Car maintenance is something every driver should be doing for their car to improve longevity and cut costs. However, it can be expensive to maintain a vehicle over the years. The good news is that not all cars require the same maintenance costs, and certain cars from some brands will be cheaper to maintain. Here’s a look at five popular car brands with the cheapest 10-year maintenance costs. 

5. Nissan

According to Cars Edge, Japanese automakers dominated the list of popular brands with low maintenance costs. Nissan is in fifth place in terms of popular brands with the lowest average maintenance costs over 10 years of ownership. In total, the average maintenance cost of a Nissan over 10 years is $8,088, which averages out to about $808 a year.

For comparison, the average popular car brand has a 10-year maintenance cost of about $9,300. On top of that, the average Nissan car also has a lower chance of needing a major repair over 10 years. There’s an 18.67% chance that it’ll need at least one major repair in those 10 years, and that’s 1.86% lower than the industry average. 

4. Mazda

Mazda, meanwhile, came in at fourth place, as the average Mazda car needs a total of $8,035 for maintenance costs over 10 years. That averages out to about $803 per year. That’s a similar cost when compared to Nissan.

Another area where the two Japanese automakers are similar is their likelihood of needing a major repair. There’s an 18.43% chance that the average Mazda will require a major repair at least once in those 10 years. That’s about 2.1% lower than average.

3. Honda

Honda is well-known for making reliable cars and is in third place overall. The average Honda needs a total of $7,827 over 10 years for maintenance costs, which averages to about $787 a year. Unsurprisingly, Hondas are less likely than average to need a major repair over those 10 years.

Cars Edge wrote that the average Honda has a 17.69% chance of needing a significant repair over 10 years of ownership. That’s 2.84% lower than the industry average.

2. Mitsubishi 

Another Japanese automaker that made the list is Mitsubishi in second place. The average Mitsubishi will only need a total of $7,787 for maintenance costs across 10 years, which averages to about $778 a year.

That said, the average Mitsubishi car actually has a slightly higher chance of needing a significant repair in its first 10 years compared to Honda. The average Mitsubishi has an 18.18%chance of needing at least one major repair in its first 10 years. That’s 2.35% lower than the industry average, but it’s still a higher chance than the average Honda has.

1. Toyota has the cheapest 10-year maintenance

Unsurprisingly, Toyota is in first place by a significant margin. Toyotas are well-known for being reliable, and despite having an extensive lineup of cars, the average Toyota will not need much money for maintenance costs across 10 years. This legendary Japanese automaker’s average 10-year maintenance cost is $5,996, or about $599 a year.

That’s much cheaper than the runner-ups, which are already much more affordable than the industry average. For comparison, the average Ram needs $16,802 for maintenance costs across 10 years or $1,680 yearly. That’s over double what the average Toyota needs. Toyotas also have a meager chance of needing a major repair, as there’s a 13.51% chance it’ll need a major repair in the first 10 years. That’s 7.02% lower than average.