Toyota Aurion is the least expensive Australian-built large car to run, according a recent survey conducted by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV).

The RACV survey makes a variety of calculations to determine the vehicle running costs of a range of models. These include the cost of finance, depreciation, scheduled services, registration, insurance, fuel and tyres.

The survey found that the Toyota Aurion AT-X equipped with six-speed automatic transmission costs an average of $226.20 per week to run - $13.24 less per week than its main rival.

This equates to a difference of $688.47 per annum.

Aurion AT-X's list price is also $1635 less than its main rival.

The weekly running costs of Aurion were even lower than an LPG-equipped large car included in the survey.

Aurion was not just the least expensive of all five large cars in the survey to run. It was found to have had the least depreciation, interest charges and total registration costs of any car in the survey.

The figures arrived at provide a guide to the cost of owning and operating a vehicle over a five-year period at an average of 15,000km per year.

"Motorists are looking at running costs more closely than ever, so the RACV study underlines another dimension to Aurion AT-X 's overall affordability as the least expensive vehicle to run in its class," said Toyota Australia's senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner.

Aurion AT-X also leads its class by delivering more power and using less fuel* than any other normally aspirated Australian-made six-cylinder car.

The 3.5-litre Quad-Cam V6 develops 200kW of power at 6200rpm and 336Nm of torque at 4700rpm on regular unleaded petrol. It uses just 9.9 litres of regular unleaded fuel for every 100km, based on the ADR 81/01 combined test.

"When you couple the superior performance and fuel efficiency of Aurion AT-X with its low running costs, the vehicle represents an increasingly powerful proposition for large car buyers," said Mr Buttner.

Aurion AT-X was named the best car in its class for each of the past two years by experts at Australia's motoring clubs and Fairfax's Drive.

Toyota Aurion Presara was recently named the leading large car in Wheels' magazine 2008 Gold Stars Cars survey.

The 2008 Gold Stars Cars survey was based on purchase price, insurance, fuel, warranty, service, safety and drive.

Toyota Aurion has been in the list of top-selling 10 cars in 2008, confirming critical acclaim for its performance, fuel efficiency, superior equipment levels and value for money.

* Fuel consumption will vary depending on driving conditions/style, vehicle conditions and options/accessories. Source of fuel consumption data: ADR 81/01 combined cycle.