Cheapest Family Cars to Run in Australia 2026

A cheap family car is not the one with the lowest sticker. Once two child seats, a pram, and a weekly shop are in the picture, the bill that matters is fuel or charging, servicing, insurance, and registration. In 2026 that bill still favours a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid that is actually plugged in. It does not automatically favor the cheapest seven-seater on the lot, and it does not favor a diesel just because the trip computer looks thrifty on the highway.

This guide compares family-sized cars sold in Australia: small SUVs that can take two child seats, mid-size five-seat SUVs, seven-seat SUVs, and one people mover. Prices below are manufacturer recommended prices before on-road costs unless a figure is marked drive-away. Running-cost dollars come from the NRMA Best Value Car Awards 2026, published 11 August 2026, using prices correct as at 30 June 2026. Where a manufacturer page and another source disagree, the clash is marked SOURCE CONFLICT rather than quietly averaged.

If you only need a shortlist, start with three questions. Can you charge at home most nights? Do you need a third row every day, or a few times a month? And is the car mostly a suburban shuttle, or a tow and holiday vehicle? The answers change the winner. Our hybrid and plug-in hybrid SUVs under $50,000 guide cover the showroom choice. Our best 7-seat family SUVs guide covers space and child-seat layout. This piece is about what they cost to keep.

How we chose

We looked across the new-car market families actually shop: Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Honda, Subaru, MG, Chery, BYD, GWM, Geely and the diesel off-roaders. We did not score every nameplate.

A car made this shortlist only if it is a realistic family size and we could attach a sourced running-cost figure or an official combined consumption figure. Small hatches such as the Yaris Hybrid are cheaper to fuel, but they are a different job. They are covered in Cheapest Cars to Run in Australia 2026.

We did not invent a single ranking. NRMA's tables already rank cars on five-year ownership cost in one postcode, for one driver, at one distance. Copying that order and calling it "Australia's cheapest family car" would hide the assumptions. Instead we split NRMA's published lines into the cash costs families feel (energy, insurance, registration, CTP and servicing) and we keep depreciation beside them, not inside the weekly bill.

The ten cars discussed in detail are the ones where that split teaches something: a small hybrid that is cheap because it is light, a plug-in whose brochure figure only holds if you charge, a conventional hybrid that needs no plug, a seven-seat hybrid with dear purchase price but cheap servicing, and a people mover whose space is paid for at the bowser and the service desk. Everything else sits in "Other options worth considering".

What a yearly running cost includes

NRMA's method, which we are using rather than rebuilding, is specific. Read it before you treat any dollar below as your quote.

• Distance is 55,500 km over five years. That is 11,100 km a year, from ABS average-distance data, not the 15,000 km figure many calculators use.

• Fuel uses the official combined consumption figure, the correct minimum fuel grade, and the NSW average pump price for the first half of 2026.

• Electricity, where it applies, uses a blend of 70 per cent home charging, 20 per cent public charging and 10 per cent solar, which NRMA prices at 32.5 cents per kWh.

• Insurance is one NRMA Insurance quote: a 30-year-old man in Chatswood, personal use, clean record, $1,000 excess. Your premium can be hundreds of dollars away from that.

• Registration and CTP are NSW, years 2 to 5 only. Year 1 sits inside the drive-away price. Heavier cars pay more.

• Servicing is the first five scheduled services, without extra consumables.

• Depreciation is an AutoEdge trade-in estimate after five years or 60,000 km. It is the largest line on almost every car, and it is not cash you hand over each year.

• Tyres are one replacement set, priced by Tyroola at 30 June 2026. Several rows in the medium-SUV table show $0, so we do not use tyres to rank those cars.

Drive-away prices in the NRMA tables are NSW figures from RedBook's calculator, including promotional drive-away deals where they applied on 30 June 2026. A Victorian or Queensland quote will differ.

