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I've recently shifted to a new address and now live 3km from work. I have a car as part of my salary and no longer consider it worthwhile having it ( $8,000 p.a., including a car park space). I'm looking at buying a new Mazda CX-5, diesel, and assuming I get a demo model ( approx. $41K) wanted to calculate what it will cost me for a 5 year period. Depreciation plus annual fuel/service costs ? The alternative would be to buy an older 2nd hand vehicle to avoid high depreciation ?

The all-inclusive running cost for a 2.2 litre diesel vehicle would be 81c per km (including deprciation). Therefore, assuming you travel around 10,000km per year, the $8,000 pa you are being paid would about cover it. Having said that, you could be slightly better off, as Mazda include free servicing for 3 years, although compared with all other costs, servicing is only a very small part of operating a vehicle.