Times Five

What were the five most commonly stolen cars of the past six months? Damien O’Carroll reports.

Toyota Hilux (155)

Kiwis love the Hilux, and that includes the dishonest ones, as the Hilux was the thieves’ favourite in the last six months of 2019.

Possibly distorted by the fact that there are so many around (it was the best-selling ute in the country for more than 30 years before the Ford Ranger dethroned it) and the fact that a lot of the older ones are probably about as hard to break into as a paper bag, as well as the demand for blackmarket parts. But Toyota must be pleased to see the Hilux beating the Ranger somewhere. Well, maybe not . . .

Holden Commodore (113)

Another Kiwi fave from the past takes an easy second place in the Most Nicked list.

While large cars like the Commodore have fallen drastically out of favour with new car buyers, the car thieves are still showing the big Aussie love. If only they went out and bought new ones instead of stealing old ones, then Holden wouldn’t have had to drop it.

There could actually be more than this, because we included Commodore utes, but there are 10 vehicles in the police database simply listed as ‘‘Holden Ute’’ which could mean any number of models.

Subaru Legacy (88)

Nice to see that car thieves appreciate the sure-footed appeal of a good Subaru, just like Kiwi families.

They also favoured the station wagon version of the Legacy, with the wagon outgunning the sedan 53 to 35 in the count, which makes sense because the wagon is WAY cooler than the sedan.

But it also reflects that age of the vehicles being stolen, because Subaru dropped the Legacy wagon in 2015 when it made the Outback the sole wagon representative of the Legacy range and yet still a separate model.

Ford Courier (77)

While the Ford Ranger has an iron grip on the new vehicle sales charts, it is its predecessor that makes it on to the car thief’s list.

The venerable Courier was based on the Mazda B-series ute for four generations before the tables turned and the second-gen Mazda BT-50 was instead based on an allnew Australian-developed Ford Ranger when both debuted in 2011.

Much like the Toyota Hilux, the older ones aren’t exactly difficult to break into and demand for parts is probably fairly high thanks to the fact they seem to wobble on forever, never entirely dying.

Subaru Impreza (76)

Subaru must be so proud – TWO cars on the list of favourites!

OK, probably not, but the Impreza follows the Legacy’s lead with the sedan being comprehensively out-nicked by the roomier variant (the wagon-esque hatch of the first two generations and the conventional hatch of the third and fourth gen), 47 to 29.

As with all the cars on this list, it is older models that are stolen the most (duh), with the most recent Impreza on the list being a pair of 2010 models.