There is no verified national pump price in this article. Weekly Australian Institute of Petroleum reports for September 2026 were behind a block when we checked, and secondary write-ups of those weeks did not agree with each other. Do not treat any single cents-per-litre figure as "the" 2026 price. Use the formula at the end with the price on your local board.

Comparison: cash costs versus the price on the windscreen

The table uses NRMA's published five-year lines. "Cash running cost" is our addition of fuel or electricity, comprehensive insurance, registration, CTP and servicing. It excludes depreciation, the purchase price and tyres. Divide by five if you want a yearly average at 11,100 km. Figures are rounded to the nearest dollar in the source table.

Two patterns matter more than any trophy.

Plug-in hybrids win the energy column only when the test assumes they are charged. The Tiggo 7 Urban PHEV's five-year energy bill is $1,471. Its petrol twin, over the same distance, is $7,249. That gap is the whole point of a plug. NRMA also warns that the PHEV's claimed 1.4 L/100 km depends on keeping the battery charged. The PHEV is about 200 kg heavier. Leave it unplugged, and the fuel bill can exceed the petrol car's.

Insurance and registration then claw a lot of that saving back. The Geely EX5's five-year energy bill is $2,886, less than half a Kluger Hybrid's fuel bill, but its insurance quote is $11,185. On the cash running cost, it lands next to ordinary petrol SUVs. Depreciation makes the gap larger still. A low energy bill is not a low cost of owning the car.

Registration is a quiet family penalty. In this NSW table, years 2 to 5 of registration plus CTP are $4,104 on the lighter small SUVs and $4,900 on the medium and large ones. That is about $800 over five years before you have bought a litre of fuel, simply for being in the heavier class.

Small SUVs: the cheapest family shape if two rows are enough

Toyota Corolla Cross GX Hybrid

The Corolla Cross is the smallest Toyota SUV we would still call a family car, and only for households that do not need a third row. AussieMotor's model page and CarExpert's 21 March 2026 price-and-specs report both put the GX front-wheel drive at $37,440 before on-road costs, with a claimed 4.2 L/100 km. Toyota's own site was unavailable when we checked, so that price is not a live toyota.com.au screenshot.

SOURCE CONFLICT on the dearer grades. CarExpert lists the GXL front-wheel drive at $41,190 and the Atmos front-wheel drive at $47,990, both before on-road costs. The AussieMotor Corolla Cross page lists the GXL at $42,990 and the Atmos at $49,990. Do not treat those higher figures as settled. The GX opening price and the 4.2 L/100 km claim are the parts that agree.

At 4.2 L/100 km, the GX uses 466 litres per 11,100 km and 630 litres per 15,000 km. CarExpert reports the first five services capped at $275 each. Toyota's Service Advantage page confirms capped-price servicing for three or five years depending on model, but it does not publish a dollar amount on the page we retrieved, so $275 is a media figure, not a figure we saw on toyota.com.au.

NRMA did not put the Corolla Cross in its 2026 small-SUV table, so we will not invent an insurance or registration quote for it. The closest Toyota in that table is the Yaris Cross GX: $3,992 of fuel, $7,954 of insurance and $1,250 of servicing over five years. The Yaris Cross is the cheaper Toyota SUV to run. It is also tighter in the back seat. For two children in boosters the Corolla Cross is the more honest family pick. For one baby seat and a city commute, the Yaris Cross spends less.

Braked towing on the Corolla Cross is modest. CarExpert lists 750 kg. This is a school-run hybrid, not a camper-trailer tow car.

Chery Tiggo 4 Urban Hybrid

On NRMA's small-SUV table the Tiggo 4 Urban Hybrid is a $29,900 NSW drive-away, with $5,673 of fuel, $7,842 of insurance and $1,495 of servicing over five years. Cash running cost is $19,114. Its petrol Urban sibling costs $7,775 in fuel over the same distance, so the hybrid saves about $2,100 in fuel and finishes slightly ahead once everything else is counted.

That is the right way to read a cheap hybrid. The fuel cut is real. It does not halve the household's car budget, because insurance and registration are most of the bill once the car is this efficient. Five-year ownership including depreciation is $35,698 in the NRMA table, helped by the low drive-away price.

Chery's Australian Tiggo 4 Hybrid page describes a conventional hybrid, not a plug-in. We did not retrieve a live manufacturer dollar price separate from NRMA's 30 June 2026 drive-away, and Chery was advertising cashback on some hybrids in October 2026. Get a written quote. A campaign price and NRMA's June figure will not stay identical.

Boot and child-seat fit still decide this car. It is a small SUV. If the second row cannot take your two seats with the front seats in a normal position, the fuel saving is irrelevant.

Where the MG ZS Hybrid+ sits

The MG ZS Excite+ Hybrid is $30,990 drive-away in the same NRMA table, with $5,387 of fuel and $8,903 of insurance. Fuel is a little lower than the Tiggo 4 Hybrid. Insurance is about $1,060 higher over five years, and servicing is $1,980 against $1,495. Cash running cost is $20,374, roughly $1,260 more than the Tiggo 4 Hybrid on these lines.

The ZS petrol Vibe is cheaper to buy, at $22,990 drive-away, and its five-year ownership total is $36,045 against $38,595 for the hybrid. On NRMA's full ownership sum the petrol ZS wins, because it starts so much cheaper. On fuel alone the hybrid wins. If you keep the car a long time and drive more than the ABS average, the hybrid's fuel gap grows. If you change cars in three years, the cheaper petrol's smaller depreciation hit can matter more.

Medium SUVs: where most families actually land

Toyota RAV4 GX Hybrid

The new RAV4 is the reference five-seat family hybrid. Toyota Australia's November 2025 pricing release lists the GX 2WD hybrid at $45,990 before on-road costs, and the GX AWD at $49,340. The manufacturer site lists combined consumption of 4.5 L/100 km for 2WD hybrid grades and 4.6 L/100 km for AWD hybrid grades. Those are laboratory results. Toyota says they are not real-world figures.

SOURCE CONFLICT with our own earlier running-cost guide, which used 4.7 L/100 km for a RAV4 Hybrid. That figure belongs to the previous generation. Do not mix it with the new car's 4.5 L/100 km claim.

The new RAV4 was not in NRMA's 30 June 2026 medium-SUV table, so there is no NRMA insurance or servicing dollar for this generation here. What we can say from the official consumption figure:

• 4.5 L/100 km is 500 litres per 11,100 km, or 675 litres per 15,000 km.

• 4.6 L/100 km on AWD is 511 litres and 690 litres at those two distances.

Toyota requires 95 RON or higher on this hybrid. If your local premium price is well above regular unleaded, part of the litre saving is given back at the pump. Plug-in XSE grades start at $58,840 before on-road costs for the 2WD, plus $675 mandatory premium paint on XSE. Claimed electric range is up to 154 km NEDC on the XSE 2WD, which is a lab figure and will be shorter in daily use.

Towing is a family trap on this car. Toyota rates AWD hybrid and plug-in grades at 1,500 kg braked, and 2WD grades at 800 kg. A box trailer may be fine on the 2WD. A loaded camper trailer usually is not. The RAV4 has five seats only.

For households who cannot plug in, this is the cleanest medium-SUV running-cost story: no charge cable, a very low combined claim, and Toyota's capped-price servicing program. The missing piece is a published insurance quote for the new shape. Get two quotes before you assume it will be cheaper to insure than a Sealion or a Tiggo.

BYD Sealion 5 Essential

The Sealion 5 Essential is $33,990 before on-road costs on AussieMotor's model page, matching NRMA's list price. NRMA's NSW drive-away for that grade was $37,311. BYD's Australian page describes combined consumption "as low as 1.2 L/100 km" under NEDC, and a combined range up to 1,030 km on the Premium. The Essential's NEDC combined range on that page is 1,001 km. Boot space is 463 litres with five seats up.

