The middle-class South African earns a monthly income of just under R21,000, and with this, they can buy a new Toyota Vitz hatchback or perhaps a Proton Saga sedan.
There are many parameters out there for what constitutes the middle class.
According to Stats SA, it is someone earning a stipend of R26,894 a month. Research and analytics firm Eighty20 defines it as households with an income of R25,000.
The Bureau for Economic Research, meanwhile, considers earnings of between R5,000 to R20,000 per month as middle class; whereas Discovery Bank has it at R8,000 to R29,000 per month.
While this is certainly a wide range, averaging out these figures indicates that the middle-income family in South Africa has a monthly budget of R20,724 for all its expenses.
Strapped for choice
Finance house WesBank recommends that financially savvy individuals should spend no more than 20% of their gross earnings on a vehicle payment if they would like to have enough money left over for other important bills and emergencies.
With this in mind, the middle-class earner in South Africa should budget R4,145 per month to pay off their ride on a finance contract.
To figure out how much these individuals can realistically pay for their car, we can plug this number into the following calculation:
- Monthly payment – R4,145
- Payment term – 72 terms (6 years)
- Interest – 11.75%
- Deposit – 0%
- Balloon – No balloon payment
- Extras – No optional extras
This shows that the middle-class citizen should preferably shop for a vehicle with a window sticker in the region of R209,000.
The list below reveals the types of vehicles the average South African can buy at around this price point if they prefer their wheels to be fresh from the factory.
Click on the underlined prices to visit TopAuto Car Prices for more information on car specs and pricing.
Proton Saga 1.3 Standard
- Price – R209,900
- Power – 70kW/120Nm
- Fuel consumption – 7.0l/100km
Renault Kwid 1.0 Zen
- Price – R206,999
- Power – 50kW/91Nm
- Fuel consumption – 4.9l/100km
Suzuki S-Presso 1.0 S-Edition
- Price – R205,900
- Power – 49kW/89Nm
- Fuel consumption – 4.6l/100km
Toyota Vitz 1.0 X-Cite
- Price – R189,900
- Power – 49kW/89Nm
- Fuel consumption – 4.4l/100km
Suzuki Celerio 1.0 GA
- Price – R188,900
- Power – 49kW/89Nm
- Fuel consumption – 4.4l/100km
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