Used cars ranked by practicality: Small hatchbacks
Used cars ranked by practicality: Small hatchbacks
By Martin Pretorius
Practicality is a very important consideration when shopping for a car. It determines the car’s usefulness when going about its job, and should be evaluated alongside the car’s purchase price and running costs. We’ve taken a look at 10 used small hatchbacks listed here on AutoTrader, and ranked them from the least to the most practical. For the purpose of this exercise, we’ve used luggage space (with 5 seats in use, as applicable) as the yardstick, because most offerings in this class are about the same size, and offer roughly similar cabin space. Luggage volumes are as claimed by the manufacturers.
We’re not talking about the recently-launched new Micra here, but the one that’s been on the market from 2012 to 2018. It’s fairly spacious inside, but its luggage bay is pretty small at only 265 litres. Of course, this car lives on as the Micra Active, so buyers of the new entry-level model should also know that they won’t have tons of cargo space.
Seeing as the Corsa uses a highly-modified version of the previous-generation car’s platform, it’s fairly logical that it won’t benefit from the latest advances in design and packaging. With a total load volume of 285 litres, the Corsa is one of the least practical offerings in this segment.
Tying with the Corsa for second-to-last place, the Hyundai i20’s 285 litre capacity is a bit of a let-down for a car with a fairly modern platform. It appears as though some boot space was sacrificed to create more rear passenger room, though, so it’s not all bad.
Closely related to the latest Nissan Micra, the Renault Clio benefits from smart space utilisation to create a surprisingly generous 300 litres of luggage space. It is however somewhat constrained by a comparatively small loading aperture and a high load-over height, thanks to those tapering flanks and large rear bumper.
Another old-stager that benefitted from a modernising redesign, the current Fiesta has a reasonable 303 litres available in the cargo bay. Some credit for this has to go to the relatively high luggage cover, enabled by the small rear windscreen and high rear seat back. However, rear seat space isn’t great for long-legged passengers.
Thanks to a complete redesign earlier in 2018, the Yaris has grown considerably in almost every dimension. Its luggage compartment received a nice boost as a result, and now measures a solid 310 litres.
Kudos to Kia for finding extra space in the latest Rio’s cargo bay, because its 325 litre capacity is above average for this size class. It’s also easily accessible, thanks to a wide opening and a relatively low load-over height.
Seeing as the new Polo is based on the Golf’s MQB platform, it benefits from plenty of clever packaging solutions and a larger footprint than before. These factors combine to create 350 litres in the luggage area. Its extra size also aids passenger space, which makes the Polo a strong finisher in this space race.
Thanks to Honda’s ingenious “Magic Seat” arrangement, the little Jazz packs far more useable space than its size would suggest. Not only is its cargo area one of the largest in this class at 363 litres, but the rear seat can also fold and tumble in a myriad of ways to liberate an astonishing amount of utility space. It’s truly a marvel of clever design.
Seeing the Hyundai Accent Hatch topping this list comes as a bit of a surprise: the Accent isn’t exactly a huge car, and its luggage capacity of 370 litres eclipses the related i20 by almost 100 litres. However, the Accent benefits from a slightly longer rear overhang and a bit of extra width, which combines with a high-mounted luggage cover to create the most practical solution in this class. Beating the Jazz takes some doing, yet this Accent manages to do just that.