NRMA's five-year energy bill for the Essential is $4,728. That is nowhere near a car that truly uses 1.2 L/100 km for 55,500 km. At 1.2 L/100 km the distance would need only about 666 litres. The published energy cost implies a much heavier mix of petrol and electricity. Use the $4,728 figure, not the brochure litre figure, if you want a cautious household budget.

Servicing is $2,345 over five services, dearer than the Sealion 6 and the Tiggo 7 PHEV in the same table. Insurance is $8,323. Cash running cost is $20,296. The petrol Tiggo 7 Urban, which is cheaper to buy, has a cash running cost of $20,536. On these NRMA lines the Sealion 5 does not pull away from a plain petrol medium SUV unless your charging pattern beats the assumption NRMA used.

It is five seats, front-wheel drive, and it only makes sense if a wall socket is part of the driveway. Our Sealion 5 versus Sealion 6 comparison goes through space, charging hardware and safety rating. Running cost is the extra question: in NRMA's table the dearer Sealion 6 has the smaller energy bill.

Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid

Chery's Australian page for the Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid lists 1.4 L/100 km combined, an 18.4 kWh battery, up to 93 km of NEDC electric range, and 91 RON or higher. It is a five-seat medium SUV. The page also says the system can run without being plugged in. Read that next to NRMA's warning, not instead of it.

NRMA's Urban PHEV, at $37,990 before on-road costs and $39,990 NSW drive-away, has the lowest five-year ownership total in the medium-SUV awards: $36,259. Energy is $1,471. Servicing is $1,595. Insurance is $8,127. Cash running cost is $16,093, the lowest medium SUV in the table above.

The petrol Urban at $29,990 drive-away has a higher cash running cost ($20,536) but a five-year ownership total of $36,902, only $643 behind, because it depreciates less and uses a cheaper registration class in this table. If you will not charge, buy the petrol. If you will charge most nights and keep the car, the PHEV's energy line is the one that compounds.

Chery was advertising a $2,000 cashback on the Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid for deliveries between 1 and 31 October 2026, applied as a cut to the advertised drive-away price, with exclusions. That offer and NRMA's 30 June price are not the same number. Confirm the quote on the contract.

BYD Sealion 6 Essential

BYD lists the Sealion 6 Essential at 1.1 L/100 km under ADR 81/02, with 92 km of electric range measured from 25 to 100 per cent state of charge, front-wheel drive and a 60-litre fuel tank. The Dynamic Extended is listed at 0.8 L/100 km with a longer electric range. Boot volume is up to 1,440 litres with the rear seats folded. Five seats.

NRMA prices the Essential at $42,990 before on-road costs and $46,689 NSW drive-away. Five-year energy is $1,261, the lowest medium-SUV energy line in the published top group, with servicing of $1,593. Cash running cost is $16,325. Insurance is $8,571, higher than a Tucson or a Sportage hybrid in the same study, which is why the Sealion 6 does not also win NRMA's ownership trophy. Depreciation of $24,889 on a $46,689 drive-away is the larger reason.

The 1.1 L/100 km claim is a plug-in test result. Treat it as a comparison figure. If your week includes a highway trip with a flat battery, you will not see 1.1.

Geely EX5: cheap to charge, not cheap to insure

The electric SUV guide lists the EX5 Complete Extended Range at $41,990 before on-road costs, with a claimed 475 km WLTP range. NRMA's matching row uses that $41,990 list price, a $45,350 NSW drive-away, $2,886 of energy over five years and $1,487 of servicing. Insurance is $11,185. Cash running cost is $20,458.

So the EX5 is cheap to "fuel" and cheap to service relative to a Carnival or a Santa Fe petrol. It is not a cheap car to insure on this quote, and NRMA's depreciation of $27,250 pulls five-year ownership to $47,708, behind several plug-in hybrids that cost less to buy.

