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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:

MakeModelBestPrice ($)Power-to-weight (kW/tonne)Price-to-power/weight ratio ($ per kW/tonne)
FordFiestaCL 3dr M516,09082.9194
HoldenBarinaSpark CD12,49061.0205
HyundaiGetzSX 3dr M515,34072.4212
SuzukiSwiftM516,29074.0220
MazdaMazda2Neo M516,50074.4222
ToyotaYarisYRS 3dr M517,34075.8229
MazdaMazda3Neo sedan M521,33085.5249
MitsubishiLancerES sedan M521,99086.6254
FordFocusCL hatch M521,49084.4255
ToyotaCorollaAscent sedan M620,99079.7263
HondaCivicVTi sedan M522,49085.1264
Hyundaii302.0 SX M520,39077.0265
HoldenCruze1.8 petrol CD M520,99076.1276
ToyotaAurionAT-X35,990125.8286
SubaruImprezaR hatch M523,49082.1286
FordFalconXR8 M6 (Ute)48,390 (41,490)163.8 (157.6)295 (263)
HoldenCommodoreSS sedan M6 (Ute)47,790 (42,490)152.5 (152.8)313 (278)
VolkswagenGolf118 TSI M629,49090.1327
ToyotaRAV4CV639,990121.5329
SubaruForesterXT M539,490111.9353
ToyotaCamryAltise M530,49082.7369
ToyotaKlugerKX-R 2WD40,990104.1394
HoldenCaptiva7 SX V638,49095.5403
FordTerritoryTX RWD39,89095.2419
ToyotaPradoGXL V6 M660,90491.4666

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.

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