01
Getting Started
No account needed. The engine runs entirely in your browser. Your answers are never stored or shared. Simply open the app, answer 8 quick questions, and get your personalised results.
Step 1 — Land & Launch
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When you open the app you'll see the landing page with a single button: "Find My Best Car →". Click it to begin the onboarding wizard. Nothing else to fill in yet.
The headline mentions "$8,000–$15,000 overpay" — that's a real Canadian average. The engine is built specifically to close that gap for you.
Step 2 — Complete the 8-Step Wizard
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You'll answer one question per screen. There are no text fields — just sliders and tap-to-select cards. The progress bar at the top shows how far along you are. Tap Back at any time to revise a previous answer.
Each question has a subtitle explaining exactly why it matters to the calculation. Read them — they contain real insight.
Step 3 — Watch the Engine Work
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After the wizard, the analysis screen runs for about 4 seconds. You'll see exactly what the engine is doing at each step: scanning vehicles, computing TCO, scoring reliability, and more. This is real computation — not decoration.
The engine evaluates all 51 vehicles against your profile simultaneously before showing results.
Step 4 — Review Your Decision Report
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Your results arrive as a Decision Report, not a plain list. You'll see a Hero Card for your top match, a side-by-side comparison of the top 3, and a full breakdown of why each vehicle scored the way it did.
Click any vehicle card to expand its full score breakdown — cost, reliability, fit, risk, and resale are all shown individually.
02
Understanding Each Input
The 8 questions you answer directly shape the scoring weights and filter logic. Here's what each one does under the hood.
Budget
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Your budget sets a hard ceiling: vehicles priced above 115% of your stated budget are excluded. The 15% buffer exists so a slightly higher-priced vehicle with significantly lower running costs can still make it through. Set your budget as the maximum you'd actually spend — not a wishful number.
If you're open to used vehicles, set your budget lower. The dataset includes 2022 used models that often beat newer alternatives on value.
Province
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Province affects three live calculations: fuel price, insurance multiplier, and EV incentive. These are applied to every vehicle's 5-year TCO.
BC
$1.85/L
$4,000 EV
ON
$1.60/L
$5,000 EV
QC
$1.65/L
$7,000 EV
AB
$1.45/L
No incentive
QC has the highest EV incentive in Canada ($7,000). If you're in QC, an EV's effective purchase price drops significantly — this will show up clearly in your TCO.
Annual KM & Driving Type
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Annual KM is the biggest variable in fuel cost. The formula is:
Driving type affects the Fit Score: city drivers benefit from EVs and hybrids (regenerative braking). Highway drivers benefit from lower fuel consumption per km on gas engines. If you drive more than 25,000 km/year, the engine automatically increases the weight of cost efficiency.
Fuel Cost = (Annual KM × Consumption / 100) × Fuel Price × Years
Driving type affects the Fit Score: city drivers benefit from EVs and hybrids (regenerative braking). Highway drivers benefit from lower fuel consumption per km on gas engines. If you drive more than 25,000 km/year, the engine automatically increases the weight of cost efficiency.
Not sure of your exact KM? Check your car insurance renewal — it asks this annually. Or divide your last odometer reading by years owned.
Cold Climate
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Answering Yes does two things: it increases the Climate Fit score for AWD-equipped vehicles, and penalises vehicles without AWD. In the EV vs Hybrid module, it also triggers a cold-weather warning about EV range loss (20–40% in winter) and home charger costs.
If you're in MB, SK, AB, or northern ON/QC — always select Yes. The AWD boost is substantial and reflects real-world winter driving needs.
Priority
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Priority shifts the scoring weights dynamically. Here's exactly how each option moves the numbers:
| Priority | Cost | Reliability | Fit |
| Balanced | 30% | 25% | 20% |
| Cost First | 40%+ | 25% | 15% |
| Reliability | 25% | 35%+ | 15% |
| Comfort | 25% | 25% | 30%+ |
Try running the engine twice — once on Balanced and once on your real priority. Compare the results. The difference often reveals which vehicles are genuinely versatile.
Ownership Years
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This multiplies every recurring cost (fuel, insurance, maintenance) and determines how far out resale value is calculated. A 3-year horizon favours low depreciation vehicles. A 10-year horizon rewards low maintenance cost vehicles like Toyota and Lexus.
If you're leasing, use 3 years. If you're buying to keep, use 7–10. The difference in TCO rankings between 3yr and 10yr ownership can be dramatic.
03
Reading Your Results
Hero Card — Your Top Pick
The largest card at the top is your #1 match. It shows the confidence level (High/Medium/Fair), three insight pills summarising why it wins, and a full 5-year cost breakdown by category.