Home charging is the condition. NRMA's 32.5 cents per kWh already blends in public charging. A household that charges almost entirely off a solar array will beat $2,886. A household using DC fast chargers as the main supply will not. The wider powertrain comparison is in petrol versus hybrid versus electric.

The EX5 is five seats. It does not replace a seven-seat SUV. It replaces a RAV4-sized petrol SUV for families who can charge at home and who have checked the insurance quote, not just the energy quote.

Seven seats: space costs money, hybrid power gives some of it back

Our 7-seat SUV guide is the place to compare third-row room, child restraints and towing. The running-cost version of that decision is harsher. A cheap seven-seat purchase can be an expensive car to run, and an expensive hybrid can be middling on cash costs.

Toyota Kluger GX Hybrid

NRMA lists the Kluger GX Hybrid at $62,410 before on-road costs and $67,793 NSW drive-away. Five-year fuel is $6,418, insurance $8,111 and servicing $1,325. That servicing line is the lowest among the seven-seat and people-mover finalists in the family-car table. Cash running cost is $20,754, which is lower than the Sorento S, the Carnival S, the MG QS and the Santa Fe 2WD in the same study, despite the Kluger being the dearest of that group to buy.

SOURCE CONFLICT on the list price. The seven-seat guide and NRMA both use $62,410 before on-road costs. AussieMotor's Kluger GX Hybrid model page has also displayed $60,890. We did not re-open a live Toyota price while toyota.com.au was down. Use $62,410 as the figure inside the NRMA cost study, and ask the dealer for today's recommended retail price.

Toyota's combined claim, as shown on that model page, is 5.6 L/100 km. At that rate the car uses 622 litres per 11,100 km and 840 litres per 15,000 km. NRMA's $6,418 fuel line is the sourced dollar figure. Do not multiply 5.6 by a guessed pump price and call it NRMA's number.

Five-year ownership including depreciation is $57,091. The depreciation line is $34,893. You are paying for a dearer car that holds a smaller share of a high price. On a pure cash running-cost view, the Kluger Hybrid is one of the stronger seven-seaters. On a "what did the five years cost me after resale" view, the cheaper MG QS and the Tiggo 9 PHEV finish ahead in NRMA's ranking.

Kia Sorento

Kia's Australian Sorento Hybrid page lists 5.4 L/100 km combined for front-wheel drive hybrid grades, and 1.6 L/100 km combined for the plug-in hybrid. The Sorento GT-Line Hybrid is a dearer grade. The NRMA dollars below are for an S, not that GT-Line. Both are ADR 81/02 laboratory results. Hybrid grades do not need to be plugged in. The plug-in does, and Kia says a 3.3 kW charge from 15 to 95 per cent takes about three and a half hours.

NRMA's family-car table uses a Sorento S at $54,675 before on-road costs and $59,778 drive-away, with $7,466 of fuel, $8,224 of insurance and $2,662 of servicing. Cash running cost is $23,252. Five-year ownership is $52,278, third in that large-SUV table, helped by depreciation of $27,678, which is gentler than the Tiggo 9's $32,108.

SOURCE CONFLICT on which Sorento that row is. CarExpert's 24 January 2026 price guide listed an S V6 front-wheel drive at $51,380, an S diesel AWD at $54,380 and an S hybrid front-wheel drive at $56,380, all before on-road costs, and said V6 stock was not expected to last into the second quarter of 2026. NRMA's 30 June price of $54,675 sits near the January diesel price and well below the January hybrid price. The fuel bill of $7,466 is also too high to be a plug-in at 1.6 L/100 km, and it is higher than the Kluger Hybrid's $6,418. We will not relabel NRMA's "Sorento S" as the hybrid. If you buy the hybrid, budget from Kia's 5.4 L/100 km claim and a fresh insurance quote, not from the $7,466 line.

CarExpert also published Kia's seven-year capped-price service menu. Hybrid front-wheel drive services in that January article run $353, $733, $427, $1,063, $397, $883 and $696. That is a named media reproduction of Kia's schedule, not a figure we re-read off a live calculator. The pattern is the useful part: hybrid services are not all cheap, and the fourth service is the painful one.

