Top 10 cheapest cars to run

Which are the cheapest cars to run? We do the sums to name 10 great buys that don’t break the bank

November 2011

Imagine you had a meter fitted to your car, which clocked up your running costs on a mile-by-mile basis. It would certainly force you to think twice about making unnecessary trips, but how much would each mile cost you? A few pence? Pounds?

According to the car pricing and running cost experts at CAP, even the cheapest city car costs 24.4 pence per mile over the course of a typical three-year ownership period. That’s for a five-door 1.0-litre Kia Picanto Spice.

At the other end of the scale, you can expect to fork out more than £4.23 for every mile you travel in the Mercedes S65 AMG saloon. It’s the most expensive car in CAP’s pence per mile (ppm) rundown. In between, a typical example of the UK’s best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, is likely to cost around 40ppm depending on which engine and trim level you choose.

Armed with this information and with the help of CAP, we set out to name the cheapest Best Buys for motorists. Instead of sticking with traditional class boundaries, we’ve picked cars that suit a range of typical ownership requirements – so whether you need to carry a large load or cover long distances, there should be something here for you…

How pence per mile figures are calculated

The car pricing and running cost experts at CAP calculate pence per mile data for every car on sale in the UK. This takes account of running costs incurred over the first three years of ownership and factors in depreciation (based on the car’s resale value after three years and 30,000 miles).

Also included are estimated servicing costs for the period, fuel bills based on an average annual mileage of 10,000 miles and road tax for the first three years. That means affordable and economical cars which retain their value strongly are the order of the day.

BACK TO TOP

What Next

For more breaking car news and reviews, subscribe to Auto Express magazine. We'll give you 6 issues for £1 and a free gift!

< Previous Next >

9 Comments

Most Misleading Article of the Year,,, So Far.

I read this article hoping to learn something about the true cost of cheap motoring. With catagories such as "Best for impressing your mates', 'Best for heading off-road', 'Best for top down thrills' and 'Best for back road blasts', it sadly says more about how out of touch with the requirements of most of the motoring public, some of your motoring correspondents are. Some of your staff desperately need to get into the real world, once in a while.

By YoungAtHeart on 1 December, 2011, 10:21am

Auto Express the idiots journal

A truly stupid, useless and totally misleading article that only complete morons would take notice of.
My question is simple, is Auto Express a sensible motoring information magazine or a idiots journal. The answer is now obvious.

By AlanShaw on 1 December, 2011, 10:39am

waste of time & space.

What a rubbish article. Do you have no grasp of how hard it is to run a car these days? I actually thought I might learn something, when I saw the title. But a more vacuous bit of writing would be hard to find. Pointless.

By pajbse on 1 December, 2011, 11:40am

Editor-Jeremy Clarkson?

Judging by the way this article is presented I can only assume Clarkson has become the editor. What is probablt an insightful article will have people ignoring it in their droves due to the way it is presented I expect better of Auto Express

By brianjohnson on 1 December, 2011, 4:18pm

Thanks for your comments

Thanks for your comments regarding this feature, clearly it has struck the wrong chord with some of you.

Could I ask, what would you rather have seen from a feature such as this?

We're always striving to make Auto Express a better magazine and website, so the input of readers is always welcome, and any constructive criticism will be taken on board.

Thanks

Dean Gibson

By clutchless on 1 December, 2011, 7:39pm

A lads mag?

I suppose it depends on your target market. I have always read A E as an instructive and helpful tool when purchasing various products and also when changing cars. I think the article above implies you are going down the "lads mag" route, Surely it is possible to have eye-catching headlines without resorting to the Clarkson style (and we all know the deep water he is in at the moment ) Get your team to use their imagination rather than go down the easy route. What next? "Busty Babs from Brighton recommends etc etc "

By brianjohnson on 2 December, 2011, 10:52am

Are you living in a REAL world ????

So the answer is to spend £20K on a Golf to benefit from no road tax and astonishing official fuel economy of 74.3mpg. Get real…………………..Paying an inflated premium for the car, perhaps on HP for some readers then suffer depreciation and you claim the car is cheap to run? Even if you were paying £245 pa road tax and only achieving 30mpg over 3 years with a cheaper equivalent car, you would still walk away with cash in your hand compared to your recommendation.
I think your ‘journalists have been sitting on their bum, reading brochures and having manufacturers paid lunches because in a real world your sums fall flat.

By Acegio on 3 December, 2011, 9:00pm

What is in a title?

Dean, you ask what people would like? Well it would be nice if when you click on the title "Top 10 cheapest cars to run" you could actually find the list... Where is the list...

By Griff500 on 6 December, 2011, 8:01am