Daily driven car that won't depreciate too much?
Discussion
Looking for a dream
Ideally no more than 12 years old
Ideally interesting
Ideally petrol engine
Ideally decent sized, saloon, hatch, estate. (5dr)
Ideally won't depreciate too much over 3-4 years.
Ideally not fragile, happy to spend but don't want to replace turbos, gearboxes etc
Budget up to £12k.
Edit: happy to go for a 2+2 larger coupe, however this may defeat the point of a daily driver.
Current considerations are B8.5 S4 but may be ropey. Mk5 GTI ed30 but will be older than the 12 years. Potentially unrealistic and something needs to change?
Ideally no more than 12 years old
Ideally interesting
Ideally petrol engine
Ideally decent sized, saloon, hatch, estate. (5dr)
Ideally won't depreciate too much over 3-4 years.
Ideally not fragile, happy to spend but don't want to replace turbos, gearboxes etc
Budget up to £12k.
Edit: happy to go for a 2+2 larger coupe, however this may defeat the point of a daily driver.
Current considerations are B8.5 S4 but may be ropey. Mk5 GTI ed30 but will be older than the 12 years. Potentially unrealistic and something needs to change?
Edited by RussNC on Sunday 17th July 11:09
Perhaps but then it's a 3 litre straight 6 hatch so will likely retain some desirability. Cars like the R32 hold up well and I don't envisage £5k M135i's being a thing in the next few years. I would think it would hold up value wise better than many?
Edited by Mr_Webb on Sunday 17th July 13:02
liner33 said:
VW Up! Gti, they don’t seem to be dropping much
Doesn’t fall under the ‘decent sized’ criteria of the OP (although all such things are relative), but I’d agree depreciation wise - I bought my 68 plate one with 7k miles on it for 10.5k in May 2021, and according to WBAC it’s now ‘worth’ 13.5k with 14k miles on it? Mad.It’s not going though, I love it, it’s almost as fun as my Elise.
RussNC said:
Ideally no more than 12 years old
Ideally interesting
Ideally petrol engine
Ideally decent sized, saloon, hatch, estate. (5dr)
Ideally won't depreciate too much over 3-4 years.
Ideally not fragile, happy to spend but don't want to replace turbos, gearboxes etc
Budget up to £12k.
Current considerations are B8.5 S4 but may be ropey. Mk5 GTI ed30 but will be older than the 12 years. Potentially unrealistic and something needs to change?
Your wish list is pretty close to mine, though there are some great 2003-2010 cars, so I personally wouldn’t get stuck on age.Ideally interesting
Ideally petrol engine
Ideally decent sized, saloon, hatch, estate. (5dr)
Ideally won't depreciate too much over 3-4 years.
Ideally not fragile, happy to spend but don't want to replace turbos, gearboxes etc
Budget up to £12k.
Current considerations are B8.5 S4 but may be ropey. Mk5 GTI ed30 but will be older than the 12 years. Potentially unrealistic and something needs to change?
I’d recommend the Passat R36 Estate, as this what I bought as my practical car. It mixes the best traits of older cars - especially the musical VR6 engine - with all the new car tech you could want, including a very slick DSG ‘box, super-comfy 12- or 14-way adjustable sports seats, parking sensors front and rear, heated seats front and rear, plus stuff like a reversing camera and 600W speakers as options.
I wanted a B8 S4 Avant for a long time and tried a battered manual about three months ago, which is still for sale, but now at £7,795 rather than £8,995. It was pleasant to drive and very responsive, but the Passat has far better seats, a more dramatic engine/exhaust note, more equipment and a bigger boot.
Was interested to see the BMW 130i mentioned, as that’s my fun car. Having had a work M140i previously, I’d say the 130i has better steering, a more satisfying engine/gearbox, better traction without a rear-tyre-unsettling mountain of turbocharged torque and is still quick enough and has more than enough torque to pick up speed without fuss.
