What are the most expensive cars to maintain in 2025?

Consumer Reports releases a list you wouldn’t want to be a part of, but knowing the most expensive cars to maintain is crucial.

Land Rover products lead the list of the most expensive cars to maintain. The image shows a silver Range Rover in snowing urban scenario

Everyone knows (or should know) that buying a car implies that you’ll pay for maintenance costs. However, some cars can be very expensive to maintain, so much so that you might even lose the motivation to keep them.

Consumer Reports released its list of the ten most expensive cars to maintain in 2025, and it’s safe to say there are some surprises.

13 car buying misconceptions exposed

🚘 Uncover 13 Car Buying Misconceptions with Our FREE Newsletter!

“Experts Hate This! Learn the Car Buying Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know. Free Subscription!”

This list comes from a survey of CR members to know how much they pay, out of pocket, for maintenance and repairs for 12 months. The information is then compiled with previous years and extra information to provide the 10-year maintenance cost.

These are the most expensive cars to maintain in 2025

The list of the ten most expensive cars to maintain starts off with a brand known for rugged SUVs. It’s Land Rover, and it leads the list by a lot, as you can see here:

  • Land Rover – $19,460
  • Porsche – $17,900
  • Mercedes-Benz – $12,630
  • Audi – $11,350
  • BMW – $11,000
  • Volvo – $10,330
  • Mini – $10,200
  • Infiniti – $10,020
  • Ram – $8,650
  • Subaru – $7,920

Land Rover’s flagship vehicle, the Range Rover, ranks quite low in reliability ratings in trusted sites such as RepairPal.

There are some years that are worth it, so if you want know about the Range Rover Evoque best years to buy, you can find them here.

Not only that, but the costs are nearly triple the average of the ten most affordable cars to maintain (shown further down)

Porsche is another brand with expensive maintenance costs. However, unlike Land Rover, Porsche has earned praise for reliability. In fact, it ranked number three in this Consumer Reports list.

Some of the most expensive cars to maintain are surprising

While most of the brands aren’t surprising, there is one that catches our attention. We’re talking about Subaru. The Japanese automaker earned the number spot for reliability from Consumer Reports, but that doesn’t mean that a Forester or a Crosstrek is precisely cheap to maintain.

Another brand that’s surprising is Ram, as it isn’t necessarily a luxury brand. However, Stellantis, the parent company, is known for having reliability issues in recent years. Adding to this, many of the components in Ram trucks are more expensive precisely because they are heavy-duty.

What’s surprising about Ram is that Jeep, a sister company, is almost $1,500 less in the ten-year period.

What are the least expensive cars to maintain?

The most expensive cars to maintain are mostly luxury brands, and not everyone is looking for these. So, we analyzed the other end of the spectrum and did some numbers.

The average cost to maintain a vehicle in a ten-year period is $8,554, so this means that Land Rover’s maintenance costs more than double the average.

A 2020 Buick Enclave driving is one of the best years for the Buick Enclave
2020 Buick Enclave Avenir

The cheapest brand to maintain is Buick, which costs $5,260 for ten years, and it’s almost 40% less than the average.

Speaking of the least expensive brands to maintain, the top ten cheapest average $6,093, and the difference between them isn’t a lot. From Buick to Mitsubishi (number 10), there’s only $1,180 separating them.

However, here’s where things get interesting. Mitsubishi ranks 19th in reliability. That’s why analyzing how much your cast will cost in the long run is crucial. Here are the ten least expensive brands to maintain.

  • Buick – $5,260
  • Lincoln – $5,620
  • Toyota – $5,950
  • Hyundai – $6,110
  • Tesla – $6,125
  • Nissan – $6,270
  • Chevrolet – $6,275
  • Ford – $6,350
  • Mazda – $6,420
  • Mitsubishi – $6,420

While the list for the most affordable cars to maintain isn’t that surprising, brands such as Mazda are a welcome sight. The Japanese automaker is aiming to become a luxury brand, and being reliable and cheap to maintain is always a plus.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *