Revealed: The most and least cost effective cars in the market

Take a look

New research by leading price comparison website MoneySuperMarket has found that Brits are unaware of the total costs of owning their car, despite 80 per cent viewing their car as an essential item. The costs will soon add up, given that the lifetime of a car is approximately 71.4 months, or just under 6 years, based on the UK average.  

With numerous factors to consider such as car insurance, fuel costs and MOTs, it can be difficult to know which model to purchase to keep costs to a minimum. To help consumers, MoneySuperMarket has analysed data from over 200,000 vehicles registered in the UK to create a new interactive tool that allows car owners to find out the most and least cost-effective cars to own across its lifetime. The tool takes into consideration all major costs, including the initial purchase, fuel, insurance premiums, tax, MOT and servicing over the lifetime of the car.

Least costly cars

Luckily for those looking to save themselves some money, not all cars need to break the bank. The top five cheapest cars to own over six years were found to be:

	InitialCost	Total Cost of Fuel overLifetime	InsurancePremiums	Tax	MOT	Servicing	TotalCost
AIXAM 500-5	£5,999	£702	£1,012	£496	£326	£744	£9,281
DAIHATSUCHARADE	£6,756	£2,197	£796	£892	£326	£744	£11,714
SUZUKI ALTO	£7,868	£1,345	£681	£892	£326	£744	£11,856
SMART PASSION	£7,218	£2,335	£959	£684	£326	£744	£12,266
PEUGEOT 205	£8,859	£1,127	£729	£892	£326	£744	£12,678

Luxury motors at luxury prices

At the other end of the scale, while it may be a dream for many to own a luxury motor, unsurprisingly the hefty price tag attached to these vehicles doesn’t end with their purchase. The top five most expensive cars found were:

	Initial Cost	Total Cost of Fuel over Lifetime	Insurance Premiums	Tax	MOT	Servicing	Total Cost
ROLLS ROYCE PHANTOM	£340,650	£10,996	£23,204	£3,183	£326	£744	£379,104
MAYBACH 62 S	£341,785	£16,258	£8,386	£3,183	£326	£744	£370,683
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR	£258,725	£13,135	£66,005	£3,183	£326	£744	£342,119
BENTLEY AZURE	£250,400	£12,937	£52,156	£3,183	£326	£744	£319,747
FERRARI F12	£227,107	£11,156	£56,525	£3,183	£326	£744	£299,041