Economic downturn making cars cheaper to own, run

A survey of 75 cars found costs were down about seven per cent over the past year with the downturn leading to ultra-competitive market conditions, lower interest rates and cheaper petrol prices.

South Australia's peak motoring group, the Royal Automobile Association (RAA), said the Hyundai Getz remained the cheapest car to own and run at $122.18 a week, down from $122.67 last year.

The most expensive car surveyed remained the Toyota LandCruiser diesel at $371.10, down from $398.64.

Among the locally-made cars, the Ford Falcon XT running on LPG was the best at $221.73 ahead of the Holden Commodore at $227.47 and the Toyota Aurion at $229.02.

The survey takes into account purchase costs, interest, service costs, insurance, registration, tyres, day-to-day running costs and depreciation calculated over a five-year period.

It assumes an average driving distance of 15,000 kilometres a year.

The RAA said the latest survey had better factored in depreciation on new cars and had sourced costs for servicing from the industry, rather than from car manufacturers.

"This approach gives us the full story, because how much you pay to purchase a car is just part of the picture," said RAA technical manager Mark Borlace.

Borlace said while costs were down overall, most of last year's survey winners in the various car categories came out on top again this year.

They included the Hyundai i30 as the cheapest small car, the Kia Carnival as the cheapest people mover and the Nissan Patrol as the cheapest large four-wheel-drive.