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How well South Africa’s favourite cars hold their value

Out of the 10 most popular vehicles in South Africa, the VW Polo Vivo holds its value the best.

To reach this conclusion, we compared the average pre-owned price in 2021 for the most-enquired-on vehicles on AutoTrader with the prices of these vehicles when they were new.

The newest models on the most-enquired-on list were selected, as this shows which vehicles South Africans are the most serious about buying.

What we found

The list below shows the top 10 most-enquired-on vehicles on AutoTrader for the first six months of 2021.

When compared to their new prices, we found that older vehicles from premium brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz are preferred amongst buyers.

Due to the age of the cars, though, the two BMWs on this list had an average depreciation of around 35%, while the Mercedes-Benz nearly matched this figure with 38.3%.

It is worth noting that the new generation of both these vehicles was recently launched, and this could have a large effect on the demand for older models.

High-performance cars like the VW Golf 7 GTI experienced more depreciation than the other models, but remain a popular choice.

Purpose-built vehicles from reputable brands like the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger then showed minimal loss of value over the years.

Our depreciation findings are listed below, ranked by most-enquired-on vehicles.


2021 Toyota Hilux 2.4GD-6 DC Raider

  • Price when newR520,500
  • Average pre-owned price – R448,503
  • Value lost – 13.8%


2020 Ford Ranger 2.0 DC Hi-Rider Wildtrak 4×4

  • Price when new – R778,400
  • Average pre-owned price – R691,530
  • Value lost – 11.2%


2020 VW Polo 1.0TSI Comfortline

  • Price when new – R324,600
  • Average pre-owned price – R292,572
  • Value lost – 9.9%


2015 BMW 320d Auto

  • Price when new – R472,000
  • Average pre-owned price – R262,147
  • Value lost – 44.5%


2016 Mercedes-Benz C200 Auto

  • Price when new – R521,414
  • Average pre-owned price – R321,825
  • Value lost – 38.3%


2014 VW Golf 7 GTI Auto

  • Price when new – R382,800
  • Average pre-owned price – R305,679
  • Value lost – 20.1%


2018 Toyota Fortuner 2.8GD-6

  • Price when new – R569,900
  • Average pre-owned price – R514,450
  • Value lost – 9.7%


2020 VW Polo Vivo 1.4 Comfortline

  • Price when new – R230,900
  • Average pre-owned price – R215,660
  • Value lost – 6.6%


2018 BMW M140i

  • Price when new – R682,500
  • Average pre-owned price – R512,715
  • Value lost – 24.9%


2015 Isuzu KB 300D-Teq LX 4×4

  • Price when new – R549,800
  • Average pre-owned price – R255,130
  • Value lost – 53.6%


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