Holden = Opel/Vauxhall, although Opel itself is heading Down Under next year with a new Astra and the Insignia I believe.
Saab is now also owned by Dutch supercar company Spyker, but a new 9-3 hasn't been announced or released from them. The new 9-5 is said to be a step in the right direction for Saab, but not nearly the huge step it needs considering its price and its rivals.
There's loads of choices for that sort of price. For bang for buck in terms of its interior and kit there is the Honda Accord Euro Luxury w/Navigation, which won Wheels COTY in 2008. Great to drive and you get heaps of features for the relatively small price you pay (RRP $39,990). 10-speaker audio with MP3, full sat-nav, leather heated seats, dual-zone climate control and chilled cubby holes. The back row does have limited legroom for adults but for a child it's perfect.
The Skoda Octavia vRS comes in wagon or sedan form and has a better engine than the Accord's i-VTEC (VW 2.0L turbo 4-cyl, 197kW) but the interior does look a little cheaper. Fair bit more space inside though and from what I've read it drives very well too. These are a fair bit rarer to find and the 2.0L turbo models aren't new, but they're at most $35,000.
Other choices? You can pick up a Mazda 6 MPS for well within that price range; an FG FPV F6 Typhoon is also worth checking out if you can deal with the fact that to most it's just a tarted-up Falcon - the boosted V6 at the time gave most of FPV and HSV's line-up a run for their money; it also has a pretty well-sorted chassis and loads of space. Brand new Subaru Liberty 2.5GTs retail at about $57,000 and you can get a fully optioned WRX STi for that sort of money as well.
If you don't mind something a bit older there is the well-acclaimed E46 BMW M3 and the E60 5-Series. The M3 is more a driver's car than a well-sorted family car but that's where the bigger 5-Series comes into play.
These are all good choices for the money but if its a compromise between luxury and space you want rather than how it drives then I'd look at the Accord, Liberty and the BMW 5-Series. That being said though these are also great cars to drive.
), use the multi-quote function.
