Car buyers should always be aware of what’s trending and what might trend in the future, because by doing so you can drastically improve your car’s resale value and maintenance cost depending what car you buy.  Let’s speculate these trending attributes today.  Our first clue is the top 10 car models sold in Australia in 2013 by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Now based on this list we can take home the following points.

Four cylinder cars

Every model on that list aside from the Holden Commodore are either exclusively four cylinder engines or as an option. Four cylinder engines are smaller, provide a better fuel efficiency and a lower rego cost. Buying a smaller car also helps with ease of parking, gentler learning curve for young drivers and higher resale based on these benefits.

Utes and SUVs

Utes and SUVs are always trusted for Australia’s harsh weather and lengthy roads.  They are higher off the ground ideal for off-road driving. They have an extremely practical Ute tray or boot space, and because of their practicality, their retail prices are often higher than sedans in the same range. This is also in ratio to their strong hold in value on the second hand market.

Diesel option

When the fuel prices started rising people reacted to alternative energy. Government made LPG installation subsidies, and brands like Toyota innovated Hybrid technology. Over the years, none of these options proved to be a winner. LPG only monopolised in the taxi industry as it seems many people are unsure about a Hybrid in fear of battery life and replacement costs.

Diesel was always known as smelly, loud and for trucks. Over the years, brands have improved the Diesel engine to eliminate most of these problems to achieve better fuel economy. Although Diesel prices in Australia are slightly higher than unleaded, a full tank can drive you almost twice the distance of unleaded. Such statistics may be worth the extra cash when purchasing the higher priced Diesel option.

Based on these three current trends, one might conclude that the next trend could be cars with all three of these features. Some are already on the market that you could consider, such as the Toyota RAV4, Subaru Forester, or Hyundai ix35, all with Diesel option. As for trends further into the future, Australians very well may embrace alternative clean energy such as the American made Tesla or technological advancements such as Google’s driverless cars. But all in time, as for now the best thing you can do is make the smartest purchase for the coming years.