Used cars

UK’s residual winners named

One of Britain’s biggest leasing companies has revealed its top second-hand choices

Auto Express Car Reviews

SLK’s resale values among used market’s strongest

By Ross Pinnock

07th August 2007

Lex carried out a study to reveal which models are going to be worth the most on the second-hand market – and there’s good news for MINI, Mercedes, Audi and Honda.
While the trendy supermini ranks first in the top 20 used cars of 2007, Audi is crowned the most coveted brand in the rundown. The prestige German maker’s TT and A5 sports cars occupy second and third places in the line-up respectively – and Mercedes has two models in the top 10.

A spokesman for Lex told Auto Express: “Buyers who can’t afford a new MINI or Audi TT may well be able to stretch to a used one in two or three years’ time, so the cars will be in high demand, pushing up prices.”

Off-roaders are still flavour of the month judging by the table (right), with seven SUVs in the top 20, and three in the top 10. The clever Toyota Prius hybrid is ranked 15th overall, retaining 45 per cent of its new price after three years or 60,000 miles.

Lex also split cars into three price categories, and Honda products domi-nate the sub-£15,000 category. While the MINI takes the top spot, the FR-V people carrier, Jazz supermini and lat-est Civic hatch finish in second, third and fourth positions respectively. The practical seven-seater Vauxhall Zafira compact MPV rounds out the top five. Meanwhile, convertibles dominate the £15,000-£30,000 category in the Lex research, with the Audi A4 Cabriolet taking top honours ahead of the Mercedes SLK and BMW 3-Series.

In the £30,000-plus class, the folding hard-top Mercedes finishes first, with the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayman in second and third respectively.