Comparison Table
The top 3 vehicles are shown side-by-side. Rows include score, price, 5yr TCO, fuel cost, reliability index, and AWD. A narrative below explains why #1 beats #2 in plain English.
What-If Controls
Sliders for budget and annual KM, plus dropdowns for body type and priority. Hit "Update Results" to re-run the full engine instantly with your new values — without going back through the wizard.
Profile Summary Strip
The strip below the header confirms your profile at a glance: budget, province, annual KM, driving style, and ownership years. Verify these before trusting the results.
Methodology Panel
At the bottom of results, the "How this score works" panel shows your active weight percentages. This tells you exactly which dimensions the engine is prioritising for your profile.
More Matches
Tap "Show All" to reveal vehicles ranked #4 through #10. These are still strong matches — sometimes a budget constraint or body preference change bumps one of these into your top 3.
Confidence levels explained: HIGH (score ≥ 80) means this vehicle fits your profile very well across all dimensions. MEDIUM (65–79) is a strong match with one or two trade-offs. FAIR (<65) means it made the cut on budget/body type, but other factors are less aligned.
04
How the Score is Calculated
Every vehicle receives a score from 0–100 based on five weighted dimensions. Here's what each one measures and why it matters.
Sample: Toyota RAV4 Hybrid — Score 81
Cost Efficiency
78
Reliability
87
Fit for You
82
Risk Score
88
Resale Value
75
Cost
Cost Efficiency Score
Derived from 5-Year Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): purchase price + fuel + insurance + maintenance − resale value. Normalised so the cheapest vehicle in the eligible set scores 100 and the most expensive scores 0.
Default weight: 30% · High-mileage boost: +8%
Reliability
Reliability Score
Weighted composite of manufacturer reliability index (60%), reliability index again for repair frequency proxy (30%), and recall score (10%). Lexus and Toyota typically score 88–93 here.
Default weight: 25% · Peace-of-mind priority: +10%
Fit
Fit Score
Personal alignment across four sub-dimensions: Usage Fit (mileage + driving type), Climate Fit (AWD in cold weather), Body Match (your preference), and Feature Match (comfort priority × feature score + safety). This is the most personalised dimension.
Default weight: 20% · Comfort priority: +10%
Risk
Risk Score
Inverted risk index: penalises vehicles with high reliability variance, poor recall history, and low technology maturity. A score of 100 means very low risk of unexpected problems. EVs with short track records score lower here.
Default weight: 15%
Resale
Resale Score
Combination of depreciation resistance (70%) and market demand index (30%). Vehicles like the Toyota Tacoma, Land Cruiser, and Lexus models score highest. Some EVs depreciate fast — this dimension captures that.
Default weight: 10%
05
Using the EV vs Hybrid Tab
The EV vs Hybrid tab is a standalone analysis module. It pulls your profile from the wizard and runs a detailed head-to-head comparison between the best EV and best Hybrid available within your budget.
Vehicle Selector
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Up to 4 EV and 4 Hybrid candidates are surfaced within your budget and body preference. You can swap between them using the dropdown pickers. The comparison updates instantly — no re-run needed. Try different pairings to see how the numbers shift.
If no EVs or Hybrids appear, your budget or body type filter is too restrictive. Remove the body type filter or increase budget to unlock options.
The 10-Year Cumulative Cost Chart
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The chart shows both vehicles' running total costs year by year. The blue line is the EV, the green line is the Hybrid. Where they cross is the breakeven point — marked with a dotted vertical line.
If the breakeven year is within your ownership period, the EV becomes the economical choice long-term. If the lines never cross, the Hybrid is cheaper throughout.
If the breakeven year is within your ownership period, the EV becomes the economical choice long-term. If the lines never cross, the Hybrid is cheaper throughout.
The chart accounts for depreciation — so the lines dip down as the vehicle loses value. This is why TCO curves are not purely linear.
Head-to-Head Scorecard
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Eight dimensions are compared simultaneously using a mirrored bar chart. EV bars grow from the centre-left, Hybrid bars from the centre-right. The brighter, more saturated bar wins that dimension.
The tally at the bottom (e.g., "EV wins: 5/8") gives you a quick headline. But note: not all dimensions are equal. An EV winning on Feature Score doesn't outweigh a Hybrid winning on Range/Refuel for a long-distance driver.
The tally at the bottom (e.g., "EV wins: 5/8") gives you a quick headline. But note: not all dimensions are equal. An EV winning on Feature Score doesn't outweigh a Hybrid winning on Range/Refuel for a long-distance driver.
The Range/Refuel dimension is intentionally structured to favour Hybrids — it reflects the real-world anxiety of running out of charge with no nearby station.
