Sweden's best-selling used car models 2026
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Cheapest car to own in 2026
Feb 20, 2026 8 min read
Buying a car is about more than just the purchase price. The real cost only becomes apparent when you factor in everything you actually pay to keep the car running. The government has its say, it will need service and maybe even spare parts, and you will have to refuel and/or charge it too.
Have you heard the term ”TCO” before? It’s really just a fancier way of saying ”cost of ownership.” It stands for ”Total Cost of Ownership” or ”Total ägandekoständ” in Swedish, and is a bit more comprehensive than just looking at fuel costs and what the car costs to buy.
Is the classic Golf one of the cheapest cars? Read on to find out!
In this article, we have looked at a few different costs (both direct and indirect) to find out what the car actually costs.
- Fuel cost
- Insurance cost
- Tax
- Service cost
- Depreciation
All costs are stated in SEK per year. All costs are calculated on 3 years of ownership, 1,500 km per year, 18 SEK/l for petrol and diesel, 3.50 SEK/kWh for electricity. A hybrid is driven on average 60 % of the mileage on electricity, and insurance costs come from insurance brokers. Service costs may vary but we have calculated on an average of major players in the market.
Why don't we include the cost of tires? Well, partly because the cost of new tires varies enormously depending on what quality you buy, but also where in the country you live. Plus, you don't have to buy new tires every year (and if you buy the car from Niemi Bil, both summer and winter tires are always included, so you'll need to buy new ones even less often!)
That's right, one more thing! It may happen that other cars are cheaper to insure or service etc. than the cars we include in the list here. This is because the cars we are talking about here are among the 10 cars with the lowest total cost of ownership. They may stand out negatively (expensive) in some places, but in total, these are the cheapest cars to own, even though, for example, your car may be cheaper to insure than the ones on the top list down here.
Niro, it's cheap! … Or is it?
Top 3 lowest fuel costs per year
1 – Kia E-niro!
SEK 8,348 per year. It costs so little to charge this nimble little electric car, perfect money box!
2 – MG4
SEK 8,715 per year. The electric car that quickly became MG's top seller in Sweden is cheap to own in many ways.
3 – Kia Ceed
SEK 9,054 per year. The Kia Ceed Sportswagen PHEV costs to run, not bad for a car with (among other things) a combustion engine.
Top 3 lowest insurance premiums per year
1 – Golf 1.5 e TSI
SEK 3,750 per year. You don't need to pay more than that to insure a Golf, at least not this particular Golf (your premium may differ).
2 – Toyota Yaris
SEK 3,800 per year. Insurance costs on Toyota's smallest, just shy of 50 kronor more per year than the Golf.
3 – Volvo V60
SEK 4,200 per year. Many will probably be happy that such a popular car is cheap to insure, but it has to be the V60 with the B4 Diesel engine, otherwise it could cost much more.
Top 3 lowest taxes
1 – All electric cars
SEK 360 per year. Yes, that may not have been such a funny answer, but it will clearly be a shared first place between ALL electric cars!
2 – Volvo V60 B4
SEK 3,389 per year. That didn't sound very low, I hear you say? No, as I said, this list is based on the top 10 cars with the lowest total cost of ownership, where this Volvo does really well, but it stands out a little negatively when it comes to taxes.
3 – VW Golf 1.5 eTSI
SEK 5,842 per year. Same symptoms as the Volvo, the Golf is really cheap to own overall, so much so that it outweighs the relatively high tax. See how it ranks on the total cost of ownership further down!
Top 3 cheapest service
1 – Peugeot e-2008
~2,300 SEK per year. The French know them! At least it's good at keeping maintenance costs down. I wonder if it's because the French often need to fix their cars?
2 – VW ID.4
~2,600 SEK per year. Volkswagen's mid-sized and very popular electric car isn't something that eats too much into the wallet here either.
3 – MG4
~3,000 SEK per year. Second appearance for the British-Chinese classic brand, cheap to charge and cheap to fix. Or, yes. Service.
Top 3 Least decrease in value
1 – Toyota Yaris
~18,300 SEK per year. The second time the Toyota Yaris finds its way onto the list, and it's in perhaps the most important category! (at least the category that "costs" car owners the most money).
2 – Kia Ceed
~24,000 SEK per year. They hold their value well, Kia. That means you as an owner need to put less money down on the day you want to trade up!
3 – Kia Niro PHEV
~27,000 SEK per year. Same picture as above but these figures actually apply to the Kia e-niro's hybrid sibling, the Niro PHEV. For a change of pace!
Grand total: Top 10 cars with lowest TCO
Then it was time to report on the financial superheroes of 2026! As I said, we have looked at the total cost of ownership per month, and to find out, we have taken into account:
- Fuel cost per year
- Insurance cost per year
- Tax per year
- Service cost per year
- Depreciation per year
We calculate that a normal owner drives 1,500 kilometers per year for three years. Below you can see the cars' real monthly cost!
1 – Toyota Yaris 1.5 Hybrid
~3,400 SEK per month. Ta-daa! Toyota takes first place! Note that we have switched to comparing costs per month now!
2 – Kia Ceed SW PHEV
~3,800 SEK per month. Hybrid-heavy at the top, how come? Well, electric cars have a pretty strong depreciation, since they are often newer model years.
3 – Peugeot e-2008
~4,000 SEK per month. There came the first electric car, and it's from France! Not bad, we must say, sacre bleu!
4 – Kia Niro PHEV
~4,200 SEK per month. Another Kia, another hybrid, well done we say to the Koreans who build both good AND cheap cars!
5 – VW Passat GTE
~4,850 SEK per month. Oh, where did it come from? Well, the Passat GTE didn't manage to qualify for the top 3 in any category, but the overall score is good enough to make it onto the list. Right in the middle, which is fitting for a car that is good at a lot, but perhaps not the best at a lot.
6 – MG4
~5,000 SEK per month. It can be a bit expensive to insure, which is why the MG4 doesn't come in higher. But if you find a reasonable insurance premium, the monthly cost will probably end up being significantly lower for you than this.
7 – Kia e-Niro PHEV
~5,200 SEK per year. Two Kia Niro on the same list should be a strong indication of which car is the safest bet for those of you looking for a really cheap car to own next time you buy!
8 – VW Golf 1.5 TSI
~5,300 SEK per month. Fuel costs and taxes pull the result down a bit, but the Golf is still a really sensible car in terms of cost of ownership and what you actually get for your money.
9 – Volvo V60 B4 Diesel
~5,300 SEK per month. Shared eighth place perhaps, but the Volvo has a few kronor higher TCO than the Golf. But a strong effort from one of Sweden's most popular cars!
10 – VW ID.4
~5,450 SEK per month. It feels silly to say that the ID.4 comes last, it's actually the tenth cheapest car to own. But not quite as cheap as its VW siblings on the list.
Did you see your car on the list? Or maybe your next car? We can probably help you, you'll see! At niemibil.se you can search for exactly the car you want, create an alert for the type of car you're looking for, and reserve your dream car before someone else does!
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