Affordable luxury: Toyota Starlet is packed with all the goodness of super-rich rides

Close to payday is about the only time Bobby Nitro will consider a good old gawk at a super luxury vehicle like this Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. Even then, it’s ridiculously out of reach for us regular mortals.

This one-of-a-kind luxury experience in a majestic vehicle such as the Mercedes-Maybach is reserved for the chosen (read: super wealthy) few, with its top-notch materials and flawless design. So we’ll move along, making but one tech observation.

It’s got something called active road noise compensation that makes an already quiet interior even quieter by reducing unwanted low-frequency noises using counter-phased sound waves. Like headphones with noise suppression. Next level stuff. Anyway, moving along to something more practical.

The Toyota Starlet launched in 2020 and became instantly competitive in the B-segment of the passenger car market. Practical to a fault, the combination of good looks, good specs, cheap at the pumps and affordable pricing earned the Starlet top marks.

Now, a comprehensive rework adds to that initial popularity. Revised styling makes it sleeker, with chrome detailing and stylish two-piece rear light clusters.

The interior features a large central infotainment centre, with all models now coming with the touchscreen audio system with various interfaces.

Performance gets a leg up with a larger 1.5 litre engine (same as the Urban Cruiser), which replaces the outgoing 1.4 litre, bringing an extra 9kW to the party. Fuel consumption, however, remains in the low 5.4 to 5.7 litres per 100km.

The Starlet 1.5 Xi MT comes in at R226 200, with the range topper Starlet 1.5 Xr AT at R313 300. The Mercedes-Maybach we were ogling a little earlier, by comparison, will set you back just under R4.5 million.

That means you could buy about 14 Starlets for one of these.

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