On April Fool"s Day...
On April Fool"s Day, the "Head of Mandate Avoidance", Dr Hans Uphoo-Gotit, revealed measures to combat imminent roadside cameras designed to catch drivers going too slowly. I could barely manage a smile, never mind a chuckle. It just wasn"t funny. While the Bavarian company has its strong points, comedy isn"t one of them.
The Wisebuyer"s Price...
The Wisebuyer"s Price Guide analysed cars that were under ÷£25,000 in 2003, and compared their then-new price with their used trade price now. The ratings were split into the amount of cash value that the cars lost, and also the percentage drop in value they have suffered.
The biggest winner overall is the new Mini. The Mini One lost just ÷£3,427 in 3 years from its new price of ÷£10,255, while the Cooper S lost only 33.24% of its original sale price over that time. Other good performers include the Audi A4 Cabriolet, the Lotus Elise and the Honda Civic Type R.
The biggest losers of pure cash are the Vauxhall Omega, which has shed over ÷£20K of its ÷£25K sale price, and the Land Rover Freelander Softback V6 ES Auto, which has dropped over ÷£18,000 from its ÷£24,210. In percentage terms the outright loser is the Daewoo Nubira, which has collapsed to less than 10% of its original ÷£11,012 price in 36 months.
Wisebuyer"s offers the following advice to car buyers: extras are bad for you - high spec standard cars lose all the extra costs quickly; small cars and high image cars lose the least, and research carefully as the same car range can have huge variation in which models hold or lose value.