Top 10 Cheapest Cars to Maintain Over 10 Years

The cost of owning a car is more than just your payment and monthly insurance premium – you have to maintain it, too. And not all cars cost the same when it comes to maintenance, as some are significantly cheaper than others to maintain over a period of 10 years. YourMechanic has a massive dataset of the make and models of the cars it has serviced and the type of maintenance done. As a result, the company decided to use its data to understand which cars break down the most and which have the lowest maintenance costs.

It might not be surprising to some, but the top 10 cheapest cars to maintain over 10 years are all Asian imports.

10. Kia Optima

The Kia Optima comes in 10th place with a cost of $6,400 to maintain over 10 years. The Korean automaker ranked 14th overall (out of 30 automakers ranked) with a cost of $8,800 when YourMechanic grouped all years of all models by brand to compute their average cost.

9. Scion xB

Scion no longer exists as a brand, but its cars are still cheap to maintain. The Scion xB costs $6,300 to maintain over 10 years while Scion is the second-cheapest brand, coming in 29th place with a cost of $6,400.

8. Toyota Yaris

You’re going to see quite a bit of Toyota models on the list, and the Yaris is actually one of the more expensive Toyota vehicles to maintain over 10 years. Coming in eighth place, the Yaris has a maintenance cost of $6,100 over 10 years. Toyota as a brand however, is the cheapest overall with a cost of $5,500.

7. Nissan Versa

Nissan Versa owners can expect to part with $5,900 over 10 years to maintain their car. Nissan finished 23rd overall with a cost of $7,600.

6. Toyota Corolla

The Toyota Corolla is one of the best-selling cars of all time and it’s easy to see why when you take into account that it costs $5,800 to maintain over 10 years.

5. Toyota Tacoma

Even Toyota pickup trucks are cheap to maintain, with the Tacoma coming in fifth place with a 10-year maintenance cost of $5,800.

4. Honda Fit

Surprisingly, Honda’s other cars don’t make the list, although the Civic is in 14th place and the Accord follows in 15th. But the Honda Fit is the Japanese automaker’s cheapest car to maintain over 10 years with a cost of $5,500. Honda as a brand came in 27th-place overall with a cost of $7,200.

3. Toyota Camry

Toyota continues its reputation of low-cost maintenance with the best-selling Camry. Over the course of 10 years, owners can expect to pay $5,200 in maintenance costs.

2. Kia Soul

And then there’s the Kia Soul, one of the cheapest cars to maintain over 10 years. According to YourMechanic, the Soul costs $4,700 to keep running over a decade.

1. Toyota Prius

And the cheapest car to maintain over 10 years? The Toyota Prius. The company’s wildly popular hybrid is also cheap to own, running just $4,300 to maintain over 10 years. It would be interesting to see if those costs rise once the batteries need replacing.

(Source: YourMechnic)

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