Value Awards
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Value Awa rds We’ve crunched all the data so you don't have to. Here’s our definitive guide to Australia’s best-value cars2014 wheelsmag.com.au 103 HEN you’re in the market for a slick new motor, the process of comparing, tyre-kicking and dreaming is seemingly filled with infinite possibility. But actually laying your cash down at the dealership can snap you from a daydream into a grim reality of lacklustre resale values, wildly expensive insurance premiums, spiralling repayments and untold thirst for premium fuel. What if someone could expose the hidden costs, crunch the numbers, present the data, and draw conclusions about how to best spend your hard- earned on a brand new car? Enter Wheels’ annual Gold Star Value Awards. We take the cream of the crop in a number of vehicle classes – just about all of them, in fact – and break each car down into key cost components such as annual fuel cost, insurance premiums and depreciation, then feed the data into a clever set of formulae. More than 200 cars are tipped into the hopper, but just one winner in each of 20 classes is earns the coveted Wheels Gold Star Award for value. JAMES WHITBOURN 104 wheelsmag.com.au Gold Star Value Awards Class ceiling Fuel Purchase price Service Warranty Gold Star Value Awards Annual fuel cost explainedMost new-car buyers Widespread fixed-price There’s potentially money eligibility is capped calculated based on set out with a budget in or capped-price servicing to be saved in having at $150K. The reason? ADR combined-cycle mind, so Gold Star Value schemes should make a longer warranty. If Even the best $150K car consumption figures – not Awards is divided into it possible to compare nothing else, a five-year will lose almost $50K to real-world, but broadly price brackets. The real servicing costs. Except warranty gives greater depreciation in the first comparable. Annual cost of owning the car there are still some brands peace of mind compared three years – far more distance travelled is taken is depreciation, which or individual models with a three-year than you’d spend on fuel, as the Australian Bureau is where purchase cost without such schemes. As warranty. However, it’s insurance and other of Statistics average of comes into our value a result, service intervals impossible to put a hard running costs. 14,000km. equation. are scored. A 12-month cost on what an extra interval (or longer) will warranty is worth – it Depreciation Insurance Real cost usually result in less only translates into cash The biggest cost of Comprehensive insurance It’s relatively easy to put expense (and certainly if and when something ownership for most new quotes provided by AAMI a representative number be more convenient) goes bang and it’s fixed cars. Of more than 200 for a 35-year-old male on the three-year cost compared with six-month free of charge. Warranty cars number-crunched, living in Chatswood, of depreciation, fuel and or nine-month intervals, also accounts for 10 three-year retained value NSW, Rating 1 for life, no insurance, so the total so takes maximum points. points out of 100. figures – as supplied by finance and private use. of these running costs Cars with variable or data authority Redbook – equate to 80 percent of a ‘condition-based’ service range from less than car’s score. intervals are also awarded 40 percent to more than the maximum 10 points 70 percent of the MSRP. for this discipline. wheelsmag.com.au 105 Value Gold StarAwa rds 2014 CAR FINANCE ADVICE FEW new cars are bought outright; here, and the loan term. Balloon it’s finance rather than cash that’s king. Secured loans – the car can be payments A car loan is a type of personal loan repossessed if you fail to meet repayments A BALLOON payment specifically for the purchase of a car, with – are cheaper than unsecured loans, but means reduced a loan term that can range from 12 months comprehensive insurance is usually a monthly repayments, to five years. A typical balloon payment is must; it’s generally a good idea anyway. but with a lump sum 30 percent – the amount left owing at the Various factors come into play when left owing at the end end of the finance period. working out how much you’ll pay, but it's of the loan period. At Interest rates can be fixed or variable. your credit rating, or financial risk profile, this point the options The former, fixed for the term of the loan, that largely determines the interest rate. are to keep the means set repayments, but