AI Verdict Button
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The "Generate AI Verdict" button sends all computed numbers — your profile, both vehicles' TCO, breakeven year, CO₂ savings — to Claude and requests a 3-paragraph plain-English verdict. This covers: who wins on cost and why, lifestyle fit (cold climate, charging, driving habits), and a final recommendation.
The AI verdict is the only part of the app that uses a language model. All scoring is deterministic math — same inputs always produce identical outputs.
The AI verdict is the only part of the app that uses a language model. All scoring is deterministic math — same inputs always produce identical outputs.
Generate the verdict after trying different vehicle pairings. Each pairing produces a different contextual analysis tailored to those specific vehicles and your exact numbers.
CO₂ Calculation: The engine uses Canada's average grid emission factor (0.13 kg/kWh) for EVs and 2.31 kg/L for gasoline combustion. The savings figure is a genuine 5-year estimate based on your actual annual KM.
06
Tips to Get the Most Out of It
✓ Do This
Run the engine at least twice with different priorities to see how rankings shift
Use the What-If sliders to test ±$10K budget sensitivity
Try both "Any body type" and a specific type to see what you're giving up
Check the Methodology panel to confirm weights match your actual priorities
Use the EV vs Hybrid tab even if you're not sure — the breakeven chart is often surprising
Set ownership years to what's realistic, not what you hope for
✗ Avoid This
Don't set budget unrealistically low — you'll miss vehicles that save you money long-term
Don't ignore the Score Breakdown — a high final score can hide a low Fit score
Don't treat the score as a buying decision alone — use it as a shortlist
Don't skip the province selection — it materially affects EV economics
Don't assume the top-scoring EV is best if you lack home charging
Don't overlook "More Matches" — #4 or #5 often suits specific needs better
Power User Move: Run the engine with "No Preference" for body type first to see the global top 3. Then re-run filtered to your preferred body type. Compare the TCO difference — it tells you the real premium you're paying for your preferred style.
07
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the vehicle prices accurate? ▼
The MSRP values in the dataset are representative Canadian prices as of 2024–2025. They are used for TCO modelling, not as dealer quotes. Always verify the actual transaction price with your dealer — dealer markups, trim packages, and financing terms vary.
Why doesn't my favourite car appear in the results? ▼
Two reasons: either the vehicle's MSRP exceeds 115% of your stated budget, or your body type filter excludes it. Try increasing your budget by $10–15K or switching body preference to "No Preference" to see all eligible vehicles.
Is Lexus really worth the price premium? ▼
In the engine's data, Lexus models carry a reliability index of 89–92/100 (among the highest) and depreciation rates of 26–29% over 5 years (among the lowest). For users with $55K+ budgets who weight reliability and resale heavily, Lexus models frequently appear in the top 3. The ES 300h and NX 350h particularly stand out for hybrid efficiency combined with luxury reliability.
How is the EV incentive applied? ▼
The provincial EV incentive is subtracted from the purchase price before TCO is calculated. So an EV listed at $52,000 in QC has an effective purchase price of $45,000 ($7,000 incentive). This materially changes the breakeven calculation against hybrids. Federal incentives may also apply — check Transport Canada for current CEIP eligibility.
What does "deterministic" mean on the app? ▼
It means the scoring engine produces identical results every single time for the same inputs. There is no randomness, no A/B weighting, and no personalisation algorithm learning from other users. If you enter the same profile twice, you get the exact same rankings. The only non-deterministic element is the AI explanation text, which varies slightly each generation.
Can I use this for used vehicle decisions? ▼
Yes. The dataset includes 2022 used models for Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford F-150, and Lexus UX 300h. Their depreciation rates reflect what you'd pay today, not the original MSRP. For best results with used vehicles, set your budget to what you'd actually spend at a dealership, and set ownership years to how long you plan to keep it.
Does the app store my data? ▼
No. Everything runs in your browser. Your profile inputs are held in component state and disappear when you close the tab. Nothing is sent to a server except for the optional AI explanation calls to Anthropic's API — and those contain only vehicle names and numeric scores, never personal information.
The EV vs Hybrid tab says "No EVs within budget" — why? ▼
The cheapest EV in the dataset is the Chevrolet Equinox EV at $46,000. If your budget is set below ~$40,000, no EVs will qualify (the 115% buffer brings the floor to roughly $40K). Either increase your budget or switch the body type filter to "No Preference" — the Equinox EV is classified as SUV, so a sedan-only filter will also exclude it.
REF
Brands in the Dataset
{["Toyota","Honda","Tesla","Hyundai","Mazda","Subaru","Ford","Kia","Chevrolet","Volkswagen","Nissan","GMC","RAM","Lexus"].map(b =>
`${b}`
).join('')}