If there's any word that can cause car buyers to think triple before signing the dotted line, it's depreciation. Sorry to say but this is just as certain as the sky is blue - the value of the car you drive drops over time.
Stalwarts of the B-segment sedan scene - the Toyota Vios, Honda City, and Nissan Almera - are often said to be 'safe' choices when it comes to resale value. But how far is that true? Let's compare them, and we'll throw in the Volkswagen Vento into the mix as well.
Data Collection
We looked up various car classifieds and looked through the last five years of each model (2016 earliest, culminating in 2020). We then averaged their asking prices, and the results are as follows.
Toyota Vios - King, but for how much?
The Vios put on a strong showing. A five-year old Vios 1.5G holds around 63% of its value, with other variants roughly around the same mark as well.
Here's the average prices of each model year of the Vios:
| Toyota Vios average used car price | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Price | Value retained |
| 2020 | RM 71,399 | 81.7% |
| 2019 | RM 71,207 | 81.5% |
| 2018 | RM 64,090 | 72.8% |
| 2017 | RM 57,773 | 64.3% |
| 2016 | RM 56,215 | 62.6% |
Honda City - Trades punches with Vios
Much like the Vios, the City retains its value well - a five-year old City 1.5V retains roughly 58% of its value. Slightly lower than the Vios, but later models hold their values better.
Average yearly prices of the City trades punches with the Vios as well:
| Honda City average used car price | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Price | Value retained |
| 2020 | RM 74,000 | 85.2% |
| 2019 | RM 68,787 | 79.2% |
| 2018 | RM 66,500 | 76.5% |
| 2017 | RM 63,543 | 69.0% |
| 2016 | RM 53,405 | 58.0% |
Also read: Toyota Vios vs Honda City: Which one has better resale value?
Nissan Almera - Off the mark
The Almera on the other hand suffers steeper price drops - with the five-year old, once-range topping 1.5VL keeping slightly less than half (47.4%) of its original value.
As a result, the Almera's second-hand prices trail far behind similarly-aged Vios and City:
| Nissan Almera average used car price | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Price | Value retained |
| 2020 | RM 53,800 | 71.3% |
| 2019 | RM 48,050 | 56.8% |
| 2018 | RM 42,979 | 53.9% |
| 2017 | RM 39,007 | 46.1% |
| 2016 | RM 38,839 | 47.4% |
Volkswagen Vento - Not too shabby
Our Continental wildcard, the Vento, also sees sharp drops in its prices, with a five-year old model keeping only 40.5% of its value. Still, later models do better than even the Almera, flipping the script that 'Continental cars fare worse on the used car market'.
Second-hand prices are rather competitive, as the table below shows:
| VW Vento used car prices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Price | Value retained |
| 2020 | RM 65,925 | 77.8% |
| 2019 | RM 56,500 | 64.5% |
| 2018 | RM 43,656 | 49.8% |
| 2017 | RM 38,520 | 43.9% |
| 2016 | RM 35,533 | 40.5% |
Also read: Review: VW Vento TSI – Turbocharged efficiency, but at a cost
Conclusion - City and Vios remain kings
As expected, the Vios and City remain as kings in the resale value arena. However, the Almera turns out to flip the whole 'Japanese cars resell better' agenda right on its head, with lower values than the Vento.
This article is done in partnership with Carsome.my, and if you’re interested in getting some tips on maintaining your car’s resale value, you might want to check out this article here.
Also, you can also check out our handy tool to calculate your vehicle's resale value here.
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