I paid less than half your budget for my sub-70k-mile, high-spec model two years ago and think it should be worth a grand or two more than that now. Can’t imagine it’d drop much from that level, though I’d anticipate that the newer and more common M135i/M140i probably have further to fall…
RoVoFob said:
Was interested to see the BMW 130i mentioned, as that’s my fun car. Having had a work M140i previously, I’d say the 130i has better steering, a more satisfying engine/gearbox, better traction without a rear-tyre-unsettling mountain of turbocharged torque and is still quick enough and has more than enough torque to pick up speed without fuss.
I paid less than half your budget for my sub-70k-mile, high-spec model two years ago and think it should be worth a grand or two more than that now. Can’t imagine it’d drop much from that level, though I’d anticipate that the newer and more common M135i/M140i probably have further to fall…
I still think the 130i is a bit of a bargain. It hasn’t increased in value nearly as much as a Golf R32 or Alfa 147 GTA of the same era. Even near A1 cars are only £7-8k. I paid less than half your budget for my sub-70k-mile, high-spec model two years ago and think it should be worth a grand or two more than that now. Can’t imagine it’d drop much from that level, though I’d anticipate that the newer and more common M135i/M140i probably have further to fall…
My feeling is that the march of EVs will cause cars in the £12k league to depreciate quite hard before too long.
But then my fortune-telling is probably as dodgy as everyone else's.
Who knows what the used car market will be like in 3 or 4 years? We could have a lot of inflation, or we could find people have less money to spend on 'nice' cars? Things are changing fast, today's depreciation graph may have no validity.
If you want to limit your losses to say £5k over the next 4 years, the only way to do that is not to spend more than £5k, and hope you can get 4 years with no big bills.
But then my fortune-telling is probably as dodgy as everyone else's.
Who knows what the used car market will be like in 3 or 4 years? We could have a lot of inflation, or we could find people have less money to spend on 'nice' cars? Things are changing fast, today's depreciation graph may have no validity.
If you want to limit your losses to say £5k over the next 4 years, the only way to do that is not to spend more than £5k, and hope you can get 4 years with no big bills.
ChevronB19 said:
Doesn’t fall under the ‘decent sized’ criteria of the OP (although all such things are relative), but I’d agree depreciation wise - I bought my 68 plate one with 7k miles on it for 10.5k in May 2021, and according to WBAC it’s now ‘worth’ 13.5k with 14k miles on it? Mad.
It’s not going though, I love it, it’s almost as fun as my Elise.
Size is relative relative though it’s bigger than many 2+2 coupes it’s the same dimensions as the mk1 Golf which was a family car at the time , we have had 4 adults in mine (5doors) without complaint , but of a tardis imo , even took it on holiday with a roof box on and dog on the back seat It’s not going though, I love it, it’s almost as fun as my Elise.
liner33 said:
ChevronB19 said:
Doesn’t fall under the ‘decent sized’ criteria of the OP (although all such things are relative), but I’d agree depreciation wise - I bought my 68 plate one with 7k miles on it for 10.5k in May 2021, and according to WBAC it’s now ‘worth’ 13.5k with 14k miles on it? Mad.
It’s not going though, I love it, it’s almost as fun as my Elise.
Size is relative relative though it’s bigger than many 2+2 coupes it’s the same dimensions as the mk1 Golf which was a family car at the time , we have had 4 adults in mine (5doors) without complaint , but of a tardis imo , even took it on holiday with a roof box on and dog on the back seat It’s not going though, I love it, it’s almost as fun as my Elise.
Heathwood said:
I still think the 130i is a bit of a bargain. It hasn’t increased in value nearly as much as a Golf R32 or Alfa 147 GTA of the same era. Even near A1 cars are only £7-8k.
Absolutely. I never understand this. I always compare it to the heavier and less powerful rear-wheel drive - and mega money - Clio V6, the heavier and less powerful R32 and the 15kg lighter but 15hp less powerful 147 GTA.It even has the biggest boot and best fuel economy!
With all that in mind, you’d think the 130i should be a pretty low depreciation option.
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