Kinsey Report: Family favourites and cars for executives

Today we're looking at the Kinsey Report categories of family favourites (and executive cars a bit lower down the page). It's another killer segment, with fierce competition from all players. That makes it tough for the consumer – there's just so much good stuff on offer here, at decent prices.

Included are:

• Toyota Corolla Quest
• Toyota Corrola
• Hyundai Elantra
• Kia Cerato
• Alfa Romeo Giulietta
• Nissan Sentra
• Chevrolet Cruze
• Ford Focus
• VW Golf
• Mazda 3
• Mercedes Benz A200

It's getting tougher to choose every day our coverage of the Kinsey Report unfolds. On pure petrol-headedness we'd choose the Alfa; it's far from the best family car and there are others on the list that offer better value. But it's turbo charged engine has won numerous awards around the world because it's simply brilliant. And there's that allure of driving something not many others do. Also it's Italian…that's cool.

If we were to think about this like grown ups we'd probably end up in the Ford dealer. The Focus has an edge of driver focus (excuse the pun) that we like, together with being sensible, practical and all that other good stuff.

From the Kinsey Report – Family favourites

This is one of the largest volume segments in the SA market and one of the biggest categories in the survey. Clear market leader is the Toyota Corolla, which with 2 models available, the Quest and current Corolla, make up almost 2,000 sales per month. The Quest, which is the previous Corolla model, just edges out its more modern counterpart  by less than R1,000. Toyota's strength here lies in the very affordable accident repair costs which in some instances are half that of their competitors. This means that even quite old Corollas are often viable to repair.

In third place overall is the Hyundai Elantra , also third in crash parts costs, but competitive in both service (3^rd) and repair parts prices (2^nd).

Now we move on to the more expensive stuff. These are vehicles that most people aspire to own one day; and for those who can afford them, parts prices are likely to be less of a concern. Also many of these vehicles come with maintenance plans and the like, so first-time owners are unlikely to be forking out much when it comes to servicing.

Included are:

• Audi A4
• Volvo S60
• Hyundai Sonata
• BMW 320i
• Honda Accord
• Lexus ES250
• Mercedes Benz C200
• Jaguar XF

Giving the wide price range in this category we're once again torn. The BMW 320i is undoubtedly our favourite compact, premium saloon. However the allure of the Jaguar XF is hard to beat, so we're calling it a tie. The two are unlikely to come up against each other in any real world test, they're just too far apart in terms of offering. We're happy to be on the fence here.

From the Kinsey Report – Auto executive

As the category indicates, these are all high tech, automated, well- appointed cars which proudly represent some of the main manufacturers in the market. Priced between R400,000 and R577,000, the price of their parts is less likely to be of concern to their first-time owners, but may well be of interest when they reach the used car market.

Audi A4 just pips the Volvo S60 in a very close race, marginally beating the Volvo in each section. The Hyundai Sonata 2.4 follows closely in third.

This year we have seen some exceptionally close pricing, which indicates that manufacturers are very aware of the importance of competitive parts costing. A few surprise winners will probably cause a stir in some sectors.