xy charts??

Probably for you example of the car you need

X axis milage
Y axis age
Data label text is the car and cost

Use this free addin to link data labels to cells.
http://www.appspro.com/Utilities/ChartLabeler.htm

Great minds think alike. This is what I had in mind to progress to if and when I succeed in getting the 2-dimensional basics to work using what you sent previously (incl. how to lay out the raw data so that the chart picks it up properly)

for 5 pairs of value I would layout like this.

A2:A6 contains X values
B2:B6 contains Y values
B1 contains text to label series

Select A1:B6 and create a single series XY scatter.

Tks for realtime response! I'll have to experiment with this because in my case there is no direct correlation between the values in A2:A6 and B2:B6 as would be implied (both are "independent"). May be the xy graph function can accomodate this somehow. I have got my raw data set out in 2-D matrix form but haven't yet tried to "scatter" graph it.

You will need to alter the layout of your data.
Creating a 2 column list where each Row value is repeated for the unique Col value.

Sorry you've lost me there. I have attached an imaginary simple example of what I am trying to chart. May be you could show me what you mean using this.

This uses the index formula with a few IF tests to suppress empty matrix cells for outputting point or label.