RENAULT MEGANE RS 2017 WHEELS GOLD STAR VALUE AWARDS This year’s best new-car buys for every budget

THE TRUE COST OF A CAR GOES BEYOND THE PURCHASE PRICE. HERE’S OUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE BEST BUYS IN AUSTRALIA

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A CAR is the most technically complex consumer product people buy and the second-most costly purchase for most of us. And while dynamic dissection to sort the diamonds from the duds is a Wheels cornerstone, sifting through the new car market to separate the buyer’s picks from the money pits is the work of our annual Gold Star Value awards.

The devil (aside from non-deductible car loans) is the insidious depreciation, which makes up the biggest chunk of the cost of owning a car in the initial years from new.

A good car will only lose about 30 percent of its new price in three years, while a poor one will only retain 30 percent... Clearly, it’s worth knowing which cars are good at holding their value and which aren’t much chop.

Yet a new car doesn’t stop at depreciation in its quest to empty your wallet. There are fuel costs, insurance, servicing frequency/cost, and the financial burden of fixing things that cunningly fail just outside the factory warranty.

A turbo-diesel will cost more to buy than a petrol but typically use less fuel, though which is less costly to run might depend on the day of the week. Our research indicates that diesel prices remain reasonably stable, whereas unleaded prices vary depending on the day.

With an emissions cloud hanging over oil-burners, there’s also the question of which will be worth more at resale time. And can hybrids or electric cars justify their typically higher price tags in energy savings along the way? The answers await on the pages ahead.

Read on, then, as we bring you the figures, from a starting grid of the 2500-plus cars on sale in Australia, for more than 60 of today’s best buys, across 21 categories.