For many of us, our first car certainly wasn’t anything with that intoxicating new car smell.
Perhaps it was a hand-me-down from the parents or an older brother, or ‘the cheap beater bought with money saved up by working at Coles or McDonald’s and worked at them.
But some children are privileged enough to have something new for their first car. Those who would be inclined to go out on a new car for their child, so here are the models childcareman.xyz’s Australian and New Zealand teams team-mates suggest.
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Alborz Fallah, Founder
Subaru BRZ/Toyota GR86
I have two boys that will soon need a new car and, while hours of searching Bangle-era BMWs for cool an old 5 Series would be to find the best new vehicle for them. It’s going to be something compact and manual.
I said to my kids that their first car is’manual’ and they agreed. I think it’s a disservice for your kids to pick up an automatic, which is the way you’re doing with them. In fact, they may never need a manual licence but in reality learn how to drive the same thing as if it’s used for driving – which gives them knowledge about how he/she works on. The engine speeds, gearing and how to be a safer driver by paying far more attention to driving than an automatic requires.
If I think that’s the point of a Toyota (GR86) or Subaru-BRZ, with that in mind, it’s hard to go past for that reason and if Mazda makes the MX-5 slightly less feminine would this be too much?
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Explore the Subaru BRZ showroom
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Explore the Toyota GR86 showroom
Marton Pettendy, Managing Editor
Kia K4 Hatch S with safety pack
When it came time for all three of my children to drive, I had the same three requirements as me safety, reliability and cost of ownership.
The best combination of them is a new or near-new small car from an auto brand in Japan or Korea – rather than’micro car or light car, let alone an SUV or ute and if so, he/she has the best mix.
With its slammed safety suite, pleasing efficiency, seven-year warranty and low circa-$32,000 starting price, the new Kia K4 Hatch ticks the most boxes of all the mainstream small-car market out there.
A good small hatch with a safety pack that adds essential equipment such as ‘digit instrument cluster and the latest generation of autonomous emergency braking tech’ for relatively low $34,190 plus on-road costs.
All of my children were on dirt bikes and drove a variety of farm machinery off-road for several years before any of them hit the road, but they not only had to handle’manual control’ (but also practiced vehicle control and developed spatial awareness) until entering the cut and thrust of defensive driving on public roads.
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Explore the Kia K4 showroom
Matthew Hansen, Editor (New Zealand)
Suzuki Swift
I immediately got my brain straight to a first-generation Nissan Leaf. one, preferably that’s been around the block. So, so little chance of making speeding tickets is there.’ Slow – and very few s are getting any faster ticket production? The possibility of drive loop is limited, so they can have a short range (i.e., if possible) drive Loops are not available at all. It is a good thing to build some character into the little tyke, so that it’s deeply uncool.
But we’re talking about new cars of course. And nobody does small, cheap cars better than Suzuki.
The perfect idea is a loving Jimny, and the Swift Sport is also an excellent budget performance car – while it remains on sale, that’s what’s so great about this? I was very well served by the Swift Sport that I owned as my first car.
But if I say Swift, I think you don’t necessarily need the ‘big block’ Sport to have fun in it. I’d rather use the basic Swift HybriD manual instead of . It won’t be a run for its money, but combined with the new lightweight and endlessly chuckable Swift platform it’s still if you want to see this as.
The Swift, besides the great chassis balance and steering feel, is also very logical choice apart from its high-end suspension. Parts are going to be plentiful for when the kid inevitably cuts it down on the neighbour’s fence too. And while it may be a very mild hybrid, that system makes it able to achieve’super-economical 3′. 8L/100km, In this weight division, insurance should be as cheap as anything else.
The Swift’s three-star safety rating from ANCAP, which is described by some as “a bit of a red flag” for its sake, will be considered to be. remember, that rating was very recently – but just as. The highest-rated car in this class was most of the ones that achieved it during less stringent times, i.e. In some cases those ratings have expired altogether.
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Explore the Suzuki Swift showroom
William Stopford, News Editor
Renault Duster
I’m glad my first car was a manual, and I never for a second considered just getting my auto licence.
That’s just because I got the old family car, which was a manual transmission… with faded paint, missing wheel covers and causing ‘big key scratch’.
I think learning to drive in a manual makes you ‘good driver’ and gives you an understanding of how he/she works. But I’m much too young to have a kid of driving age in 2026, so for this hypothetical I would like this imaginary kid to be able to drive – and that is the case.
It’s also the car I think is the most important safety tech (autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert) that I want. They should be relatively big, cheap and not so strong that they get any silly ideas but also not as stupid that it’s turning off cars.
Wow, after adding these criteria, the number of vehicles drops. The manual transmission requirement alone whittles the list down dramatically.
