Comparing vehicles on sticker price is the default and produces conclusions that reverse once running costs are included.
What belongs in the calculation
Purchase, depreciation, fuel or electricity, insurance, maintenance, tax and finance cost.
Which is a longer list than most comparisons use.
Depreciation dominance
For newer vehicles this is usually the largest single item.
Which means resale value matters more than fuel economy for short ownership periods.
Maintenance differences
Electric drivetrains have fewer wearing components.
Which produces lower scheduled maintenance and does not eliminate tyres, brakes and suspension.
Fuel and electricity costs
Energy price per mile varies with tariff and with where charging happens.
Which produces a wide range rather than a single figure.
Home charging on an off-peak tariff and public rapid charging differ by a large multiple.
Insurance differences
Repair cost and parts availability affect premiums.
Which has made some electric models more expensive to insure than expected.
Taxation
Purchase taxes, annual duties and company car treatment.
Which differ substantially by jurisdiction and change with policy.
Ownership period
Short periods are dominated by depreciation and long ones by running costs.
Which is why the answer depends on how long you keep the vehicle.
Doing the calculation
A spreadsheet over your actual mileage and holding period.
Maintenance schedules
Manufacturer intervals and what they include.
Which are published and rarely compared before purchase.
Some models require expensive scheduled work at predictable points.
Tyres
Size, rating and expected life.
Which vary by a large multiple across the market.
Large-diameter wheels raise both cost and replacement frequency.
Finance cost
Interest paid over the term.
Which belongs in the comparison and frequently is not there.
Residual value assumptions
The largest and least certain input.
Which is why comparisons should be run at more than one assumption.
Doing it properly
Your mileage, your tariff, your holding period, and every cost listed.
Which takes an evening and regularly changes the decision.
Why sticker price comparisons fail
Two vehicles with the same purchase price can differ by a large margin over five years.
Which is driven mostly by depreciation and secondarily by insurance and fuel.
The cheaper car to buy is regularly the more expensive car to own.
Cost per mile
Total cost divided by miles driven.
Which is the comparison that accounts for how much you actually use the vehicle.
Low-mileage drivers are dominated by fixed costs; high-mileage drivers by variable ones.
Published data
Motoring organisations and consumer bodies publish ownership cost estimates.
Which are a reasonable starting point and are built on average assumptions.
Company car and salary sacrifice
Tax treatment that can change the answer completely.
Which is jurisdiction-specific and worth checking.
The exercise worth doing
Build the spreadsheet once with your real numbers, and revisit it whenever you change vehicles.
Warranty length
Longer manufacturer cover reduces risk in the early years.
Which is worth something and is not always transferable.
Transferable warranties support residual value.
Reliability data
Owner surveys and warranty claim statistics.
Which vary in methodology and broadly agree on the outliers.
Repair frequency affects both cost and inconvenience.
Depreciation on electric vehicles
Faster than forecast as new prices fell and technology improved.
Which favours buying used and disadvantages buying new.
Building the comparison
Same holding period, same mileage, every cost category, and a sensitivity check on residual value.
Which is the only comparison that answers the actual question.
The habit worth forming
Running the comparison before every vehicle change rather than relying on impressions.
Which regularly produces a different answer from the one expected.
The summary
Purchase price is one line in a long list, depreciation usually dominates, running costs matter more the longer you keep the vehicle, and the only reliable comparison is the one built with your own mileage and circumstances.
An evening with a spreadsheet is a good return on a decision of this size.
A general note on sources
Figures in this area come from manufacturer publications, regulator test programmes, insurance claims data and independent consumer testing, and those four sources do not always agree.
Where they conflict, the independent testing and the real-world claims data are usually the more reliable guide, because manufacturer figures are produced under conditions chosen by the manufacturer.
Anything specific to your own vehicle should be checked against its handbook and against a qualified technician familiar with the model, since specifications differ between markets and between production years in ways that general articles cannot capture.
One last practical point
Almost everything above becomes easier if you keep a simple record for your own vehicle: what was done, when, at what mileage and by whom.
It takes a folder and about five minutes a year, and it improves resale value, makes warranty claims straightforward and turns vague worries about condition into questions you can actually answer.
Owners who do this rarely get caught out, and owners who do not almost always wish they had started earlier.