The Burrow
Apr 17, 2023
It’s always an exciting time when you get to buy a new car, especially if it’s the brand-new latest model, though with current waiting times for these new cars stretching over a year or more, you might be waiting a while before you get to hop behind the wheel.
However, car prices are not the same in different countries, even for the same car models. So, which country has the best price for a new car?
To find out, the car insurance experts at Compare the Market did some research and gathered base prices for some of the latest popular car models,^ and converted local currencies into US dollars to compare.
Here’s what we found out.
Overall, Canada has the best prices overall. Six out of the nine models we compared were cheapest in Canada, including the Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi outlander, Subaru Forester and Jeep Grand Cherokee.
On the other end of the scale, Peru had some of the most expensive prices overall, followed closely by South Africa and then Colombia. Peru was the most expensive for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Mazda 3 and Mazda CX-5, while South Africa was the most expensive for the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.
Peru was the most expensive overall as Colombia and South Africa had a couple of models where prices were cheaper than most other countries on the list, leaving Peru with the highest average of all countries compared.
In comparison, Australia is precisely in the middle behind Canada, the USA and New Zealand, but above South Africa, Peru and Colombia. In fact, the highly popular Toyota Hilux was the most expensive in Australia in comparison to every other country. Other models that were more expensive in Australia than most other countries included the Ford Ranger and Honda Civic.
The table below shows the prices for car models in each country, using US dollars.
| Brand and model | Australia | Canada | USA | New Zealand | Peru | Colombia | South Africa |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee | $60,251 | $42,110 | $41,530 | $58,894 | $84,990 | $83,998 | $73,145 |
| Subaru Forester | $28,573 | $22,626 | $26,395 | $27,894 | $32,490 | $35,679 | $35,530 |
| Ford Ranger | $31,647 | $29,693 | $27,400 | $29,444 | $30,990 | $34,228 | $26,730 |
| Toyota Hilux/Tacoma | $40,935 | $32,408 | $29,540 | $26,902 | $28,880 | $25,830 | $27,148 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | $26,894 | $23,870 | $27,595 | $26,034 | $27,990 | $32,319 | $32,449 |
| Toyota Corolla* | $21,571 | $19,246 | $23,005 | $22,500 | $23,160 | $22,155 | $27,539 |
| Mazda 3 | $20,554 | $15,987 | $22,550 | $23,864 | $26,490 | $23,604 | $23,205 |
| Mazda CX-5 | $26,317 | $22,813 | $26,700 | $27,088 | $32,990 | $30,587 | $28,358 |
| Honda Civic/City | $31,624 | $23,392 | $25,850 | $29,140 | $24,990 | $19,738 | $37,901 |
| Note: local currencies were converted into USD on 24/03/2023 using Google’s currency converter tool. Prices accurate as of 27/03/2023 but subject to change. | |||||||
When car prices are compared to disposable income, South Africa has the worst car price to disposable income ratio, followed by Colombia and then Australia. The USA has the best ratio, followed by Canada and New Zealand.
The table below shows how many years of disposable income are needed in each country to buy each specific car.
Note: the data source used for disposable income did not have data for Peru, so Peru was removed from this comparison.
| Brand and model | Years of disposable income in Australia | Years of disposable income in Canada | Years of disposable income in USA | Years of disposable income in New Zealand | Years of disposable income in Colombia | Years of disposable income in South Africa |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee | 1.609 | 1.223 | 0.811 | 1.509 | 6.416 | 7.832 |
| Subaru Forester | 0.763 | 0.657 | 0.516 | 0.714 | 2.725 | 3.804 |
| Ford Ranger | 0.845 | 0.862 | 0.535 | 0.754 | 2.614 | 2.862 |
| Toyota Hilux/Tacoma | 1.093 | 0.941 | 0.577 | 0.689 | 1.973 | 2.907 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander | 0.718 | 0.693 | 0.539 | 0.667 | 2.468 | 3.474 |
| Toyota Corolla* | 0.576 | 0.559 | 0.449 | 0.576 | 1.692 | 2.949 |
| Mazda 3 | 0.549 | 0.464 | 0.440 | 0.611 | 1.803 | 2.484 |
| Mazda CX-5 | 0.703 | 0.662 | 0.522 | 0.694 | 2.336 | 3.036 |
| Honda Civic/City | 0.844 | 0.679 | 0.505 | 0.746 | 1.507 | 4.058 |
| Note: disposable income data was sourced from the OECD Better Life Index on 28/04/2023. | ||||||
Adrian Taylor, Compare the Market’s General Manager of General Insurance, notes that there are a number of factors that impact the cost of car insurance, and the price of a car can be quite a significant element.
“Insurance companies factor in lots of different bits of data about your car and yourself, as well as any other drivers, when determining the cost of car insurance,” Taylor explains. “arguably, a car’s value can a big impact on car insurance costs, as you will be covered for the cost of replacing your vehicle entirely if it’s written off due to an insured depending on the type of your policy,” says Taylor.
Taylor states that new cars typically cost a lot more than second hand cars, but their market value depreciates quickly at first, then more slowly over time.
“It’s always worth comparing and updating car insurance regularly, especially if other circumstances in your life change, such as your address,” Taylor says. “You don’t want to be missing out on potential savings, and you don’t want the headache that can come from having an out-of-date policy or one that no longer meets your needs.”
We gathered car prices from the official car brand websites in each country for the latest official models. Car prices were converted from their local currency into USD on 24/03/2023 using Google’s currency converter tool. Prices are accurate as of 27/03/2023.
Note that these prices do not include additional on-road costs associated with purchasing a new vehicle and final purchasing costs may differ.
Average disposable income data was sourced from the OECD Better Life Index, in USD. The car prices in each country were divided by the annual average disposable income in each country to create a car price to disposable income ratio. This ratio represents the number of years of disposable income are needed to purchase each car in each country.
^ The Toyota Hilux and Honda Civic were not available in all countries we explored, so the closest equivalent models – the Toyota Tacoma for Canada and the USA and the Honda City in Colombia – were used instead.
* In New Zealand and Colombia, only hybrid versions of the new Toyota Corolla were available as of 27/03/23.