2007 Cost Of Ownership Survey
May 29, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
RACV tested the Holden Barina, Hyundai Getz, Kia Rio, Suzuki Swift and the Toyota Yaris. Forgetting the two-star Barina and Rio for a second, the remaining three are all strong contestants for best light car of the year, but just which one is cheaper to run? The Hyundai Getz.
The baby Hyundai will cost you (average) $116.54 a week to maintain, the Barina came in second with $120.85, the Yaris was third ($125.88), the Rio was fourth ($128.07) and our favourite of the lot, the Suzuki swift came in fifth at $130.
RACV tested the Ford Focus, Holden Astra, Mazda 3 and the Toyota Corolla. Although the results are not for the new corolla, the winner of this category was – not surprisingly – the Toyota Corolla.
It is hard to speculate whether or not the new Corolla will have the same success, but given the price has stayed relatively the same between the two generations, while fuel economy has improved, it would seem probable.
The Corolla will cost you $154.49 a week (average) to maintain, the Ford Focus came in second at a reasonable $156.49, third place went to the Astra ($158.12) and the surprise result? The Mazda 3 was the most expensive small car to maintain costing $164.08 a week on average. Nearly $10 more per week than the Corolla.
Of course the Corolla is a 1.8-litre and the rest are a 2.0-litre, and obviously while the Corolla is a great A->B car, the Focus and the Mazda3 have some driving spirit behind them. We would happily pay the extra $500 a year to be in the 3!
ACTUALLY DRIVE – i do have a message to submit and i would appreciate a return offer.
Regarding the medium SUV comparison… why wasn’t the Kluger used instead of the Prado. I recognise the Prado is not not exactly a ‘medium’ hauler nor ‘large’ but agianst the Nissan Pathfinder and the Captiva or even the Ford Territory, it is not exactly within thier league either with it’s ‘FULL’ of road abilities. A far more appropriate choice would have been the Kluger in this instance so i beg the question…. why the Prado (with greater off-road abilities then the comparo)then the Kluger (of which is more comparable) ??
The 380 is great, would never go back to Holdens. I think they should have included more cars in categories like Light. Where was the colt for example? It has the most economical 1.5litre petrol engine in Aus.
The RACV uses the highest volume selling vehicles in their survey and as a result the Kluger missed ot this year.
In your comparison of diesal and hybrid running costs i was quite suprised to see the standard honda civic cheaper to run. I s this a general trend?
I was thinking of buying a mazda 6 sports in the diesel version assuming i would save some money instead of the standard model.
If it is going to cost so much i may be better off sticking to a large family sedan which is what i have had all my life.
I am confused!!
i agree with dingo …
why was the Toyota Prado used in the med SUV catagory ????? the Klugar would have been the natural choice to put up against the other rivales…
Drive .. can you give us a answer why the Prado was used insted of the Toyota Klugar ????
Hi
Very interesting information! Thanks!
Bye
I would also like to add that the major reason for the korean brands seemingly being less affected by the world recession is because their currency is rapidly depreciating. Thus if they sell the same number of cars in America for example, this will instantly convert into higher profits for them because of the exchange rate.
On the other hand the Japanese yen has skyrocketed (see: www . x-rates.com/d/USD/JPY/graph120.html for example) and thus the drop of sales in USA is amplified.