These Are The Cheapest New Vehicles To Own In Every Market Class

These are becoming tough times for new-vehicle shoppers. Dealership inventories are tight, due to last year’s COVID-19-related plant closures, with the current microchip shortage again disrupting production. New-vehicle transaction prices averaged $40,472 in March, according to Kelley Blue Book (KBB), which is a $1,660, or 4.3 percent increase over the same period in 2020.

Even with automakers’ incentives and dealer discounts becoming slimmer given the present supply and demand status, astute shoppers can still save themselves thousands of dollars over a typical five-year ownership period by choosing a vehicle that’s inherently cheaper to keep.

That means keeping an accountant’s eye on key variables that include a given vehicle’s rate of depreciation—which is how much it will have lost in value over half a decade—along with the cost of fuel, insurance premiums, maintenance charges, and out-of-warranty repair bills.

Of particular note to those who may be shopping for a new luxury car or SUV during the coming months, the differences among some cost factors, particularly vehicle depreciation and insurance premiums, can be especially profound, simply because there’s more money at stake. 

Narrowing down one’s choices to the models having the lowest long-term ownership costs would ordinarily involve a great deal of research. Fortunately the valuation experts at Kelley Blue Book have just issued their annual 5-Year Cost to Own Awards that identify the cheapest rides to own in each of 22 separate vehicle categories. We’re featuring each of the category winners below.

“Choosing a car with low ownership costs can help shoppers save a significant amount of money over time – often several hundred and sometimes even thousands of dollars – so it’s worthwhile to research the cost to own details of any new car you’re considering,” says Eric Ibara, director of residual values for KBB.

KBB says the cheapest-to-own vehicle overall for 2021 is the subcompact Hyundai Venue crossover SUV, which is estimated to cost an owner $29,145 over five years. 

Among individual brands, Toyota gets the award for having the lowest overall ownership costs among mainstream makes for 2021; KBB cites the brand’s top-notch residual values as being the primary contributor toward the brand’s low ownership costs. Among luxury automakers, Toyota’s Lexus division gets the nod for the lowest overall average ownership costs, with multiple models leading various ownership cost categories.

Which are the most significant long-term ownership costs to consider? Inarguably the most important factor is depreciation, or how well a given model holds its value over time, based on a variety of economic factors and historical data. Choosing a vehicle that returns more value at trade-in time than the norm allows an owner to pocket more cash by selling it outright, or have a larger down payment to make on a subsequent purchase. 

As we’ve all come learn with gas prices having risen by more than $1.00 per gallon over the past year to a national average of $2.89 a gallon for regular unleaded (according to the AAA), choosing a car or truck that gets better fuel economy than a comparable model can likewise realize significant savings over time. According to the EPA’s fueleconomy.gov website, choosing a vehicle in a given class that gets 10 additional miles per gallon than other will save an owner driving 15,000 combined city and highway miles per year $1,750 over a five year period. And if you live in a state that suffers much costlier-than-average fuel prices, like California at an average $4.01 per gallon, the stakes are even higher.

Insurance premiums are another long-term cost consideration, and while they’re based largely on a motorist’s driving record, age, gender, credit rating, address and miles driven, some vehicles tend to carry inherently lower rates than others based on their claims histories and repair costs. Following that logic it’s easy to see why family minded SUVs tend to garner the lowest rates, while high-performance sports cars and top-of-the-line luxury cars are assessed the costliest premiums.

Here are the 22 new vehicles that KBB says will deliver the lowest ownership costs over a five-year period:

• Compact Car: Hyundai Elantra; $30,117
• Mid-Size Car: Volkswagen Passat; $36,368
• Full-Size Car: Dodge Charger; $45,872
• Entry-Level Luxury Car: Acura ILX; $39,069
• Luxury Car: Volvo S90; $67,050
• Sports Car: Mazda Mx-5 Miata; $42,330
• Hybrid/Alternative Energy Car: Toyota Corolla Hybrid; $30,028
• Electric Vehicle: Nissan Leaf; $37,680
• Subcompact SUV: Hyundai Venue; $29,145
• Compact SUV: Subaru Forester; $36,446
• Mid-Size SUV—2-Row: Subaru Outback; $40,614
• Mid-Size SUV—3-Row: Subaru Ascent; $38,898
• Full-Size SUV: Nissan Armada; $63,224
• Luxury Subcompact SUV: Lexus UX; $44,621
• Luxury Compact SUV: Lexus NX; $48,906
• Luxury Mid-Size SUV—2-Row: Lexus RX; $60,931
• Luxury Mid-Size SUV—3-Row: Volvo XC90; $59,509
• Luxury Full-Size SUV: Infiniti QX80; $90,014
• Off-Road SUV: Jeep Wrangler; $41,187
• Mid-Size Pickup Truck: Ford Ranger; $40,532
• Full-Size Pickup Truck: Ford F-150; $48,456
• Minivan: Chrysler Voyager; $41,954

You can read KBB’s full 5-Year Cost-to-Own report here.