It's an exciting time buying your first car, whether you have had to save and save or whether Mum and Dad are chipping in, it's important that you choose a car which you will feel comfortable in.

There are no prizes for buying a fast car, you are a first time driver, inexperienced and you need to get the safest car possible. For those of you who are wannabe boy racers, rest assured there are cars which look cool and have better safety than others.

Over 5 drivers under the age of 21 DIE on the roads each week in Australia, if each person was in a car with a 5 star safety rating, this tragic figure would be drastically reduced.

So what do you look for in a safe car? What determines what a good young learner's car is? John Cadogan has put together his top 20 safest cars under $30,000 with a 5 star safety rating in alphabetical order. If you cannot afford to buy one of these cars, please buy the closest to it that you can afford.

Of note - if you want to save thousands of dollars off the price of a new car visit our friends at Cheap New Cars

Citroen C4
Fiat Punto
Fiat 500
Ford Fiesta
Ford Focus
Holden Cruze
Hyundai i30
Kia Soul
Mazda2
Mitsubishi Lancer
Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback
Peugeot 207
Peugeot 308
Renault Clio
Renault Megane
Subaru Impreza
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Yaris
Volkswagen Golf