Best First Car 2022: Ownership Costs

There’s a lot to consider when purchasing your first new car, and often the expenses that come after you’ve driven away from the dealership are low down on the priority list.

But ownership costs are important to consider – before you make the final purchase decision – because they have a significant ongoing impact on your finances.

All nine contenders for carsales’ Best First Car 2022 are in the light or small passenger car segment, which keeps some of their running costs down compared to larger or heavier vehicles such as SUVs.

However, there are important differences between them with running costs such as fuel and replacement tyres, as well as other areas of car ownership including finance and insurance, routine maintenance (servicing costs) and, not least of all, depreciation.

On the latter, the rate at which your new car loses value over the first five years will be felt when you come to purchase your second car.

We’ve calculated costs across all these areas to rank each of our Best First Car candidates.

And we’ve collated additional information such as warranty, service intervals, servicing network and roadside assist offerings to show you where they all stand in these key areas too.

For most buyers, finance costs are a necessary factor in any new car purchase, so we’ve included the interest cost component of such a loan for all nine compact hatchbacks in contention for carsales’ Best First Car 2022.

This is done using the full recommended retail price as the loan amount, repaid over a five-year term at a 6.16 per cent comparison rate.

Of course, interest rates are rising, and like many of the costs we’ve collated here, there are always variable factors. But applying the same method across all nine cars gives us a strong comparison across the field.

Similarly, insurance costs vary according to the owner’s driving history, where the vehicle is parked and the vehicle itself.

For us to compare between the different hatches 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. The Mazda2, Suzuki Swift and Toyota Yaris are slightly lower due to rego concessions given to lighter cars in NSW.

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 car’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 RedBook.com.au, but for resale values on a specific model, a RedBook Valuation Report is available for purchase www.redbook.com.au/valuation-report.

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.

Full details are in the table below, but let’s dive in and have a look at each car, from lowest to highest point scorers for ownership costs.

At the bottom of the list is the Subaru Impreza 2.0i-L. The Impreza is significantly more expensive to service than the others and has higher-than-average costs for insurance, fuel and tyre replacement. It’s at the bottom rung for depreciation, too.

Mind you, we’re not talking sheep stations here; the Impreza’s total running costs are only just above its closest competitor. But it all adds up, and there’s no escaping the Impreza’s higher costs in other areas of our cost-of-ownership assessment.

Next up is the Hyundai i30 Active. It has among the highest fuel costs, and with consistently average running costs elsewhere, the i30 ends up as the most expensive to run – but only just. Finance costs are on the high side, while the rate of depreciation for the i30 is also mid-pack.

In seventh position, the Mazda3 Pure is remarkably consistent in being either middle of the road or a bit higher than average across our assessment criteria. It’s on the high side for finance and insurance costs, as well as running costs, while resale value is average.

Following the Mazda3 is the Kia Cerato S and Toyota Corolla Ascent Sport, placing equal fifth – but for different reasons.

The Cerato has relatively high costs for fuel and servicing among this cohort, placing it second-last in our rankings for running costs. Its finance costs are on the high side too, but its low rate of depreciation – the Cerato coming in second behind the Toyota Yaris – counts in its favour.

Meanwhile, the Corolla is the most expensive car among the nine on test for insurance and finance, but counters this with very low servicing costs. In most other areas, including depreciation, it has an average ranking.

In fourth position, the Mazda2 is interesting mix with slightly higher than expected fuel and replacement tyre costs for a city car, while other costs such as finance and servicing are reasonable. Its rate of depreciation is also relatively high, counting against it.

The Kia Rio S and Suzuki Swift Swift GL S Plus rank equal second for ownership costs.

The Rio is on the higher side for fuel and servicing costs, and elsewhere an average player for running costs. It has a strong ranking of third for deprecation and is the cheapest to finance and insure.

The Swift, on the other hand, is a different beast entirely, with its tyres the most expensive to replace and insurance and servicing on the high side. But its finance costs are low and fuel costs are relatively thrifty too.

There is a clear winner among our contenders for carsales’ Best First Car 2022 when it comes to ownership costs – the Toyota Yaris Ascent Sport.

Toyota’s light hatch isn’t exactly cheap for tyres or insurance, but it’s one of the lowest for fuel and servicing costs.

It’s also on the right side of the ledger for finance and, perhaps most notably, is the top-ranking car for depreciation, holding onto its value better than the eight other cars on test.

Hyundai i30 Active
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 171
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Kia Cerato S
Warranty: 7 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 141
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Kia Rio S
Warranty: 7 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 141
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Mazda2 Pure
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/10,000km
Dealer service network: 145
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Mazda3 Pure
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/10,000km
Dealer service network: 145
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 5 years free/No

Subaru Impreza 2.0i-L
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/12,500km
Dealer service network: 121
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Suzuki Swift GL S Plus
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 108
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: 1 year free/Yes

Toyota Corolla Ascent Sport
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 281
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: Yes (extra cost)/No

Toyota Yaris Ascent Sport
Warranty: 5 years/unlimited kilometres
Service intervals: 12 months/15,000km
Dealer service network: 281
Roadside assist/linked to servicing: Yes (extra cost)/No