Bang for your buck II: Price-to-power-to-weight ratio
Following considerable reaction to last week’s bang for your buck story – most of it rather skeptical – this week we have a new set of results for you.
Last week we compiled a simple price-to-power ratio of new cars on the Australian market and somewhat surprisingly the Proton S16 was named the eventual winner, due to its low price and relatively high power output.
Many CarAdvice regulars believed that neglecting also to factor in the weight of the vehicles meant that the results were skewed in favour of Protons and Kias. And that, according to many of you who commented on the story, meant more powerful cars – like our homegrown six- and eight-cylinder performance heroes – were at a disadvantage.
Therefore, we have reassembled the list of the top 25 selling vehicles for the year, ranked according to their price-to-power-to-weight ratio (or $ per kW/tonne).
Interestingly, the readers who were dissatisfied last week might not be any happier this week, but here are the results anyway:
Make | Model | Best | Price ($) | Power-to-weight (kW/tonne) | Price-to-power/weight ratio ($ per kW/tonne) |
Ford | Fiesta | CL 3dr M5 | 16,090 | 82.9 | 194 |
Holden | Barina | Spark CD | 12,490 | 61.0 | 205 |
Hyundai | Getz | SX 3dr M5 | 15,340 | 72.4 | 212 |
Suzuki | Swift | M5 | 16,290 | 74.0 | 220 |
Mazda | Mazda2 | Neo M5 | 16,500 | 74.4 | 222 |
Toyota | Yaris | YRS 3dr M5 | 17,340 | 75.8 | 229 |
Mazda | Mazda3 | Neo sedan M5 | 21,330 | 85.5 | 249 |
Mitsubishi | Lancer | ES sedan M5 | 21,990 | 86.6 | 254 |
Ford | Focus | CL hatch M5 | 21,490 | 84.4 | 255 |
Toyota | Corolla | Ascent sedan M6 | 20,990 | 79.7 | 263 |
Honda | Civic | VTi sedan M5 | 22,490 | 85.1 | 264 |
Hyundai | i30 | 2.0 SX M5 | 20,390 | 77.0 | 265 |
Holden | Cruze | 1.8 petrol CD M5 | 20,990 | 76.1 | 276 |
Toyota | Aurion | AT-X | 35,990 | 125.8 | 286 |
Subaru | Impreza | R hatch M5 | 23,490 | 82.1 | 286 |
Ford | Falcon | XR8 M6 (Ute) | 48,390 (41,490) | 163.8 (157.6) | 295 (263) |
Holden | Commodore | SS sedan M6 (Ute) | 47,790 (42,490) | 152.5 (152.8) | 313 (278) |
Volkswagen | Golf | 118 TSI M6 | 29,490 | 90.1 | 327 |
Toyota | RAV4 | CV6 | 39,990 | 121.5 | 329 |
Subaru | Forester | XT M5 | 39,490 | 111.9 | 353 |
Toyota | Camry | Altise M5 | 30,490 | 82.7 | 369 |
Toyota | Kluger | KX-R 2WD | 40,990 | 104.1 | 394 |
Holden | Captiva | 7 SX V6 | 38,490 | 95.5 | 403 |
Ford | Territory | TX RWD | 39,890 | 95.2 | 419 |
Toyota | Prado | GXL V6 M6 | 60,904 | 91.4 | 666 |
The top 25 sellers for 2010 between January and October (excluding Toyota HiLux, Nissan Navara and Holden Colorado). Note: M5= five-speed manual transmission.
Calculated in this fashion, the Ford Fiesta CL 3dr five-speed manual – with its starting price of $16,090 and power-to-weight ratio of 82.9kW/tonne – tops the list at $194 per kW/tonne.
Meanwhile, the much brawnier Holden Commodore SS Ute six-speed manual, for example, is a much more expensive $278 per kW/tonne. Despite having a power-to-weight ratio almost double the Fiesta, the Commodore’s price is more than two-and-a-half times that of the little Ford, which hurts its overall price-to-power-to-weight rating.
Rather hard to get your head around really isn’t it? Not sure if the new results are altogether very meaningful, either.
For the record, last week’s winner, the Proton S16 GX five-speed manual, still finishes well ahead of this pack in a price-to-power-to-weight comparison, with a final figure of $170 per kW/tonne.
And the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe – at $1.35 million, 338kW and 2695kg – still finishes on the bottom of the pile with a massive final figure of $10,764 per kW/tonne.
Again, difficult to visualise in practical terms, but hopefully it’s scratched an itch for many of you who weren’t happy with last week’s crowning of a $12,990 Proton as a kilowatt king.
We'll post another update on this next week. Stay tuned.