Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute 2022: Ownership costs

There’s nothing like the shock of expensive short-interval servicing or a poor trade-in value to cool whatever warm glow remains from buying and running a brand-new ute.

Yet unexpected financial hits are less of a risk these days as many of the costs can be calculated before you sign up.

Of course, no-one can predict the future with 100 per cent confidence. But at least there are far fewer unknowns today with ownership costs, as we’ve calculated here for the seven models lining up for carsales’ Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute 2022.

You can slide into the driver’s seat of your brand-new ute knowing for the most part what you’ll be up for in the first five years.

It’s all laid out in the table below, where we’ve split it up into three categories – finance, running costs (including insurance, registration, servicing, fuel and tyre replacement) and depreciation.

We have assessed and scored each ute according to these costs over a five-year period.

You’ll also find further information on the warranty, service intervals, servicing network and roadside assist offerings in our specs at the bottom of the page.

For most buyers, finance costs are a necessary factor in any new vehicle purchase, so we’ve included the interest cost component of such a loan for each ute.

This is done using the full recommended retail price as the loan amount, repaid over a five-year term at 7.8 per cent interest.

Insurance costs vary greatly, of course, according to the owner’s driving history, where the vehicle is parked and the vehicle itself. For us to compare between the different utes on test, we’ve created two ownership profiles and averaged the insurance premiums for each.

The first is a female owner in Oakleigh, Victoria, who parks her car on the street, and the second a male owner in Chatswood, NSW, who parks in a garage.

Registration costs are also taken from the largest population centres in Australia – NSW and Victoria – to come up with an average figure. While this is the same amount for each ute on test, it serves as a representative sample of a significant cost of ownership.

Other running costs factored in are capped-price servicing (to 75,000km), fuel and an average cost for two sets of replacement tyres.

Finally, each ute’s resale value is determined after a five-year/80,000km period, based on RedBook data provided exclusively to carsales.

Used car price ranges for specific models are freely available on the RedBook website, but for resale values on a particular model, a RedBook Valuation Report is available for purchase.

We’ve based our calculations on the latter, so resale rankings and scores are listed here instead of the exact depreciation values on which they’re based.

As per each major category in Best Cars assessment, cost of ownership scoring is out of 20. We’ve weighted the results slightly in favour of depreciation (out of eight), compared to running costs and finance costs (each out of six).

This reflects the fact that in most cases depreciation accounts for the largest single cost of ownership over five years.

Let’s now dive in and have a look at each ute from the lowest to highest point scorers for ownership costs…

The Mazda BT-50 SP in seventh position offers among the lowest fuel bills among these utes over five years, and roughly average costs for servicing. However, it’s not great news from there for people on a tight budget. Tyres are among the more expensive to replace, and the Mazda does not do so well for finance costs or depreciation.

Next up with an equal-fifth ranking is the Mitsubishi Triton GSR and the Nissan Navara PRO-4X.

The Mitsubishi Triton is on the cheaper end of the scale for insurance, and comes in average for finance and servicing costs. Tyres are among the more expensive for the group, but its depreciation is well below the best in class.

The Nissan Navara is better than average for finance costs and sets you back only an average amount for fuel and tyres. Navara’s depreciation rate really counts against it, while insurance is slightly higher than the average here too.

Placed in fourth position for ownership costs is the Toyota HiLux SR5.

The Toyota is real mixed bag for what it’ll set you back over the longer term. On one hand its retained value is quite strong (albeit not the best here), yet its finance costs are higher than most and tyre replacement costs are also among the most expensive.

The HiLux’s insurance costs are the second highest of the group, and it’s also the most expensive for scheduled servicing – the requirement for double the number of services (a service is due every six months instead of 12 months like the rest) not helping.

Ranked in third position is the Isuzu D-MAX LSU+. The D-MAX is the cheapest to insure, and servicing will set you back less than the average here. Depreciation is about average, while the finance costs are on the high side.

Coming in second is the GWM Ute Cannon-X, which is by far the most affordable model on test. It also costs much less for finance and its depreciation over five years is relatively low too.

The GWM Ute’s retained value is slightly higher than average as a percentage – itself a surprise for a less-well-known brand – so given you’ve paid less money to buy it means you’ll have less to lose in depreciation when it comes time to sell.

Although insurance costs are lower than average, the GWM Ute’s servicing, fuel and tyre replacement costs are on the high side.

And that brings us to the standout performer in class for ownership costs: the Ford Ranger XLT 2.0.

By far the cheapest for fuel and servicing, the Ford also has the lowest tyre replacement costs and turns out to be the most affordable when it comes to insurance.

The Ranger is also at the pointy end of the field when it comes to retained value, while finance costs are about average.

Best Dual-Cab 4x4 Ute 2022 – Ownership costs

Ford Ranger XLT 2.0
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 180
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

GWM Ute Cannon-X
Warranty: 7 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/10,000km
Dealer service network: 80
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Isuzu D-MAX LS-U+
Warranty: 6 years/150,000km
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 149
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 7 years free/Yes

Mazda BT-50 SP
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 180
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Mitsubishi Triton GSR
Warranty: 5 years/100,000km
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 204
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Nissan Navara PRO-4X
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited
Service intervals: 12 months/20,000km
Dealer service network: 89
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Toyota HiLux SR5
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 6 months/10,000km
Dealer service network: 180
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: No/No