New car advice

[6t6m]

Hey Guys,
Well I've decided that i should probably look at a new car for myself. I'm really at a dead loss as to what to look at.... ultimately i would like a BA XR6 ... but thats probably a bit pricy and the fuel consumption is a little high.
Basically i'm looking for advice on a medium car thats good value and fun.. as well as being reasonably cheap.
Some of the ideas i had were Mazda 6.. if i could get one cheap enough... Focus LX .... hard to find... and that was about it .... any advice would be appreciated.
limit at the moment is in the $20000 range but lower would be better.
Thanks

[bprint xr8]

Dont know about new, but you would pick up a 2nd hand BA XT with warranty left and change!

Trying to find a mazda 6 for those dollars would be a tall ask.

[CarBroker]

The cars you mention are quite different. bprint xr8 is right about the Mazda 6 for sure.

How long would you keep the car for? What sort of mileage do you do? There are many ex company fleet cars (Falcons and simliar) about 3 years old selling for $14-$18K through Custom Fleet in Melbourne. Some have very low mileage, and most are excellent value.

Smaller (and medium) cars tend to be relaitively more expensive because the stock standard Falcon/Commodore/Camry cars are so plentiful and cheap. Cars like Toyota Corolla and Holden Astra are really expensive because of the recent petrol price increase. When you look at the total cost of ownership, it's hard to go past the larger ex-fleet cars. The unloved Magna is probably the best value on the market atm.