Top 6 Least Expensive Cars to Maintain are All Toyotas
If you’re looking to save money on your next car, there are many factors to consider — not least of which is the cost of maintaining that car over the time that you have it. According to a new report by CarEdge.com, the least expensive car to maintain over 5-10 years is a Toyota. The next is a Toyota. And then…another Toyota…and another…and another.
Awards: How Toyota edges ahead of the competition
That’s right, out of 265 evaluated models, Toyota locked out the top six, and was far and away the least expensive brand to maintain on average. CarEdge says you can expect to spend about $1,605 on maintaining your Toyota over the first five years and $5,996 over the first 10. If you were to buy a Mitsubishi instead, the highest-ranked brand after Toyota, you would expect to spend 26% and 30% more over the first five and 10 years, respectively.
Unsurprisingly, the top five brands are all Japanese. MINI is the first non-Japanese brand to make an appearance on the list, followed by Volkswagen, GMC, Kia, and Hyundai to round out the top 10. The bottom six brands were all American. Stellantis marques had the worst showing, but even the best American brand, GMC, still cost 40% more to maintain than Toyota.
According to CarEdge, the least expensive American car to maintain is the Chevrolet Spark. It ranks 40th among non-luxury models, costs 47% more than the leading Prius, and has been discontinued. The worst-performing brand is RAM, with an average cost to maintain of $16,802 — about 280% more than the Toyota average.
The top six models inside of five years are the Toyota Yaris, Corolla, Prius, Camry, Prius Prime, and Avalon, with the hybrid models performing slightly better over the 10-year period. The bestselling RAV4 SUV ranked just 21st, but it was the second-highest ranked SUV behind only Toyota’s own C-HR. In fact, there are no non-Toyota utility models until the Kia Soul at rank 60, which goes to show just how much more expensive it can be to own a large vehicle.
Moral of the story: if you want to save money on car repairs, buy a Japanese sedan or hatchback, stay away from American brands, and avoid trucks and large SUVs.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.