5 Cheap Cars That Are Costly To Maintain

You'll need to look carefully, but there are still plenty of used cars out there that are both dirt cheap to buy and to maintain. However, not every well-depreciated used car is a bargain. Some are cheap for a reason — maybe they were bad when they were new, have ended up becoming unfashionable as tastes change, or they've simply proved to be unreliable.

An unreliable car can be a drain on its owners' wallet, but aging, unreliable luxury cars can prove particularly costly to maintain. They tend to be more complex than their economy-minded counterparts, with electrical and mechanical systems that will inevitably fail at some point and require specialist repairs.

There are a few luxury cars that have proved surprisingly cheap to maintain, but on the whole, the more luxurious a car was when it was new, the more it will cost to keep on the road in its later years. These five aging models are all especially prone to costly repairs, and even though they can all be bought for less than $15,000 on average, they're still not a good idea to buy unless you have deep pockets to pay for repairs.

It's safe to assume that most buyers looking for a used SUV will already be aware of Land Rover's patchy reliability reputation. However, some might be surprised at just how poorly the brand fares in rankings: According to Consumer Reports, Land Rover is the most expensive major brand for maintenance and repairs on the market, with its cars costing even more to maintain than an average Porsche.

The Discovery 3, usually sold as the LR3 in the U.S., is one of the brand's cheapest models to buy on average, but it's not any cheaper to maintain. According to RepairPal, buyers should expect to shell out $929 every year on repairs. Major repairs can easily stretch into the thousands of dollars, although like all the other cars here, you'll be able to save significant cash if you carry out the work yourself.

One of the LR3's biggest downsides is that it doesn't have the same badge appeal as a Range Rover, yet it's still much more expensive to maintain than a similarly-sized family SUV from a different brand. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, for example, offers similarly impressive all-terrain capabilities, but costs $666 to maintain annually according to RepairPal. Meanwhile, buyers who consider a used Toyota 4Runner can expect to pay just $514 on average.

When the BMW X5 debuted in 1999, it marked the start of the brand's highly successful foray into SUVs. Although, being BMW, the brand couldn't call them that — instead, it insisted that the X5 was an SAV, or Sports Activity Vehicle. The new terminology was partly down to the fact that the X5 was a road-focused car, and didn't have the same off-road capability as a traditional SUV. However, the road-focused blueprint that the X5 helped establish has become so popular today that many buyers no longer expect an SUV to have any significant off-road capability, and the SAV term has been long since retired.

The X5 proved a commercial hit, with over 845,000 examples of the car sold during its first decade on sale. Those early cars have now depreciated enough that the X5 can be readily found for under $10,000, but buyers shouldn't be fooled into thinking that the X5 will be equally affordable to maintain. According to RepairPal, the average annual repair bill for the model is $1,166. That figure can be potentially reduced if you're comfortable doing most of the work yourself. However, a quick scroll through owners' forums for the first generation (E53) X5 is all it takes to confirm that keeping a cheap example on the road will take a lot more than just standard maintenance, so wrenching novices should probably stay away.

The modern Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a collision of tech and luxury, but plenty of older examples are still luxurious even by today's standards. Unfortunately, their older technology means they're also susceptible to costly repairs, which has pushed their average annual repair bill higher than the brand's other models. Even the unremarkable S350 — at least, unremarkable in S-Class terms — costs $1,403 in maintenance and repairs annually according to RepairPal. Older examples can be easily found for under $15,000, but buyers should probably keep a similar amount in a separate fund in case larger, costlier repairs crop up.

Anyone brave enough to buy an ageing S-Class will find themselves with a car that remains both comfortable and reasonably rapid, with even the low-spec W220 S350 offering a 3.7-liter V6 engine with 245 hp. Stretch the budget to a V8 model, and there will be even more horses on tap. However, some S-Classes are worse for reliability than others, so it's worth being picky — the 2007 S550, is one Mercedes-Benz that's worth steering clear of at all costs.

It isn't just European cars that cost a lot to maintain as they age. The Cadillac Escalade is an all-American creation, but it's equally pricey to keep on the road, with RepairPal estimating an average annual repair cost of $1,007. The first generation of the Escalade, produced between 1999 and 2000, can now be picked up for less than $15,000 on average according to Classic data, and the second generation is only slightly pricier. Both feature GM's trusty V8 engines under the hood, with the first — and cheapest — generation packing a 5.7-liter V8 engine.

The Escalade was originally based on the GMC Yukon Denali, with later iterations forking away from the GMC model to give the Caddy more of a unique identity. Considering a brand new Escalade will today cost at least $90,000, buying one for $15,000 or less might seem like a good deal. However, RepairPal notes that even seemingly simple jobs like a heater hose replacement can cost upwards of $1,000 if you take the car to a mechanic, so it's unlikely to feel like as much of a bargain when something inevitably needs repairing.

No Porsche is ever going to be truly cheap to maintain, and most aren't cheap to buy either. There are a few cheap Porsches you can buy on a budget, however, and the first generation Cayenne is one of them. Base-spec examples can be picked up for $15,000 or less, but they'll likely cost a lot over the long run. RepairPal puts the Cayenne's average annual repair cost at $1,231, although if something major breaks, owners can expect to pay significantly more.

Early Cayennes are also known to have more issues than later models, although all model years will have their own individual quirks. Anyone looking to score themselves a cheap used Cayenne should check owners' forums to see the common issues with the particular model year they're considering, then be careful to check for the relevant red flags when they're viewing used examples. It's still possible to get caught out, but you're less likely to end up with an eye-watering maintenance and repair bill if you know what to look for before you buy.