Though the selection of more affordable medium cars has shrunk in recent years, there's still plenty to offer in terms of boot space.
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It's hard to know what will get you the most in terms of style and practicality, particularly in a segment with more four-door sedans than wagons and hatches.
To help figure out what cars can offer you the most cargo space for a reasonable price, we've broken down the choices in the medium cars for less than $60,000 category on the VFACTS sales charts to see what comes out on top.
We've only listed the variant of each model with the most boot space in its standard seats-up configuration, as that's how we anticipate most people will be transporting cargo in day-to-day driving.
This segment is also dominated by sedans, so the standard space figure is much more consistent across the range of cars.
The only two non-sedans are wagons from Mazda and Skoda, while there's one electric car in the form of the BYD Seal.
You'll notice a lot of cars don't have a quoted boot space figure with the seats folded. That's because it's not a figure most brands quote for their sedans, due to the odd shape of the load area in a sedan with seats flat.
Click on a car's name above to jump directly to its information on the page, or continue scrolling for the full list.
Skoda Octavia
The Octavia is the only European car on this list, and in wagon guise has the largest boot of the lot with a 640L seats-up capacity.
With the rear seats folded that figure expands to an impressive 1700L, which in the base 110TSI Style wagon gives you significant bang for your buck. At $43,990 drive-away, it's one of the cheapest cars here.
For $58,490 drive-away you can purchase the top-spec 180TSI RS wagon, which features a more powerful 2.0-litre turbo engine over the base model's 1.4-litre. You still get the same space in the boot, too.
If you want to get closer to a sedan you can go for the liftback variants of the Style and RS, which are priced at $42,490 and $56,990 drive-away respectively. They have a standard 600L boot, which expands to 1555L with the seats folded.
Honda Accord
The Accord is only sold in Australia in one sedan variant, and it has a sizeable 570L boot.
At $64,900 drive-away the e:HEV RS is at the very top end of the price bracket. It's the most expensive car here, and the option with the second-most spacious boot of the more affordable medium car category.
Despite its size, Honda only gives you a tyre repair kit in lieu of any type of spare wheel. It's covered by a segment-standard five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.
Toyota Camry
The Camry comes in five sedan variants, and its hybrid options all share in the same 524L boot space.
The four hybrid options start with the Ascent hybrid at $37,917 before on-road costs and reach to $51,417 before on-roads for the range-topping SL Hybrid, and they all offer a space saver spare.
If that's too much to pay and you don't want a hybrid, the lineup starts with the petrol Ascent for $35,051 before on-roads. It has a smaller 493L boot, but it's the only car to include a full-size alloy spare.
Mazda 6
The Mazda 6 is the second and final car on this list with wagon variants, and they're unsurprisingly larger than their sedan counterparts with a 506L boot.
With the rear seats folded the boot of the wagon lineup expands to 1648L, and you get a space saver spare. If you want a sedan there are plenty to choose from, but they do have a smaller 474L boot.
All five Mazda 6 variants have sedan and wagon options, and the range starts with the naturally-aspirated G25 Sport sedan for $36,140 before on-roads.
At the top of the pecking order is the turbo G35 20th Anniversary wagon, which costs $55,535 before on-roads.
Hyundai Sonata
Like the Accord, the Sonata is only sold in one variant. It's the N-Line sedan, and has a 480L boot.
It's the most powerful car on this list, though, so practicality isn't necessarily the primary concern. It has a 2.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 213kW of power and 422Nm of torque – well above the other cars on this list.
Hyundai also includes a space saver spare wheel instead of removing it for the performance-oriented Sonata, which brings some added security should you be unlucky enough to suffer a flat tyre.
BYD Seal
The BYD Seal is the only electric medium car for less than $60,000 on the VFACTS charts, but its boot is smaller than the rest at 400L.
It's only sold in three variants, with prices ranging from $49,888 to $68,748 before on-road costs.
The 400L boot is on par with the electric Nissan Leaf hatch, which sits in the segment below.
It also forgoes any form of spare wheel and gives you only a tyre repair kit to keep you moving if something goes wrong.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
