The 10 cheapest vehicles to own and operate over 5 years

It’s no secret that cars cost money to own and operate, but the differences in running expenses between models can be shocking. MarketWatch Guides’ new study calculated the five-year costs for gas models, finding that the Hyundai Venue is less than half as expensive to own as some luxury vehicles.

The Venue’s five-year costs amounted to $22,761 in the study, followed by the Hyundai Elantra at $22,788.

The 10 cheapest vehicles to run for 5 years:

Hyundai Venue: $22,761
Hyundai Elantra: $22,788
Nissan Sentra: $23,407
Honda Accord: $23,509
Toyota Corolla: $23,854
Hyundai Tucson: $24,543
Kia Soul: $24,543
Hyundai Sonata: $25,788
Ford Escape ST-Line Select: $25,869
Volkswagen Tiguan: $26,149

MarketWatch used gas, insurance, repairs, and financing costs to calculate its running expenses. Looking at the purchase prices of the vehicles on this list, it’s not surprising to see that most of them are going for affordability, and that extends to operating expenses. The Venue’s 31 mpg combined fuel economy rating likely helped it achieve its impressively low running costs.

A handful of models went the opposite way. The most expensive vehicle to run in the study, the Porsche Cayenne, required an outlay of $56,010 over five years. The Porsche Macan was second, at $48,653, and the BMW X5 xDrive40i was third, at $48,456.

The study did not use depreciation to calculate running costs, but MarketWatch ran the numbers to separately compare residual values between comparable gas and electric models. The Mini Cooper Countryman and Mini Cooper Electric had similar depreciation costs over five years, with just $283 between their numbers. The Chevy Malibu and Chevy Bolt were second closest after five years, with $635 between them. The Audi A3 and Audi E-Tron GT had the most significant difference in depreciation, with the electric E-Tron registering a $29,164 larger price drop after the five-year period.