RACV lists the most frugal cars
Amidst the claim and counter-claim from the car companies, the RACV has compiled its own data on which are the cheapest cars to ownEveryone's up in arms about the price of petrol these days. It's often forgotten however, that the cost of vehicle ownership goes beyond just the hardships suffered by the impecunious waiting in line on a Tuesday night to pump in enough liquid gold to keep a car running for another week.
With the RACV's survey of vehicle operating costs for 2008, the total cost of purchase and operating expenses for some of the motor industry's most popular models are exposed under the harsh light of independent scrutiny.
Putting aside current societal concerns over global climate change, the survey is focused specifically on cost and allows no credit for cars that are ostensibly better for the environment -- which explains why Toyota's Prius is the lowliest of small cars in this survey, and the Honda Civic Hybrid is not much better. Nor is a diesel-powered vehicle necessarily cheaper to run in total than a lower-priced petrol vehicle. Conversely, a dedicated LPG fuel system in the Ford Falcon didn't make much of a dint in the car's overall cost of running.
To arrive at a result for each car, the RACV (Royal Automobile Club of Victoria) factors in the actual cost of financing the vehicle, it's depreciation, general running expenses for servicing, registration, insurance and consumables -- including fuel.
These expenses are toted up based on five years of operation, with 15,000km travelled each year.
In light cars, the Hyundai Getz 1.4 manual was the cheapest to own, at $6387.37, followed by the Holden Barina 1.6 manual ($6818.03) and the Kia Rio LX ($6846.88).
Moving up to small cars, Hyundai took top spot with its i30 model, the diesel/auto variant cost as little as $7880.78 over the five years and the petrol model not much more, at $7908.04. In third spot came the Honda Civic VTi 1.8 auto ($8430.00).
Holden's Epica has topped a list! At $10,205, the 2.5-litre auto Epica was the cheapest medium segment car to run, with Ford's 2.3-litre petrol/auto Mondeo not too far behind on $10,660.33, very narrowly in front of the Toyota Camry Altise auto on $10,685.93.
Toyota's Aurion AT-X auto was the least expensive large car to run ($11,762.17), ahead of the Ford's single-fuel LPG Falcon XT ($11,894.34) and the Holden Commodore Omega with dual fuel ($12,364.05).
In compact SUVs, the rankings were: Honda CR-V auto ($11,132.24), Subaru Forester X auto ($11,332.07) and Toyota RAV4 CV auto ($11,390.81).
For the purpose of this survey, the RACV bundled medium SUVs and people movers in the same category, which is why the rankings for this class are: Kia Carnival EX auto ($11,954.67), Honda Odyssey ($12,446.68) and Ford Territory TX auto ($12,779.65).
The Nissan Patrol took out first and second places in the large SUV class with the Patrol DX 3.0 diesel/auto first ($16,086.90) and the Patrol ST-L 4.8 petrol/auto second ($18,759.75). Third went to the Toyota LandCruiser GXL V8 petrol auto ($19,910.07).
Ford's single-fuel LPG Falcon Ute ($10,385.41) headed the Toyota HiLux SR 4.0 manual ($10,413.13) and the Holden Ute Omega 3.6 auto ($10,631.24) in 4x2 pick-ups.
The RACV only rated three vehicles in the 4x4 pick-up segment. In descending order of expense, these were the Ford Ranger XL diesel manual ($11,411.06), the Mitsubishi Triton GLX 3.5 petrol manual ($11,674.74) and the Toyota HiLux SR diesel manual ($12,110.47).
The results can be viewed in full here.
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