Cars you can buy for under R250,000 in South Africa right now

·22 Jan 2023

Despite heightened inflation and supply chain disruptions pushing new vehicle prices upwards, there are still 23 cars you can buy for under R250,000 in South Africa in 2023.

With South Africa experiencing a deepening cost-of-living crisis and several years of recession and pandemic-related upheaval, many motorists are cutting costs where they can while others are simply looking for a car that they can afford in 2023.

The cheapest car on this list is the Suzuki S-Presso 1.0 GL –retailing at R162,900 at its dealerships. This hatchback produces 49kW of power and 89Nm of torque, which helps with its listed average fuel consumption of only 4.6L/100km.

Using Wesbank’s vehicle finance calculator, assuming no deposit and a 0% balloon payment over five years (60 months) at an interest rate of 10.5%, the estimated monthly repayment is R3,576 per month for the Suzuki S-Presso.

The abovementioned interest rate follows a recent rate hike by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in November, taking the prime rate from 9.75% to 10.5%.

Industry experts still recommend that prospective buyers shouldn’t spend more than a quarter (25%) of their monthly income on vehicle-related costs. So, if you earn R20,000 monthly, your total vehicle expenses should not exceed R5,000. And this should apply to the whole vehicle expense, including:

Vehicle instalments
Insurance premiums
Fuel costs

Considering this recommendation, the minimum monthly salary required to afford the S-Presso is R14,300.

On the other end of the spectrum, the most expensive car on this list is the Mahindra XUV300 1.2T W4 – priced at R249,999 off the showroom floor.

This car is considered a crossover by Mahindra’s standards and comes with a turbo petrol engine that pushes out 81 kW of power and 200Nm of torque. However, the fuel consumption suffers from the added turbo, with an average fuel consumption of 6.3 L/100km.

According to Wesbank, the estimated monthly repayments for the XUV300 is R5,437 per month – meaning the minimum monthly salary required to afford the car is R21,748.

Based on the latest average salary data from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), the average salary is now R24,813 a month or R297,756 annually.

Judging from this statistic and the experts’ recommended budget for vehicle finance – the average formally-employed non-agricultural worker in the country should be able to afford all 23 cars on this list.

All the cars you can buy right now in South Africa under R250,000 are listed below, with pricing.

Suzuki S-Presso