a termination Using a mortgage redraw facility or vehicle and refinance fee may be charged for early payout. a low-interest credit card can be good this amount, or sell it As well as comparing interest rates, make alternatives, but come with unique pros and pay the balloon sure you compare loan establishment and cons. out of the proceeds. fees and service fees; some institutions If you plan to do the don’t charge them, while others charge as things to latter, it’s wise to much as five percent. Fees can eat up any remember ensure your balloon perceived saving in interest rate, so it pays 3 Compare fees and interest rates to get amount will be less to be thorough when doing your research. the full picture than or equal to the One way to save a buck is to make Secured car loans are less costly than predicted resale value repayments fortnightly rather than unsecured loans of the vehicle at the monthly – it changes the way interest is Making repayments fortnightly rather end of the loan. accrued and can reduce both total outlay than monthly will save money Light Sub Holden Barina Spark CD ND 2 THE Barina Spark’s silver reflects consistency rather than any one exceptional result. There’s value packed in the little Lion’s fuel efficiency, resale, insurance premium and nine-month service interval. Fiat 500 Pop RD 3 ITS 5.1L/100km official fuel consumption figure is the high point because Fiat’s charming Cinquecento remake is a bit pricier than its truly bare-bones ST Mitsubishi Mirage ES hatch rivals, with a three-year warranty 1 EACH of the base-model Mirage’s vital almost that much to fuel for one year. Who compared with a class-best of five. figures is among the best in class, would want to buy second-hand when the and the 2014 Gold Star field. The little Mirage costs only $12,990 new? Well, the Mitsubishi can be considered not only the stout 65 percent Redbook retained value best buy of the cheapies, but of every car figure suggests that there is a market for an put through the GSVA wringer. $8400 three-year-old Mirage. With its 4.6L/100km official fuel Insurance is cheap, at $882, and 12-month consumption, it costs just $2626 to fuel for service intervals and a five-year warranty if three years. There are cars that would cost Mitsubishi services the car all help. Combined AAMI Service Sub-Light Purchase cycle fuel Fuel RON Three-year Redbook Three-year insurance interval Warranty Price (L/100km) (min. rec.) fuel cost resale (%) depreciation premium (months) (years) Mitsubishi Mirage ES hatch $12,990 4.6 91 $2626 65 $4546 $881.62 12 5 Holden Barina Spark CD $12,490 5.2 91 $2968 71 $3622 $878.14 9 3 Fiat 500 Pop MT $16,000 5.1 95 $3099 62 $6080 $951.78 12 3 Notable classmates: Smart ForTwo Coupe mhd, Nissan Micra / Number of cars crunched: 5 106 wheelsmag.com.au Lightunder $17K ST Honda Jazz VTi Mazda 2 Neo Sport hatch 1 A $14,990 pricetag is low in this company, and is ND the high note on which the well-equipped entry-level 2 WITH first-drive reports of the Jazz signals the start of its successful Gold Star Value new 2 filtering out of Japan, the campaign. However, it’s not purchase price itself, but the third-gen model has only weeks of life product of a cheap sticker and a spectacular 79 percent left – run-out deals make it a great Redbook three-year retained value that works for would- time to buy this little doer. Factor be Jazz buyers. The resale is among the best of any car in solid resale and a 12-month considered for 2014. It means the little hatch only sheds service interval, and the Mazda about $1000 over each of the first three years, bagging mite’s silver medal is deserved. the Honda big points. The $945 annual insurance figure is as good as most, while official fuel economy from the CVT-equipped, 91 Renault Clio Authentique TCe 90 RD octane-sipping 1.5-litre four is decent, if not 3 FOURTH-GEN French supermini marks class-leadingly great. The Japanese brand’s three-year the return of mainstream models to the warranty is the norm, but bettered by some here, and Australian market and the dawn of Clio’s the six-monthly service requirement is less convenient value story in Oz, with brilliant – and may mean more money spent in the workshop – 4.5L/100km combined-cycle compared with cars that only call for an annual check-up. economy from its 898cc turbo The Jazz may have an image problem alongside stylish triple, a long 12-month rivals like the Clio, while the fussy styling of the new service interval and a third-gen model won’t be for everyone.