New car buying

The problem with these sort of comparisons is that they do not take into account the sort of discounts that the new car buyer can obtain. The BMW 3 series may well retain a higher residual value than the Renault Laguna over three years - but whereas you can negotiate a healthy discount on a new Laguna - you can't on a 3 series. This means that the 'depreciation from list price' figures are very misleading. A car trader on TV, responding to this report, pointed out that he was selling a new Laguna at £11,999 when it's list price was over £17k. Try getting a £5k discount on a new 3 series!

Kev

Right!

Another thing is these articles always emphasis the percentages, and never consider the absolutes.

"If you own a BMW 3 Series, then you can congratulate yourself.... But if you own a Renault Megane... Oops! They're the fastest depreciating cars losing more than half their value in the first three years"

This may well be true in percentage terms, but without considering the list prices, and translating the percentages into £££s, it doesn't actually tell you which of the two will cost less in depreciation.

This is particularly true of the more exotic marques.

Porsches are widely touted as having some of the "best" depreciation figures.

No they bloody well don't!

The cheapest Porsche will lose enough money in three years to buy a good family saloon outright, but this never seems to be pointed out.

I have to agree with all the points above but as someone who has never bought a new car I looked at this totally disregarding the discounts but which car(s) were the best bargains second hand - whether I was in the market for a BMW 3 series, Porsche, Laguna or anything else. Just looking at the comparison between a 3 to 4 year old 99T-00W family saloon and its new price (even after discounts) puts a smile on my face.

-- Krystnors