A Manual Mazda 3-Sale is no longer available, nor are non-N Hyundai i30s or non–GR Toyota Corollas. A copy of the manual Kia Sportage that clung to life for so long against all odds, is dead even this one has died. And that’s a good choice for , because it’s so slow and solid.
Here I’m left to compromise on my manual requirement, or pay $36,490 before the road costs for a Renault Duster Techno 44 are paid.
Lucky kid.
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Explore the Renault Duster showroom
James Wong, Marketplace Editor
Kia Picanto manual
This line of work is a lot of cars for us to drive; even after we have hopped out of something that has six figures, there’s much more to be said about back-to–basics motoring (especially when it comes to buying your very first car).
For the most part, I’ve always been a proponent of buying the latest and safest car you can afford (not just for the niceties but to protect you from warranty and roadside assistance in case things go wrong; visibility on service costs over the first few years of ownership; and making sure you have as much active safety tech on-board help yourself during that one moment you really need it – something new drivers may not realize they must be aware.
It is one of the cheapest new cars on sale, and offers an affordable but easy drivetrain that helps you learn how to drive while also offering all your brand’s latest infotainment and safety tech so you don’t feel out-of-date.
Despite the fact that your kids travel out of the city often, the Picanto is more than a road trip for you and was overtaken in Spain at 130km/h by many of these (sometimes with two child seats in the back)? But if it doesn’t have much of grunt, when you are safe and don’T just use a turbo or an automatic transmission cheat code to get you out of trouble.
It is the fact that the four-star safety rating of Picanto has been out of date – ie spend more money and this could be the only thing I can shop elsewhere. If you need to have a current five-star ANCAP rating, then maybe an entry level Toyota Yaris, VW Polo or Kian K4 (with Safety Pack) could be the next step.
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Explore the Kia Picanto showroom
Ben Zachariah, Road Test Editor
Renault Duster
car nerds, and some people driving NERDs.’ Some of the s are Car narcissists who have been in cars for many years. There’s a very large crossover between the two in v Venn diagram, and probably most of us here at childcareman.xyz land smack bang in the middle.
The Kia Picanto is the easiest way to make sense, because most of us like driving a manual. It’s fun, reputable, cheap and manual .
And yet, one of the things that I loved most as a fresh-minted young driver – and still love doing is jumping into my car and heading away. I sometimes have a with people, sometimes on my own, often without any particular destination in mind. I would like to pass that sense of freedom and adventure on the next generation,’ . I think it is one of the true joys of driving a .
What is the reason I am putting my kid a Renault Duster? A rad little soft-roader with all-wheel drive, mild-hybrid technology and manual transmission – designed to be a design that would not make them embarrassed if they went to pick up their date. While it may only have a three-star safety rating from ANCAP, that’s still plenty safe — and probably the equivalent of 15-starred rating when I was their age.
I value ADAS and all-wheel drive from a safety point of view – and love that AWD will get them into the bush or to. remote beach but I believe driver is the most important safety feature for me. It’s the term for “home-based and professional track-trained” driver education, which means that any car must be accompanied with a bow on top of its own vehicle.
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Explore the Renault Duster showroom
Josh Nevett, Deputy Marketplace Editor
Kia Picanto manual
I’d have three priorities when buying a first car for my theoretical child: safety, value, and a manual transmission.
The first two criteria are largely self-explanatory, but the third probably requires slightly more explanation. After all, there aren’t many new manual cars to choose from these days and no one of the young drivers who can drive them.
But I do insist on the fact that three-pedal skills are a key skill in life, and learning to drive manual makes it easier for the learner to focus on what is going on at hand rather than their TikTok feed. In addition, it also teaches the art of mechanical sympathy (as in ).
Hence, with that as an unrequited shortlist shrinks to just three models the Kia Picanto (the first model of this line), Hyundai Venue and Suzuki Swift. I know, of those three, that’s the Picanto.
The micro-hatch is the cheapest of the bunch, not only does Kia’s micro–hatcher come with plenty of modern safety kit and long warranty. The cabin isn’t much room for teenage shenanigans, or there is no ‘room in the cabin to .
My dad is a . I’m happy to travel down the high-spec GT-Line for an extra $1800, so that’s what makes this deal sweet!
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Explore the Kia Picanto showroom
Damion Smy, Deputy News Editor
Toyota Hilux manual cab/chassis
It’s just so slow, it’ll help build skills – parking and patience – but will be worth something no matter how bad it is afterward.
That means they can’t be at home, and that is also a reason to stay in the house because it allows them to move out.
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Explore the Toyota HiLux showroom
Dave Kavermann, Motoring Journalist (New Zealand)
Suzuki Swift Sport
Then I threw them the keys to a new Suzuki Swift Sport manual, and we had three pedals at every intersection.’ Little Dave or Davina said ‘Back in my day we were just having pure anxiety on all sides.
