2007 Cost Of Ownership Survey
May 29, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
The RACV tested the Honda CRV, Nissan X-Trail, Subaru Forester and the Toyota RAV4. All four cars cost the same at $33,990, making the cost of ownership a fairer contest. The Subaru is the safest (5 star ANCAP safety rating) in this class, the Rav 4 and the CRV both have a 4 star safety rating while no results for the X-trail are yet available.
The Honda CRV came out on top costing owners only $203.86 a week to run, the X-trail was second at $207.36, the Forester came in third ($208.52) and the Toyota was surprisingly the most expensive at $212.69.
Medium SUVs included the Ford Territory, Holden Captiva and the Toyota Landcruiser Prado. The Prado ($49,290) retails for $15,000 more than the Captiva and $10,000 more than the Territory.
A victory for Holden in this category with the Korean sourced Captiva coming in first at $225.16 – while its Australian made nemesis, the Ford Territory costs $234.47 a week to maintain. The Prado (unsurprisingly) came in last at $286.16
This is the category for the soccer mums who dream off road adventures as they block traffic to pick up their only child. The large SUVs included – the Nissan Patrol Diesel, Nissan Patrol, Toyota Landcruiser Diesel and the standard Toyota Landcruiser.
The Nissan Patrol Diesel wins this category with an average weekly cost of $269.53, its brother, the petrol powered Patrol comes in second at $332.94. Toyota did not fare so well, with the diesel variant of the Prado costing owners more (357.51) than the standard petrol variant ($335.90)!
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.