We’ve survived the second month of the year, still reeling from the effects of Budget 2023 announcements. Just when we figured that revised tiers of Additional Registration Fees (ARF) and a S$60,000 cap on Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate might have subdued hypes of luxury car purchases, the same week saw unveiling of hypercars from Aston Martin and Bugatti. Surely that played a part in skewing our perspectives…

While it's no secret that car ownership in Singapore costs an arm and a leg, are there workarounds for this seemingly impossible bargain basement exercise? For those of you who camp around car classifieds and perform searches by depreciation, cars that used to be good deals may not make for pleasant reading nowadays. Most Suzuki Swifts require an output of more than S$10,000 depreciation per year. The same scenario rings true for the Honda Jazz, at least for decent mileage, low owner-count samples.

Rather than relying on car sharing schemes (which doesn't always equate to the more affordable alternative), we’ve extracted a bunch of cars arriving at less than S$8,000 depreciation annually. That’s a monthly output of S$667 - a sum that doesn't sound too discouraging in this economic climate. All of these cars can be driven for at least five more years too, so you need not scratch your head over the next mode of transport for a considerable period.

Nissan Sunny (B14)

Depreciation: S$6,500 per year

Remember the days when Nissan’s Sunny gave the Civic and Corolla a run for their money? That was almost two decades ago, when the N16-coded Sunny rivalled sales figures of the ES Civic and the 9th-gen Corolla - the latter also in this shortlist. It can be argued though that “peak-Sunny” era was reserved for the B14, produced before the turn of the millennium. Used car guides suggest that it is a cheap and reliable runabout, with one owner claiming that only windscreen wipers had to be replaced due to wear and tear. Almost sounds too good to be true, but with this example tagged at well under S$8k depreciation per year, it can be a bet worth placing.

Toyota Corolla Altis (E120)

Depreciation: S$7,800 per year

Toyota must be doing something right, having sold more than 50 million Corollas over 12 generations. The masters of consistency are also kings of reliability, if reports from satisfied customers are anything to go by. Sure, they are often labelled as mere “tools” engineered for simple point A to B jaunts, but that’s exactly what Toyota aims to achieve with the Corolla - peace of mind for customers. You won’t receive the shorter end of the stick for any generation. This 9th-gen, E120-coded Corolla looks pretty mint - at 80,000km mileage, that’s barely run in by Toyota’s standards. COE for this unit expires nine years later, so it’ll take a while before you revisit the classifieds…

Chevrolet Aveo (1st-gen / T200)

Depreciation: S$7,700 per year

One need not break the bank to own a car fettled by Italdesign. Even if it’s one of the less memorable efforts by the VW Group-owned Italian automobile design house, it's a project realised during General Motors’ takeover of Daewoo in the early noughties, thereby holding a timeline bearing massive automotive significance. Initially known as the Daewoo Kalos, it was marketed under six other names - Aveo the most commonly used. All these heritage sets you back S$640 per month, accompanying you through its COE that expires in six years. Not a bad deal, eh?

Subaru Impreza (2nd-gen / Hawk-eye)

Depreciation: S$7,600 per year

Hype for 2nd-gen Imprezas has skyrocketed in recent years alongside others within the JDM bracket. While it remains anyone’s guess what caused this phenomenon, what’s certain is that a proper hawk-eye WRX example can set you back at more than S$20,000 depreciation annually. How it has reached parity with a Porsche Panamera at least in terms of depreciation still baffles us till today. If you’re after a stick shift, AWD Subaru experience without all the financial burden tagged to a WRX, this 1-owner Impreza will tick all the right boxes. That’s five years of Subaru ownership at S$630 depreciation per month. Here’s the latest COE results for reference - it’ll make you take the plunge for one in a jiffy.

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