Buying a newish car - Kia Rio, Nissan Tiida or Hyundai Elantra?

hi all - if anyone has one of these cars, could you please give me the pros and cons, especially with regards to carrying around a bub?

I currenly have a Nissan Pulsar hatch which is a great little car, but getting old. We're looking at upgrading and given how little my car is now worth, think we'll able to afford a Rio or Tiida or an Elantra at a pinch - need to stretch for that. We're looking at getting a sedan for the boot room.

I've test driven a Rio and it seems fine. There's plenty of room in the boot for a pram.
Wasn't sure about the Tiida - seems to lack cup holders. They may seem shallow, but it's important to me that I have somewhere safe to stash my water bottle or coffee or whatever.
The Elantra looks pretty funky, but we probably won't be able to afford it.

TIA

I would go the tiida for reliability hun. I have seen cup holders that you can attach to the vents and cigarette lighters. I usually put my water bottle down between my seat and the centre console or close it and put it on the passenger seat.

Sounds silly but have you thought about getting a hail damaged car? If you are planning on keeping it for ages anyway you may do ok. A chap at work is getting a new Honda Jazz for less than 16K (I think) I do know he is getting ~ 6K off the price. Depends on how long you were going to keep it etc. He has found 4 marks and is really impressed as he has trolley dints etc on his old one that are worse!
Happy shopping

We have a kia rio it is a great car and runs very well and there cheap cars brand new.

how ever if you plan on having more then one child its is very sqeeshy with two car seats or more in the car and if you have a pram you have to choose carefully with what pram you choose as some prams wheels are two big and prams dont fit, and also once you have a pram in the boot there is little room for shopping etc

Also disadvantage also unless you pay the exact price for the car or get alone for the exact price then there very hard car to trade in because they do not keep there value at all for example we payed $15990 for our car trade in now all they will give us is $6000 to $8000 not very much at all.

Saying that we have never had any problems with the car machanically and it drives very smooth and an easy car to drive.

Good luck with your choice and congradulations on been able to get a new car.

I've said it before, I'll keep on saying it - NEVER buy a kia!!! Past experience.

The Nissan will hold its value better than the Kia or Hyundai.

thanks heaps for all your input. In the end we bought a 2008 Kia Rio. It pretty much came down to price and what we could afford and what they were prepared to give me in trade in for my car. My little Pulsar just isn't worth anything anymore, but we got a good deal :)

shaza - we were able to drive the car over to a stockist of the pram we have laybyed to see if it would fit in the boot - answer was a definate no! the chassis will fit in, but not the bassinet. However, we worked out we could either get a different pram, or given we love this pram, we can get a smaller, lighter pram to keep in the Rio's boot for when needed. It works out a lot cheaper than spending another $3000 on a car, when we don't have the cash. And we use the other pram either from home or can throw in DH's camry.

As for residual value, it's not something I look at anymore. I don't think cars are any good as an asset, so just plan on saving up and paying cash or leasing he next one.

Thanks all