Three-Year Costs compared

As we have already found out,working out the total ownership cost of individual cars requires lots of calculations.

The What Car? Three-Year Cost tallies up all the costs associated with car ownership, to give you one neat figure. The Three-Year Cost for every new car can be found in the buyer’s guide at the back of this magazine.

Real-world examples
To show just how much your choice of car can affect the final amount you end up paying, we've put together a selection of real-world examples that reveal the final cost of a vehicle. We have included an example for each of the following categories:

Supermini: VW Polo vs Vauxhall Corsa
Estates: Mercedes C2220 CDI vs Renault Laguna
Crossovers/4x4s: Audi Q5 vs Nissan X-Trail
Executive cars: Jaguar XF vs Saab 9-5
Roadsters: BMW Z4 vs Nissan 370Z

Superminis

List price
Target Price
Running costs over 3 yrs
Retained value
THREE-YEAR COSTVolkswagen Polo
1.4 85 SE 3dr
£12,420
£11,774
£5,792
£5,975
£11,591Vauxhall Corsa
1.2 Exc’ (AC) 3dr
£12,420
£11,162
£5,368
£4,150
£12,380Estates

List price
Target Price
Running costs over 3 yrs
Retained value
THREE-YEAR COSTMerc C220 CDI
Blue Efficiency SE
£31,895
£25,274
£7,261
£12,050
£20,485Renault Laguna
2.0 dCi 180 Init’
£26,650
£21,950
£8,107
£8,750
£21,307C/over & 4X4

List price
Target Price
Running costs over 3 yrs
Retained value
THREE-YEAR COSTAudi Q5
2.0 TDI 170SE
£30,840
£29,713
£7,452
£16,050
£21,115Nissan X-Trail
2.0 dCi 170 TEK
£26,855
£25,207
£9,581
£9,700
£25,088Executive cars

List price
Target Price
Running costs over 3 yrs
Retained value
THREE-YEAR COSTJaguar XF
3.0D Luxury
£34,900
£31,667
£9,243
£16,825
£24,085Saab 9-5
2.0 TiD Vec SE
£28,035
£28,035
£10,493
£11,350
£27,178Roadsters

List price
Target Price
Running costs over 3 yrs
Retained value
THREE-YEAR COSTBMW Z4
sDrive30i
£33,830
£31,382
£10,233
£15,650
£25,965Nissan 370Z
V6 Roadster
£30,445
£28,973
£13,180
£12,400
£29,753