The Sorento is a real seven-seater. The third row is still a compromise for adults, and boot space behind it is small. Check child-seat anchors in the third row before you assume three restraints will fit.

Hyundai Santa Fe

Hyundai's current Australian Santa Fe Hybrid page lists 5.6 L/100 km combined for the hybrid, and the same page also shows 9.3 L/100 km, which is the non-hybrid figure displayed beside it. Do not quote 5.6 for a petrol Santa Fe, or 9.3 for the hybrid.

SOURCE CONFLICT on price and on the old hybrid claim. A Hyundai press release for the previous-generation Santa Fe Hybrid said "priced from $63,000 MLP" and 6.0 L/100 km combined. That release describes Elite and Highlander grades, a 10.25-inch screen and the older powertrain. It is not the current car's price. The current model page we retrieved does not state an opening recommended price. Not officially disclosed, on that page.

NRMA's row is explicitly "Hyundai Santa Fe 7-seat 2WD" at $54,400 before on-road costs, with $9,561 of fuel and $2,660 of servicing over five years. Cash running cost is $26,559, one of the highest in this guide. That fuel bill fits a thirstier petrol 2WD, not a 5.6 L/100 km hybrid. The Santa Fe Hybrid model page is the right place to compare hybrid grades. Until you have the hybrid's own insurance quote and a drive-away price, do not assume it inherits the petrol row's costs, and do not assume it inherits the Kluger's either.

At 5.6 L/100 km a hybrid Santa Fe uses the same laboratory litres as a Kluger Hybrid: 622 litres per 11,100 km, 840 litres per 15,000 km. Servicing and insurance are the unknowns. Hyundai's seven-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, for passenger cars first registered from 1 June 2025, requires scheduled services at a Hyundai dealer if you want the extra two years. Budget the services. The warranty extension is not free if you skip them.

Kia Carnival, if you need eight seats

The Carnival is the honest alternative when the third row of an SUV is a kids-only perch and you still need the boot. AussieMotor's model page lists the S at $50,570 before on-road costs with a combined figure shown as 9.6 L/100 km, and the S diesel at $52,800 with 6.5 L/100 km.

SOURCE CONFLICT. NRMA's "Kia Carnival S" is $54,560 before on-road costs, with $8,089 of fuel, $9,865 of insurance and $2,863 of servicing. Cash running cost is $25,717. CarExpert reported on 6 May 2025 that the S hybrid was $56,100 before on-road costs with a claimed 5.8 L/100 km, and that the petrol V6 S opened at $50,570. Those cannot all be the same car at the same price. NRMA does not say whether its Carnival S is petrol or diesel. The $8,089 fuel line is lower than the MG QS and the Santa Fe 2WD, and higher than the Kluger Hybrid. It is not a 5.8 L/100 km hybrid bill.

Insurance at $9,865 and servicing at $2,863 are the Carnival's running-cost problem, not just fuel. People movers are dearer to repair and dearer to service in this sample. If you need eight seats and five ISOFIX points, pay it. If you need seven seats twice a month, a five-seat hybrid plus the occasional second car is usually cheaper to run. That is a household decision, not a slogan.

MG QS Excite: cheap to buy, dear to fuel

NRMA's family-car winner is the MG QS Excite at $46,990 drive-away, with a five-year ownership total of $50,115. The win is the purchase price and the depreciation line of $22,790. It is not a cheap car to run. Fuel is $9,742 over five years, the highest energy bill in that top ten. Insurance is $9,655. Cash running cost is $26,289.

Keep the QS on the list if the budget stops near $47,000 drive-away and you need seven seats. Do not keep it on the list because someone called it the best-value family car. Value there includes the fact you spent less capital. The bowser does not care.

