Australia’s leading motoring authority has once again declared the Suzuki Alto the country’s least expensive car to own and operate.

The NRMA’s annual vehicle running costs survey confirmed Suzuki’s reputation as offering the best value for money, with stand-out performances from every car in its range.

The Alto GL dominated the light car class and easily outperformed all other competitors.

Based on average car operating costs over a five year period, the Alto GL manual ranked first among all new vehicles in Australia with a weekly bill of just $89.81.

Taking into account purchase price, depreciation, petrol prices, maintenance and insurance, the Alto’s average weekly fuel bill was calculated at $24.00 per week, returning an overall cost per kilometre of just 31 cents.  

With its leading safety of six airbags and ESC plus the economy of just 4.7 litres per 100 kilometres, the Suzuki Alto is one of the best value new cars on the market.

In the Compact SUV segment Suzuki models occupy the top three spots with the Jimny Sierra (manual and auto) and Grand Vitara (manual) running on weekly average costs of $130.39 and $155.16 respectively.   

Suzuki was also amongst the best performers in the small and mid-size car segments with the SX4 running costs at $128.33 and the Kizashi at $182.18 a week, the cheapest naturally-aspirated vehicle in its class.

“The Suzuki mantra of providing quality, reliable and value-packed products couldn’t be more evident than in our award-winning line-up of vehicles,” said Suzuki Australia general manager, Tony Devers.

“The results speak for themselves and we are extremely proud of this recognition by NRMA.”

In announcing the results, NRMA Motoring & Services vehicle expert David Carr warned consumers to be careful with vehicle choice with costs potentially fluctuating by hundreds of dollars per week between vehicles in the same size or class.

‘The cheapest vehicle to run, the Suzuki Alto, costs $89.61 per week, while other cars in the same light car class could cost more than $200 per week to operate meaning the disparity could run into the thousands of dollars over a year,” Mr Carr said.

The NRMA survey is Australia’s most authoritative, comparing more than 1,200 cars on all key cost factors.