Now Hyundai has embarked on the Free Gas trend, that Ford & GM have been doing. My theory is this: the Canadian dollar is too strong on the market, new car prices should have dropped by comparison. They haven't, they've remained stable for 5+ years. So the manufacturer, NOT the dealership, instead of giving cash-back like Toyota did, lowering the purchase cost, they are giving gas cards, for one particular gas merchant. Ford / GM would give anywhere from 500$ to 1500$ (the more expensive the car/suv) and now Hyundai is giving between 2000$ and 4500$. For example, the super-cheap Accent 5-speed manual tranny at 15,000 gives you a 3,600$ gas card (gift cert card). So far Honda & Toyota haven't jumped on this trend. I think they should, and advertise it as YEARS worth of free gas.
I like Jaguar's idea of including all maintenance for five years. I'd rather have that than free gas, even on a Toyota. And I'd prefer not be tied to one particular gas retailer, though of course that's how the car manufacturer makes the deal.
Toyota has handed out gas cards before actually. IIRC, it was before they dropped the prices. The other manufacturers haven't (Mazda dropped theirs, Nissan took longer and Honda just did it for the 2010 MY). Gas cards are probably a good idea since it retains vehicle resale value an the value of the card is really dependent on the location of the buyer. Someone in Edmonton will get more fuel out of the 86.9¢/litre while someone in Yellowknife or Vancouver will get less at 115.9¢/litre. Toronto is about 110.9¢/litre.