They’re mine. I think these hypothetical kids would have been riding dirt bikes for a couple of years before reaching driving age so they’ll know how if he or she is working with s gearbox? But I’d like to help them learn about a steering wheel, just as my dad was sitting on his lap while he drove me around an empty car park at 10km/h.
But I still remember that most about s behind the wheel is ‘that’. It makes me smile a lot more than driving – Ferrari or Lamborghini for the first time – if I’m not sure what it is. Then it proves cars don’t have spec sheets – they’re about the stories and memories that can only be made by sitting in a car with other people.
Why would a Suzuki Swift Sport be the best car to introduce them to on-road driving, make those memories and hopefully encourage people to enjoy motoring? A bad day is coming and I’m not there. If they’re having a bad morning, I hope some turbo noises cheer them up (an airbox upgrade would be very fast – although the stock exhaust would remain, of course)
The right amount of safety tech is also required to keep mum happy as it can be . This is economical enough for them to pay for their own fuel and just enough performance to scream without breaking every speed limit in the country.
But if they’re going on an adventure, and have room for friends or even some equipment, they can go away with it. Do not underestimate how well-fitting is a Swift for you. If you’ve tried it, and don’t even know what to understand until you have tried that . my older Swift and I moved house twice with. It is one of the best buys for me to buy it,’ said her husband at an old age in 2007.
If they don’t like it? They can buy their own car – probably automatic SUV thing – and I’ll get a Suzuki Swift Sport again.
Win-win.
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Explore the Suzuki Swift showroom
Max Davies, Marketplace Journalist
Mazda 3 G20 Pure hatch
My youngest childcareman.xyz editorial team member is I, and while that makes me not eligible for any legitimate parenting advice, I can vividly remember how to find my first car.
There were just two criteria I judged (a), it had to be manual and (b) – that was only a hatchback. I was landed in a six-year-old Subaru Impreza hatch, which we found for stonking deal and then served me faultlessly in the years that followed.
No such thing is really the case these days, unfortunately, like that of . The Impreza has been axed and is now over $33,000, while the Picanto manual is a good contender in its own right but it’s just too small and not very powerful. So I couldn’t force my child into battle on Australia’s highways in one day.
And so, that leaves me searching according to the requirements safe (obviously), cheap (I’m not rich) and reliable (i’ve never been a mechanic). The base Mazda 3 G20 Pure hatch is practical enough for a P-plater, not boring to drive and has been around long enough so that I have shaken any major mechanical gremlins.
It’s only auto-only and costs $31,610 before on-roads, but insurance isn’t awful at $2353 a year with $1000 excess – that’ll be driven by he’d been the main driver of course.
I also had a five-star ANCAP rating for this generation of Mazda 3 before it expired at the end of 2025 and would not be upset driving that on occasion. So if it had to be a new car, that’s good enough for me – I think.
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Sean Lander, Video Producer
Skoda Kamiq
As far as I know, I don’t have any little Seans around out there but if my teenage years were to surprise me it would be near the time when they are getting ready to start driving.
Then I started my driving journey in Falcons. It was a lucky one, and that saved my life quite literally when I roll rolled ‘car at the tender age of 17’.
That’s the point of , I was raised in the country and that’s where I would want my kids growing up. But if I bought some small hatchback for them to run around in their home, it is not going to be any kind of little hatch back (i.e. What I want is SUV-like, or as close to a Falcon as possible.
A Subaru Impreza I first looked at but with an insurance average of nearly $3000 a year (the main driver being my imaginary child as the secondary driver) it was pretty quickly declared out.
A Subaru Crosstrek was the first to be shuffled and I then went back with a much more interesting quote closer to $2200. It seemed like that was a good to say, and that sounds pretty good. It’s a slow, safe Crosstrek with lots of space to let teenagers do teenage stuff in and not break the sound barrier. They were both agreed quotes, with an excess of $1000 for me (more for Junior) and a total of 1200.
But I didn’t do it yet. A Skoda Kamiq was entered into the calculator, and returned a similar quote within $200 depending on the insurer. I have two pretty good options so far, if not the best option for .
I then worked on service pricing. In the last five years, it is approximately $2442 for the Subaru to be in service with capped-price servicing. Skoda $2590. Exactly like again, very similar.
However, the Skoda is much better on fuel and has a nicer interior but I think looks more like an old man (I mean The Skordan)? here, so we are a and the.
My son, my child, would be putting them in a Skoda Kamiq 85TSI. At $33,990 drive-away, it’s not very fast but isn’t super expensive. I would be happy to drive it and, most importantly, a safe car built by the experts that I’d like to send my child off into the world in.
If all else fails, I’ll buy a low-mileage Falcon.
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Explore the Skoda Kamiq showroom
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