Analysis updated April 16, 2026
SUV sticker prices range from $25,000 compact crossovers to $100,000+ full-size models, but the sticker tells only part of the story. A moderately priced SUV with good fuel economy and a long expected life can cost less per mile than a cheaper model that burns more fuel and needs more repairs.
IAVTA measures ownership cost using Cost Per Mile Remaining (CPMR). It adds up every cost of owning a vehicle, including purchase price, financing at current rates from FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), insurance projected over the vehicle's remaining life, fuel at current national prices, maintenance, repairs, and state fees, then divides by the estimated miles left. The result is a single dollar-per-mile figure that makes any two vehicles directly comparable.
The SUV category goes by different names in different markets. In the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, the terms 4x4 and off-roader are commonly used, though many modern SUVs never leave paved roads. In some markets, smaller models are called crossovers to distinguish them from truck-based SUVs. This analysis covers all sport utility vehicles regardless of label, from subcompact crossovers to full-size body-on-frame trucks.
Across 147 SUVs with enough data, the median "best year to buy" is only 2 years old. And 41.5% of SUVs have a brand-new CPMR within 10% of their cheapest year. SUVs depreciate steeply in the first few years, but their per-mile cost levels off quickly because the remaining-mile denominator is still large.
The chart below shows the median CPMR across 208 non-luxury sport utility vehicles, analyzed at the trim level by model year. Luxury brands (Acura, BMW, Lexus, Land Rover, etc.) are excluded here and covered in a separate section below. Lower means cheaper per mile of remaining life.
The dark line tracks the least expensive trim at each model year; the gold line tracks the most expensive. Together they show the full range of SUV ownership costs at each age.
CPMR drops from $0.75/mi in 2006 to around $0.38/mi by 2016, then stays remarkably flat through the newest model years. A 2026 SUV at $0.44/mi costs only about 15% more per mile than the cheapest year on the chart. The most expensive trim follows the same shape but runs about $0.06/mi higher. The cheapest model years cluster around 2015-2018, where a compact crossover has depreciated enough to lower the purchase price but still has 100,000-130,000 miles of life remaining. Fuel economy standards improved significantly around 2013-2015, so SUVs from this era also get meaningfully better mileage than earlier models.
At the other extreme, SUVs older than 12-15 years look affordable on the lot but the per-mile math works against them. A 2006-era SUV at $0.75/mi costs nearly double the sweet spot. These vehicles carry lower fuel economy ratings, higher repair costs, and shorter remaining lifetimes. A $7,000 SUV with 25,000 miles left absorbs its ongoing costs across far fewer miles than a $30,000 SUV with 150,000 miles ahead of it.
The gap between new and used is smaller than most people expect. A brand-new 2026 SUV costs $0.44/mi versus $0.38/mi for the cheapest year on the chart, about $900 difference over 15,000 miles of annual driving. Compact crossovers like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Hyundai Tucson drive this narrow gap: their purchase prices drop roughly in proportion to miles consumed, so CPMR stays nearly constant whether bought new or a few years used. Full-size SUVs like the Chevrolet Tahoe and Ford Expedition show a more pronounced dip in the 5-8 year range, where depreciation has done more work but the vehicle still has substantial life remaining.
These are category-level patterns, and individual models can diverge significantly. Use the search box below or the comparison tool to check specific vehicles.
The non-luxury SUV category spans everything from subcompact crossovers to three-row family haulers, and that range produces very different cost curves. The chart below overlays three high-volume SUVs that illustrate the split.
Compact crossovers behave more like sedans than like trucks. The Kia Sportage is a striking case: its 2025 LX trim reaches $0.28/mi, lower than every older Sportage model year. Competitive pricing, good fuel economy, a full lifetime of miles ahead, and Kia's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty make the newest model the cheapest to own per mile. For a vehicle like the Sportage, the "never buy new" rule would increase total cost, not reduce it.
Larger SUVs tell a different story. The Ford Explorer, a mid-size three-row model, shows the traditional used-car advantage: its 2023 base trim at $0.41/mi beats the 2026 model at $0.50/mi, a 22% gap. Higher fuel costs, insurance, and purchase prices all need a few years of depreciation before the per-mile math improves. The bigger the SUV, the larger the payoff from buying lightly used.
Between those extremes sits the Honda CR-V, the second best-selling SUV in the United States. Its CPMR bottoms out at $0.31/mi around 2016 and costs $0.36/mi brand new, a gap of only 16%. Honda's long expected lifetime (200,000+ miles) keeps per-mile cost low at every age, making the CR-V a vehicle where trim selection matters more than the year on the odometer.
The 128 luxury SUVs in the dataset span from near-luxury crossovers to six-figure flagships.
Luxury SUVs show a steep drop from $1.16/mi in 2006 to about $0.51/mi by 2015, then level off between $0.55 and $0.67/mi through the newest model years. The floor is higher than non-luxury SUVs ($0.51 vs $0.38), and the curve at recent model years tilts upward more noticeably. Only 33% of luxury SUVs have a new-car CPMR within 10% of their cheapest year, compared to 41.5% for non-luxury SUVs. Used buying makes a meaningfully bigger difference in this segment.
The upward tilt in recent years reflects higher new-car prices. A new luxury SUV commonly starts at $45,000-$65,000, compared to $28,000-$40,000 for a non-luxury equivalent. That extra $15,000-$25,000 spreads across the same number of miles, pushing CPMR up. Insurance costs scale with vehicle value, which adds another layer.
A subset of luxury SUVs blurs the line with non-luxury pricing. The Acura RDX ($0.42/mi), Lexus UX ($0.40/mi), and Acura MDX Sport Hybrid ($0.40/mi) all achieve CPMRs comparable to mainstream SUVs. These vehicles combine moderate pricing, good reliability, and reasonable fuel economy. At the other end, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan at $3.13/mi and Lamborghini Urus at $2.29/mi show what happens when $300,000+ purchase prices meet high insurance and maintenance costs.
Want to see the numbers for a specific SUV?
Every vehicle in the dataset has a full cost breakdown, trim comparison, and interactive chart.