Even if we don’t like to admit it, sometimes stereotypes are rooted in a scintilla of reality. That’s the case for the “ol’ reliable and cheap Toyota,” which CarEdge.com reported last week is, in fact, fairly cheap to fix and maintain. The site reported that Toyotas, on average, have a 10-year maintenance cost of $5,996, with six models locking out the top six least expensive cars to maintain. The site reported the Prius, Yaris, Corolla, Prius Prime, Camry, and Avalon were the Nos. 1-6 least-expensive models to maintain over 10 years, with the Honda Fit taking No. 7.
Few would be surprised at Toyota’s top ranking in the least-expensive cars to maintain over 10 years. Toyota typically ranks among Consumer Reports‘ most reliable cars. This year Toyota took the top spot in the Most Reliable ranking and indirectly took No. 2, too: Lexus was ranked second ahead of BMW. It stands to reason that the fewer times a car is in the shop, the less expensive it is to maintain.
Rounding out the top five in CarEdge.com’s report were Mitsubishi, Honda, Mazda, and Nissan. The least expensive domestic brand to maintain was Chevrolet at No. 14 ($9,625 over 10 years), and the least expensive luxury brand to maintain was Tesla ($5,867), according to the report. On the other hand, the most expensive non-luxury brand to maintain over 10 years was Ram ($16,802) and the Ram 3500 ($25,844). Porsche took the top spot among luxury makes with an anticipated 10-year maintenance cost of $22,075, and the Cayenne took the top spot among luxury models with a $20,552 anticipated maintenance cost.
That’s is a long way to say that when it comes to new cars, pick only two: cheap, interesting, or running.
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