Chery Tiggo 9 Super Hybrid

The Tiggo 9 CSH Elite is the seven-seat plug-in in NRMA's table: $52,990 before on-road costs, $58,008 NSW drive-away, $1,490 of energy and $1,595 of servicing. Insurance is $11,230, the highest insurance line in the family top ten. Cash running cost is still $19,215, because the energy saving is large enough to cover that insurance gap against a Sorento S.

The same charging warning applies. The 1.3 L/100 km style of claim that put it third in NRMA's write-up is a plug-in result. Depreciation of $32,108 is why it does not win the ownership table despite the tiny energy bill. For a family that plugs in every night and plans to keep the car, the cash picture is strong. For a family that sells in three years, run the resale conversation before the fuel conversation.

Other options worth considering

These are real family cars. They missed the detailed section because their running-cost story repeats one above, or because we do not have a clean official price for the efficient version.

• Honda ZR-V VTi X. NRMA's medium-SUV table gives it a $39,900 NSW drive-away, $7,354 of fuel and only $995 of servicing over five years. That service figure is the standout. Cash running cost is $19,745. It is a petrol-shaped bill with an unusually low workshop bill. Worth a quote if you will not plug in and you do not want a hybrid premium.

• Kia Sportage S hybrid. $44,450 before on-road costs in the NRMA table, the same $5,148 five-year fuel line as the Tucson hybrid, and a lower insurance quote of $7,160. Servicing is $2,613, so the cash total is $19,821. A five-seat alternative to a RAV4 if the Toyota wait or the Toyota price does not suit.

• Hyundai Tucson 1.6 hybrid, front-wheel drive. $42,850 before on-road costs, $5,148 of fuel, $8,377 of insurance, $2,290 of servicing. Cash running cost $20,715. Close to the Sportage hybrid on fuel, dearer on the insurance profile NRMA used. The Tucson page is the model reference.

• GWM Haval H6 Lux hybrid. $39,490 before on-road costs and $40,990 drive-away in the NRMA table, with $5,464 of fuel and $2,020 of servicing. Cash running cost $20,659. NRMA's ownership total is held back by depreciation of $25,790. See the H6 page. A plug-in H6 exists in the wider market. We have not given it a separate energy dollar because the Lux hybrid is the row NRMA actually priced.

• Mitsubishi Outlander ES. The Outlander model page opens at $39,990 before on-road costs for the ES, with 7.7 L/100 km shown for the petrol grades. NRMA's medium-SUV row matches that $39,990 list price and puts five-year fuel at $7,885. Cash running cost is $22,137. SOURCE CONFLICT if you need seven seats: the seven-seat guide lists an Outlander ES FWD seven-seat at $42,540 before on-road costs. That is not the same car as the $39,990 row. The seven-seat guide also flags the lack of third-row top-tether points. Do not buy the seven-seat Outlander as a full-time three-restraint car without checking the anchors yourself. Plug-in Outlander grades are on the model page with price marked TBA, so a PHEV running cost is not officially disclosed there.

• Mazda CX-5 Pure. NRMA lists $39,990 before on-road costs, $7,775 of fuel and $2,201 of servicing. Cash running cost $22,386. A good drive does not make it a cheap runner next to a hybrid Sportage. There is no hybrid CX-5 in this NRMA table.

• Ford Everest Active. NRMA lists the 4x4 Active at $58,990 before on-road costs, with $8,834 of fuel and $1,596 of servicing. Diesel's pump price hurt it in the first half of 2026, which NRMA calls out directly. Buy an Everest to tow and tour. Do not buy one because you think diesel seven-seaters are cheap urban transport. The seven-seat guide is the towing discussion.

• Subaru Forester. NRMA's base Forester is $43,490 before on-road costs, with $8,300 of fuel and a relatively low insurance quote of $6,679. Fuel is the weak line. Insurance is the strong one, on this single profile. Worth quoting if your insurer prices Toyotas and Chinese plug-ins aggressively and prices the Forester gently. One quote is not a market.

