Average Running Cost of Australian Vehicles
The annual NRMA vehicle survey has found that costs around $260 a week to run an average Australian Family car. Those driving the likes of a Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore (and V8s) were most affected with a 10% increase in running costs due mostly to rising petrol prices.
The survey took into account
- fuel consumption
- insurance and registration
- depreciation.
If you have been on this website long enough you might remember an article I posted sometime ago about the depriciation of Australian family cars. NRMA president Alan Evans said petrol prices, which have risen from an average of 108 cents per litre in June 2005 last year to 137.5 in June 2006, are the main reason for the increase in running costs.
"These figures are staggering, families that run popular six cylinder family vehicles like the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon, Subaru Liberty and Toyota Camry are spending on average over $55 per week on fuel - due to the near 30 cent per litre increase in fuel over one year." Mr Evans said.
Mr Evans also noted that higher petrol prices have contributed to a surge in inflation, and the anticipated interest rate rise later this week should only make life more difficult for car owners
"If Australian families are subjected to yet another interest rate rise this week, as has been predicted, then it will become even harder to keep the family car on the road."
Offcourse its not only Big V6s (and inline 6s for those with a little more appriciation for finer detail) that are suffering from the petrol crisis, big V8s (e.g. Holden Commodore SS, and Ford Falcon XR8) and not surprisingly, four wheel drives are the most expensive vehicles to run, with popular models costing an average of almost $300 each week.
The survey found the most expensive vehicle on the market was the Nissan Patrol Ti, with a weekly running cost of $376, while the cheapest, the Kia Rio Hatchback, cost $113. If you want more detail you can see the earlier article about the Kia Rio Hatchback being the cheapest car to maintain. Now I don't encourage anyone to buy that car, but its food for throught.
The cheapest SUV to run and maintain is the Honda CR-V. While the cheapest Hybrid car to own is the Honda Civic Hybrid
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