Best used medium cars for 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 the once very popular midsized sedan, you should make sure the three models below are high on your list of cars to consider.

JUMP AHEAD

• Near new: Skoda Octavia
• Mid range: Toyota Camry hybrid
• Budget: Holden ZB Commodore

Near new: Skoda Octavia

Sanity Czech

Few cars you’d describe as being a peach, but the charming Skoda Octavia has always been a car to earn that moniker.

With plenty of thoughtful design and ergonomic touches, a beautifully executed ride-handling balance, and lots of grunt in RS guise, the Octavia is a very easy car to like in our books – especially in latest NX-generation guise (based on the same platform as the Mk8 VW Golf).

With Skoda’s seven-year new-car warranty, grab yourself a 2021 example and you’ll still have four years’ of factory-backed peace-of-mind.

You can get a 2021 Octavia 110TSI Style wagon (the higher-grade model) from about $27,000 with plenty of equipment, space and much of the latest technology and safety gear (including adaptive cruise, eight airbags and AEB). This is a vehicle that couldn’t make a stronger case for buying second-hand over brand new.

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Mid range: Toyota Camry hybrid

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If the idea of owning and driving a Camry makes you flinch, it’s your loss – at least in the case of the annoying good current-generation XV70 Camry.

With surprisingly supple ride quality, plenty of space (including the back seat and boot), and miserly fuel economy in hybrid guise (less than 5.0L/100km), this is a vehicle you’ll hate yourself for liking as much as you do. Even dynamically, it’s pretty decent, with the tiniest amount of GR86 DNA.

Produced from 2017, they’re also safe as houses and you can get a top-spec SL from $20,000 to $25,000. Of course, being a Toyota, one day you’ll realise the warranty ran out years ago and you didn’t notice.

These things rack up thousands of kilometres needing little more than fresh fluids and some new wiper blades, which is probably why you’ve sat in the back of a dozen of them already when getting an Uber.

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Budget: Holden ZB Commodore

Yes, really. It merits a fair go

Putting a Holden badge on the front and a Commodore one on the rear was akin to taking a red paint brush and drawing targets on either side of this poor, unfairly maligned vehicle – one that is now a surprisingly great second-hand buy.

An Opel Insignia in Germany (where it was built), the ZB went on-sale in Australia in 2017 and came in ‘liftback’ sedan and wagon body styles, with either 2.0-litre turbo-petrol or diesel fours or atmo 3.6-litre V6 engines. Some were front-drive and others AWD, while Holden engineered its own suspension tunes, steering calibration, and even drivetrain configurations.

In 2024, you can get a ZB Commodore for as little as $14,000 – and even the VXR with its Twinster all-wheel-drive system (which can split torque not only front-rear, but also side-to-side) can be picked up for $25,000. While it might buy you some sour memories of a bygone time, it gets you a surprisingly fine car. If it helps you sleep better, rebadge it as an Insignia.

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