Here it is, the 2017 IntelliChoice 5-Year Residual Value biggest loser. It's Japanese and it's...a wagon!
Does anybody pay attention to these things when they buy a car other than me?
Looks and utility and...cliff-like depreciation.
Well okay, it's technically a 5-door hatchback, but we're still talking wagons around here on the REV so just roll with it. But make no mistake about it, by far the vehicle (not a truck or SUV) with the worst residual value is the 2017 Mitsubishi i-MiEV with just 19%! Brilliant. Normally, I flip right to the Mercedes and Lincoln entries, but nothing from either company comes closes this round.
At a base price of around $24K, the Mitsu seems like great way to get an EV if you don't suffer range anxiety. But this is just bunk; buy this car and IntelliChoice predicts that it will be worth around $4.5K in five years. Wow, that's horrific (but a bargain hunter's red alert!). There are plenty of cars that lose far more money (hello, my old friends, the Germans) but under 20% of the original value?!? That's more than problematic. Instead of this vehicle being a beacon of PC sunlight for the company, it's a depreciating albatross. No wonder Mitsu is floundering.
I guess maybe these are like cheap watches: it'll cost you more to replace the batteries than to replace the whole car, hence the wicked depreciation.
But K2 asked if he is the only one who looks at such things. Since I don't very often buy a new car, I guess I am looking at the other side of the coin: I love finding a good make and model that gets a bad rap for no valid reason, and therefore falls off the depreciation curve. Those are the ones I like to buy.
But regarding folks buying new cars, we all know that their purchasing decisions are based solely emotions, despite the Consumer Reports crowd, who just THINK they're buying based on logic.
Actual conversation; "Why'd you buy a Mercedes?" "Because CR said it was a really good car." "What about the long-term ownership costs?" "CR said it was a good car...look at those pretty clouds!"
And then there's leasing a new car...and that makes ZERO sense, no matter what. Even the whole "write it off for my business" crapola doesn't fly anymore. If you wanted it for your business, BUY it and end with something of value instead of nonsensical payments on a thing that will go bye-bye after a while, with nothing to show for it.
So here's a discussion of future battery replacement costs on the i-MiEV (gawd, it's painful to even write that model name). Like the Honda CR-Z that we've discussed at length, it appears that third-party vendors will make that cost extremely reasonable. So I think that factor stops people based only on a fear that isn't particularly realistic. But just to play devil's advocate, the i-MiEV's battery life is known to be rather short and that reconditioning or replacement is a definite future cost.
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I guess maybe these are like cheap watches: it'll cost you more to replace the batteries than to replace the whole car, hence the wicked depreciation.
ReplyDeleteBut K2 asked if he is the only one who looks at such things. Since I don't very often buy a new car, I guess I am looking at the other side of the coin: I love finding a good make and model that gets a bad rap for no valid reason, and therefore falls off the depreciation curve. Those are the ones I like to buy.
Me too. Wholeheartedly agree.
DeleteBut regarding folks buying new cars, we all know that their purchasing decisions are based solely emotions, despite the Consumer Reports crowd, who just THINK they're buying based on logic.
Actual conversation; "Why'd you buy a Mercedes?" "Because CR said it was a really good car." "What about the long-term ownership costs?" "CR said it was a good car...look at those pretty clouds!"
And then there's leasing a new car...and that makes ZERO sense, no matter what. Even the whole "write it off for my business" crapola doesn't fly anymore. If you wanted it for your business, BUY it and end with something of value instead of nonsensical payments on a thing that will go bye-bye after a while, with nothing to show for it.
So here's a discussion of future battery replacement costs on the i-MiEV (gawd, it's painful to even write that model name). Like the Honda CR-Z that we've discussed at length, it appears that third-party vendors will make that cost extremely reasonable. So I think that factor stops people based only on a fear that isn't particularly realistic. But just to play devil's advocate, the i-MiEV's battery life is known to be rather short and that reconditioning or replacement is a definite future cost.
Delete