

As you'll read below, they appeal to distinct wants and needs. Of course, the cars have their similarities, too, and for the five assembled here, these include five doors, four wheels, petrol engines and automatic gearboxes.

We've gathered four newbies for 2011: the all-new (but quite similar) Suzuki Swift, the improved Holden Barina, the more conventional Yaris, and the hard-to-pigeonhole Kia Rio. And to see how far these newcomers have advanced, we've brought along an old  favourite from the 2008 COTY, the Mazda2, which has recently had a mild update. To find out which we prefer and why, read on...

Source: Stuff.co.nz