Volkswagen Sedan Range

All Australian-delivered, fuel-injected Volkswagens built after 1986 can run successfully on E10 petrol. Most E10 petrol in Australia has an octane rating of 94RON, and that’s the lowest you’d want to go. Back in the day, VW said the Jetta was better off with 95RON ULP and was not able to use the standard 91RON stuff that many cars could/can use.

There are still plenty of great small cars around within your budget, Agnes, and they all have good safety packages (or we wouldn’t recommend them). Look at offerings such as the Suzuki Swift Navigator (with the optional autonomous emergency braking) for around $17,000 (plus on-road costs) or the Kia Rio S at around $19,000 or Kia Picanto S (one size smaller than the Rio) at closer to $16,000. Both the Kias also feature the brand’s excellent seven-year warranty, capped-price servicing and free roadside assistance which is great peace of mind.

The Volkswagen Polo is a classy drive but a little more expensive at closer to $21,000 for the 85TSi Comfortline. Actually, to be honest, you’ve missed the boat on bargain small cars by a couple of years. Firm favourites such as the Toyota Yaris and Mazda 2 have both been updated relatively recently and have recorded big price jumps in the process. The cheapest Yaris with an automatic transmission is now around $23,000 (it was less than $17,000 back in 2018) while the Mazda 2 Maxx went from being a sub-$17,000 proposition in 2018 to a $23,000 car by the time you add an automatic transmission in 2020.

From what I can gather, the 2017 Passat in its Australian-delivered configuration doesn’t include the ability to automatically fold its mirrors in when you lock the doors. Certainly, you can do this manually for when you tackle an automatic car-wash, but that becomes tedious if you want the mirrors folded every time you lock and leave the car.

But what’s interesting is that the car in other markets does, in fact, incorporate this feature, so it’s entirely possible, since your car already has the hardware) that the function is buried away deep, deep inside the set-up menus with a series of incomprehensible steps required to enable the function. Modern cars are subject to numerous hacks like this one, and a VW dealer might be able to point you in the right direction. It’s a handy feature and one that is valued highly by those who park on narrow streets each night. Actually, that’s why European versions of the Passat have the function in the first place, but it seems a bit mean that VW would drop it for our market.