Hybrid cars may not save you money

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Owning a hybrid car could cost you up to $A50 ($NZ63) a week more than its petrol equivalent, the latest annual Australian survey of car ownership costs shows.

And owners of large four-wheel-drives are paying the equivalent of running up to three small cars.

The survey of 60 of the best-selling cars on our roads, released today, accounts for all the weekly costs of owning a car.

At more than $A400 a week, the Toyota LandCruiser off-roader, powered by a 4.2-litre V8 engine, was the most expensive car surveyed for the third year running.

In contrast, the Hyundai Getz light hatchback, powered by an economical 1.4-litre engine, costs just over $A120 a week, the second year running it has taken the honour as the cheapest to run. However, this year it costs an extra $A6.29 a week.

The survey considered such factors as how much a car costs when new, the value it loses as it ages over five years, and running costs including the price of fuel, tyres, servicing and insurance.

The results should help guide car owners the next time they think about buying a new car, says RACV chief vehicles engineer Michael Case.

Fuel for thought for potential hybrid car buyers is the revelation that the Toyota Prius, which uses an electric motor to help the petrol engine, costs about $A50 a week more to run than its closest petrol equivalent, a Toyota Corolla small hatch, and up to $A5 a week more than a mid-sized four-cylinder Camry.

The Honda Civic hybrid costs about $A23 a week more to run than its four-cylinder petrol equivalent, the survey shows.

That should change when the hybrid Camry stars rolling off Toyota's Port Melbourne assembly line in two years, Mr Case says.

The Camry hybrid is expected to cost about $A4000 more than its petrol equivalent, compared with the Civic and Prius, which cost about $A10,000 more than their petrol equivalents and add substantially to ownership costs.

The survey also shows that sometimes smaller is not better. At $A233 a week, Subaru's four-cylinder Liberty powered by a 2.5-litre engine worked out more than $7 a week more expensive to own than a 3.5-litre, V6 base-model Toyota Aurion.

And Holden's Epica mid-sized sedan, powered by a 2.5-litre six-cylinder engine, won its category, costing only $A196 a week to own, beating down its four-cylinder rivals.

Of the big six-cylinder cars, the average weekly cost of owning a Falcon sedan rose by more than $A13 a week to $A242, while the Commodore's cost rose by $A6 a week to $A239.

The E-Gas dedicated LPG Falcon and Commodore fitted with an LPG dual-fuel system both worked out to be slightly less expensive a week to own than their petrol equivalents, but both were more expensive to run than the Aurion.

Smaller soft-roaders, one of the fastest growing parts of the passenger car market, showed very little difference in their ownership costs. Only $A7 separated the cheapest (Honda CR-V, $A214 a week) and the most expensive (Nissan X-Trail, $A221).

Surprisingly, a diesel-engined car was the cheapest to own in the small-car category, despite costing $A2500 more than its petrol equivalent and diesel fuel being up to 20 cents a litre more at the pump. The Hyundai i30 hatchback worked out to be about 50 cents a week cheaper to run than its petrol version, mainly because the diesel engine uses less fuel on the road than its petrol equivalent.

Overall, car ownership costs rose by 7 per cent compared with last year's survey.

Mr Case said the operating costs survey should help buyers make a more responsible choice when next they start shopping around for a new car.

"A lot of people feel like they need to buy a new car when in fact they could buy a late-model second-hand one instead," he said.

"In fact, they should really consider whether they need a car at all."

- © Fairfax NZ News