The cheapest car to run

Kia, Suzuki, Rav4 and more

|THE INDEPENDENT | New survey reveals the most affordable – and most expensive – new models to own and operate in 2019

The Royal Automotive Club of Victoria (RACV) has released the results of its annual running costs survey, and the results might surprise you.

It measured the cost of owning and operating a new vehicle in Victoria for private use, travelling 15,000km a year, over a five-year period.

The vehicles assessed in the 2019 RACV survey included a field of 141 models across 14 categories.

As usual, the results factor in the standing costs of owning a vehicle (purchase price, registration, insurance, depreciation, loan repayments, etc.) and running costs including fuel and maintenance.

The Kia Rio hatchback took the top spot. It has a 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine paired to an automatic transmission.

Second overall and in the light-car class was the Suzuki Swift GL, and third overall and top micro-car was the Kia Picanto.

The popular Mazda2 Neo ranked fifth overall, while another Kia – the Cerato – was ninth overall and top small car, significantly ahead of small-car rivals like the Honda Civic, Mitsubishi Lancer and Hyundai i30 petrol.

In the small SUV category gold was awarded to the Hyundai Kona Active front-wheel drive auto, while the Hyundai IONIQ Electric Elite was the cheapest EV to operate.

Mid-size SUVs were considerably pricier to own and operate, but the cheapest of them were the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4 in both petrol and hybrid form.

The Toyota Camry Hybrid Ascent Sport took the win among mid-size vehicles, while Honda’s Odyssey VTi was cheapest in the people-mover category.

Finally, in the booming ute sector, the Mitsubishi Triton claimed wins in both the 4×2 and 4×4 categories, followed in the latter by the Holden Colorado and the Isuzu D-MAX, Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

The most expensive models to own? Once again this year that title goes (surprisingly) to the Tesla Model X 100D.

Also up there for pricey running costs was the BMW X5 xDrive30d, followed by the Toyota 200 Series LandCruiser diesel and Ford’s V8 Mustang coupe.

Cheapest vehicles to operate on a weekly basis:

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