• Toyota Yaris Cross GX, again, for the small-family edge case. Lowest Toyota fuel bill in the small-SUV table at $3,992 over five years, and $1,250 of servicing. It is the running-cost winner that many families will reject on rear-seat space. That is a fair rejection. It should still be sat in before you spend RAV4 money.

Not officially disclosed, so left out of the dollars: a current recommended retail price for the new Santa Fe Hybrid on the Hyundai page we opened, a Kia.com.au price list for the Sorento hybrid on the features page we opened, live Toyota capped-price dollars for the new RAV4, and any national average petrol price for October 2026.

How to turn a laboratory figure into your yearly fuel bill

Use your own pump price. Do not borrow one from a month when prices jumped.

Litres per year = official combined L/100 km, multiplied by your annual kilometres, divided by 100.

Examples at the official combined claims, before you apply a price:

A 15,000 km year in a RAV4 2WD hybrid uses 175 litres more than the 11,100 km year NRMA modelled. At any pump price, that is the gap between "ABS average" and "we do sport on Saturdays". Price the litres at the servo you actually use, and use premium if the manufacturer asks for 95 RON.

Plug-in claims of 0.8 to 1.6 L/100 km are not in that table on purpose. They are not a petrol-only forecast. Budget a plug-in with NRMA's energy dollar if your charging looks like their blend, or with your own electricity tariff if you know it. BYD's Sealion 6 figure is ADR 81/02. Chery's 1.4 L/100 km and electric-range figures are on Chery's test basis, including NEDC for the electric range. Do not compare an NEDC range with a WLTP range as if they were the same test.

Add the non-fuel lines the same way every time: insurance quotes for the drivers who will be listed, a registration quote for your state, and the capped-price service schedule for the exact grade. Registration concessions for electric cars, where a state still offers them, belong in that quote. They are not national.

What we would shortlist

We are not crowning a winner. The evidence points to different cars for different houses.

• Two child seats, no plug, mostly suburbs: Corolla Cross GX Hybrid if the back seat fits, with the Yaris Cross as the cheaper-to-run but smaller check. Among NRMA-priced small hybrids, the Tiggo 4 Urban Hybrid has the lower cash running cost of the cars we added up.

• Five seats, no plug, more boot: RAV4 GX 2WD hybrid on Toyota's 4.5 L/100 km claim. Get an insurance quote, because NRMA had not priced this new generation in the table we used. The Sportage S hybrid is the priced alternative if you want NRMA's insurance and service lines today.

• Five seats and a driveway charger: Tiggo 7 Urban PHEV on NRMA's cash and ownership totals, then Sealion 6 Essential if you want the lower published energy line and will accept the higher price. The Sealion 5 is the cheaper BYD to buy. In this study it is not the cheaper BYD to run.

• Five seats, full electric, home charging: EX5 on energy and servicing, but only after the insurance quote. If that quote looks like NRMA's $11,185 over five years, a charged plug-in hybrid can be cheaper overall.

• Seven seats, no plug: Kluger GX Hybrid for cash running cost and servicing. Sorento hybrid if Kia's 5.4 L/100 km and a seven-year warranty matter more than the NRMA "Sorento S" fuel line, which we do not believe is the hybrid. Santa Fe Hybrid if the 5.6 L/100 km claim and the cabin suit you, once the dealer price is in writing.

• Seven seats and a charger: Tiggo 9 CSH on energy cost, with eyes open about insurance and depreciation.

• Eight seats: Carnival, and budget the higher insurance and servicing. The hybrid's 5.8 L/100 km claim is CarExpert's, dated May 2025, not the fuel line in NRMA's Carnival S row.

• Seven seats on a tight purchase budget: MG QS Excite. Accept the $9,742 five-year fuel bill or do not buy it for running costs.

Depreciation can overturn every one of those calls if you sell inside three years. NRMA's ownership totals are the right place to see that. They are not a substitute for your insurer, your state transport agency, or the price on the contract.