Five Things: the best interiors under $50k
Monday, 26 April 2021
While the exterior of a car is what hooks people in, the interior is where they’ll spend all of their driving time, so it’s gotta be good. Most cabins these days are made to a high standard, but you tend to pay for it. Here are five of the best interiors for less than $50k.
Citroen C3 (with Techwood pack – $30,999)
The recently updated C3 comes in well underneath our $50k limit, even with the optional Techwood pack which adds cloth and leatherette upholstery and a cool wood-like dash insert. The seats are comfy, there’s an interesting reverse Airbump pattern in the doors that’s mimicked in the air vents, and the various switches and buttons are a pleasure to use.
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While the standard interior on the basic $29,990 car is nice, the weird fake-wood-grain insert that you get with the optional $1000 Techwood pack is the most interesting part – it’s definitely not wood, but it’s hard to figure out exactly what it’s made from. It’s weird and French in all the best ways.
MG ZST Essence ($33,990)
Being Chinese-owned and built, you might have immediately questioned the inclusion of MG on this list. But that would be very wrong, not to mention quite xenophobic. The SAIC-owned brand has stepped up its quality and design game a lot in the last few years, with the ZST just one example.
The turbocharged ZS gets round air vents on each end of the dashboard (thanks Mercedes!), a large, colourful infotainment display, digital instrument cluster, and carbon fibre trim. The steering wheel has a flat bottom and the red-stitched seats are more supportive than on the standard ZS. For the money asked, you will struggle to find a better interior.
Peugeot 208 GT ($37,990)
Peugeot’s latest 208 might not be getting a hot GTI version at this point but the current range-topper, the GT, is plenty. Especially inside, where the French supermini gets an awesome 3D dash that not even the 3008 SUV is allowed yet.
It uses transparent screens in the instrument cluster to bring crucial information closer to the driver, like revs and speed, while less important stuff like fuel level and engine temperature is pushed further back. Combined with the rest of Peugeot’s high-quality interior hallmarks, like the piano key toggles, carbon fibre-look soft plastics and the small steering wheel, the 208 GT is a great place to be.
Skoda Octavia ($47,990)
The new Skoda Octavia has literally just landed in New Zealand and its interior is a decent step up over the previous model, which was pretty good to begin with.
The new Octavia gets a slick and modern interior design, with the most striking change being that the gear selector is now a stubby shift-by-wire unit – just like a Porsche 911!) The infotainment touchscreen is larger with a touch-sensitive pad just beneath it for volume control and, while we normally hate touch volume controls (just give us a good old knob!), this one works brilliantly well.
The surfaces are made from various quality materials, while ambient lighting is a nice addition for a sub-$50k car.
Mazda3 Limited ($48,795)
When Mazda brought out its latest 3, we were all a bit blindsided by how good the interior was. This is a Japanese hatchback charging roughly Japanese hatchback pricing for an interior that easily rivalled those coming out of Europe, often beating them.
There are swathes of leather (even more in the Limited) and soft-touch materials, a delightfully minimal design and a thin steering wheel, behind which some lovely analogue dials sit. Mazda has resisted the urge to make everything digital, offering just one screen (aside from the air-conditioning readout panel) and it’s much appreciated.