Toyota, Audi, Chevrolet: Best-Value Brands By Ownership Cost

Toyota sells the passenger cars with the lowest operating costs, on a brand basis, while Audi offers the best value among luxury cars; meanwhile Chevrolet tops all other truck brands for value-conscious shoppers.

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These are all among the results from the 10th annual Vincentric Value Ratings, offered by the data-analysis firm Vincentric, a provider of cost-of-ownership data.

To get there, Vincentric looked at more than 3,000 vehicle configurations, looking at cost of ownership specifics for each. Those items included depreciation, insurance, finance costs, fuel, taxes, fees, repairs, scheduled and unscheduled maintenance—as well as 'opportunity cost,' representing what you might have otherwise been able to earn on return for your money had it not been invested in a vehicle.

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Vincentric points out that each model wasn't looked at on a single set of parameters; rather, they considered a range of mileage intervals and insurance profiles for each, and employed a statistical model. So it's more likely that those low ownerships costs will translate to your own wallet.

Click over to the next page to see Vincentric's very long list of model winners for 2014, and watch the video covering them all.