South Africa’s cheapest family SUVs to own and repair – including Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Forester and VW Tiguan
South Africa’s new-vehicle market continues to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, gaining further momentum during September, and following the disruptions experienced in the economy during July.
Building on August sales successes, September sales continued to capture reassuring consumer demand and provided some reassurance for a stronger final quarter.
According to Naamsa, September new vehicle sales increased 15.8% to 43,130 units compared to the same month last year. More reflective of actual performance, the month’s sales were up 4% relative to August sales, which was the second-best sales month this year prior to September’s performance.
Driving the market growth was the 30.5% gain in passenger car sales year-on-year. September’s passenger car volumes of 29,538 units was bolstered by 4,951 sales into the rental market and was 8.5% ahead of last month’s market, said Lebogang Gaoaketse, head of marketing and communication at WesBank.
Dealer sales also swelled 17.3%, providing that much-need sustainability injection into the retail space.
“The Reserve Bank’s decision last month to maintain interest rates will continue to provide stimulus to the market, whether new or used,” said Gaoaketse. “Both sectors’ sales will ultimately contribute to the overall recovery of the South African motor industry.”
Amid this recovery, the Automobile Association (AA) recently published its inaugural AA Spare Parts Pricing Guide, showing parts pricing over eleven categories of vehicles in South Africa.
The AA said it identified a number of common parts which consumers may need to consider over the lifetime of their vehicles. “Based on this, we collected pricing from dealerships in Gauteng to ensure fairness in the comparisons across each of the different categories of vehicles we selected. In terms of the vehicles themselves, we looked at popular and where possible, similarly priced models in each category,” said the AA.
The guide includes 63 vehicle types, including a range of SUV categories, with this segment increasingly popular amid new models, vehicle makers, and compelling price points.
There is a growing trend towards SUVs globally. US data shows that SUVs now make up half of all new vehicle purchases in the country, while more consumers in Australia are also buying utility vehicles amid increasing variety and out of a sense of need. And South Africa is no different.
Global data shows that the Toyota RAV4 is the best-selling SUV in 2021, and the fourth best-selling vehicle overall. It is closely followed by the Honda CR-V (5th), while the Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester are inside the top 20. The Tiguan is also a regular inside the top 10.
All of these vehicles are included in the AA’s family SUV category, as is the Peugeot 2008, boosted by its recent accolades in the 2021 South African Car of the Year competition.
All the vehicles in this category range between around R564,000 and R589,000, being the Honda CR-V. For service parts, the RAV4 wins out, at a cost of R6,183 for parts including air filters, oil filters, wiper blades and brake pads. The Subaru follows relatively closely behind (R6,743), while the C-RV beats out the Tiguan as the most expensive, at R10,585.
For maintenance parts, the Peugeot 2008 is the cheapest at R17,915, while the Honda CR-V is the most expensive (R25,054). For body repair parts, the Honda outshines its rivals (R136,151), comfortably cheaper than the second-placed RAV4 (R155,407), while the Peugeot 2008 is the most expensive at R211,203.
For compact family vehicles, the Mazda CX3 is the cheapest out of the six vehicles in this category for all parts, beating out the new kid on the black in South Africa, the Haval Jolion, while the Kia Seltos is seen as the most expensive.
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