Depreciation is an inevitable side effect of buying a new car. In the car world, it basically works like this: drive off the forecourt, watch value plummet.
Want to find out how much your car has depreciated? You’ll want to do a car valuation. Doing this can highlight just how hard depreciation has hit your purchase, and how much you can sell it for should you want to.
One way of avoiding depreciation is simple enough. And that’s to avoid a car that depreciates heavily. That sounds like a tough thing to gauge, but it’s simple enough.
Broadly ‘premium’ manufacturers depreciate less quickly. This also explains why some premium manufacturers can offer more tempting finance deals, as with a typical PCP deal you normally just pay the depreciation then choose whether to buy the car at the end with a balloon payment.
Below, you’ll find the cars in the UK that depreciate the least and how much value they retain after three years and 30,000 miles, according to Cap HPI.
- Porsche 911 GT3 (81.6%)
- Jaguar XE Project 8 (69.5%)
- Range Rover Velar P250 (68.9%)
- Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid (67%)
- Porsche Macan Performance (66.8%)
- Bentley Bentayga (64.9%)
- Lotus Exige (63.4%)
- Porsche Cayman GTS (63.2%)
- Lamborghini Urus (63.2%)
You’ll notice one thing about that list. All the cars are uber high-end and way out of the reach of normal people. Which is why below we’ve highlighted the best five real-world cars for beating depreciation below.
Mercedes-Benz GLA (62.5%)
Mercedes’ smallest SUV is a depreciation hero. It’s just the right size for a small family and its compact proportions make it easy to park.
Interior is lush too. It benefits from a huge infotainment screen that’ll get your passengers talking and the overall quality is impressive.
Jaguar E-Pace (62.3%)
Like the GLA above, the E-Pace is the company’s smallest SUV. It’s a really good drive and feels much smaller on the road than its proportions would suggest.
Great infotainment set-up, a decent boot, and the option of a plug-in hybrid are other reasons to choose an E-Pace.
Audi Q5 (61.8%)
Another SUV makes the list. It’s a popular body shape and clearly there’s great supply for them on the used market.
The Q5 is available with four-wheel drive, unlike with some SUVs. Plus it has petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid powertrains on offer.
Toyota RAV4 (61.4%)
Incredibly solid and reliable SUV from Toyota, complete with a warranty that can stretch to 10 years.
It’s only available as a hybrid or plug-in hybrid and it doubles down on its rugged looks with easy-to-read dials in the interior.
Audi E-Tron (61.4%)
An electric car makes the list. The E-Tron is a brilliant first electric car because it’s a solid Audi first, and an electric car second. There isn’t anything that will confuse new electric car drivers.
Official range for the SUV is rated at 234 miles, but expect a bit less in day-to-day driving.