Best used hatchbacks to buy in 2024

Sales figures show us each month what the most popular used cars are for Australian buyers, but popular doesn't also mean best.

When it comes to hatchbacks, we reckon you should make sure the three models below are high on your list of cars to consider.

JUMP AHEAD

• Near new: Ford Focus
• Mid-range: Suzuki Swift
• Budget: Honda Civic

Near new: Ford Focus

Don't miss out on a bona fide great

Pour one out for the last-generation Ford Focus, for despite its excellence, it lived an unfairly short life in Australia.

After just three years in Aussie showrooms – the final year of which saw the Focus only offered in hot-hatch ST guise – the plug was pulled on Ford’s small hatch for good after the arrival of the new SA generation failed to reignite sales.

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Our loss, because the final Focus we saw was easily the best. Ford’s Euro-developed product always had more dynamic flair than segment rivals, and the SA Focus was no exception.

A sharp chassis, precise steering, and well-judged spring and damper settings made it a delight to drive, while Ford’s likeable 1.5-litre turbo triple and new eight-speed auto provided exceptional driveability. Low-mileage examples are a notable bargain too.

The Focus ST performance hero was particularly great, but the ST-Line is our pick for those hunting a well-featured small hatchback with a smidge of sporting zeal.

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Mid-range: Suzuki Swift

Takes a licking and keeps on ticking

The humble Swift is a small-car stalwart that’s been a favourite of those looking for a low-cost runabout, and the current generation (that’s about to get replaced by an all-new model), represents an attractive buy.

Having arrived in Oz in 2017, it still feels like a modern car – albeit one that’s clearly built to a low price point, thanks to an abundance of hard plastics and the presence of hubcaps on the entry-spec GL (how delightfully old-fashioned).

However, it drives great and sips fuel. Penny-pinchers might gravitate to a manual-equipped Swift GL, but a GL Navigator automatic – which replaces the sad base-grade headunit with a sat-nav touchscreen with smartphone mirroring – can be had for similar money.

Budget around $15,000 for a GL Navi, though it’s worth stretching to $18,000 to snare a GLX Turbo, which replaces the atmo 1.2 of the GL with a lovely boosted 1.0-litre three-pot while also adding climate control and other accoutrements.

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Budget: Honda Civic

Ninth-gen is the sweet spot

A quick note: we are NOT talking about the Civic sedan of the same vintage. The Thai-built four-door can’t hold a candle to the UK-made five-door we’re recommending here, for a few reasons.

First: Magic Seats – though the ninth-gen Civic hatch was built on a mutation of the compact Jazz’s platform, that meant it benefited from one of the Jazz’s best attributes – an ultra-low cabin floor, and the ability to flip its rear seatbase up to allow the easy carriage of tall cargo. Few C-segment hatches are as versatile.

Second: driving joy. Though it never got an engine more exciting than a naturally-aspirated 1.8 petrol in Australia (there was also a diesel, but maybe skip that one), Honda’s chassis boffins did good. Great handling, decent comfort, and an engagingly revvy engine mesh nicely, and the six-speed manual is a peach.

The mid-grade VTi-S is good enough too – the infotainment pack in the VTi-LN flagship was no bueno when it was new, let alone in this day and age.

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