Hello and welcome to an electrifying podcast special where we’re going to give you the low down on the electric cars that we think at the moment offer you the most value for your money. I’m Jinny and I’m Tom, so Tom should we kick off with a bit of a recap on the market just to kind of how we got to where we are because there are some electric used Bargains around, aren’t there?
Yeah, I mean it’s flipped so quickly hasn’t it from these kind of times when there were people asking about 60 grand for Volkswagen ID 3s and ID 4s because there was a 12-month waiting list to a stage now where they’re not quite giving them away but they are certainly surprisingly cheap, aren’t they?
Yeah, and then so there’s been that kind of realignment that we’ve seen kicking in over the last year from prices that were nuts. But also Tesla poked the bear as well, didn’t it?
Yeah, well I think that they sort of slashed £99,000 off the price of a new car and that suddenly means that all those used cars are not worth as much anymore either. So yeah, the list price of those new used cars at dealers were suddenly more expensive than a new car, so obviously they had to slash the prices of the used ones and that means that all the other used electric cars on the market just kind of lost their value overnight as well.
There have been some real tumbles in prices, so what we’ve done is we’ve been in contact with the guys at cap who are well, they’re the gurus when it comes to car pricing, aren’t they? They monitor and they predict values for everyone in the industry, and we’ve got them to share the top 10 drops over the past year and it makes really interesting reading.
So just to make this clear Tom, these are prices for 12-month old cars with 10,000 miles on the clock and price drop is in comparison to what that car would have cost a year ago to what you could get it for now. So they’ve monitored the prices at auctions and at dealers and said that a year ago a 12-month old car with 10,000 miles is worth this and this year a year old car with 10,000 miles is worth this, so it’s the drop in values.
Okay, can I be… are we gonna be DJs? Can we be like old cheesy Radio 1 doing the top 40? If you’re not listening in the UK, Radio 1 top 40 was a very important part of my childhood and probably yours as well Tom. It was Sunday night, they used to announce the top 40 and the top 10 was a bit that we all waited for. So here are our top 10 biggest price drops when it comes to used electric cars over the past 12 months.
In at number 10, a year ago in January 2023, a Jaguar I-Pace with 10,000 miles and a year old was worth £48,460. Now the same age of car would be £32,340, so that’s a price fall of 18.22%. I mean, that’s huge. And you’re an I-Pace fan, aren’t you?
I love the I-Pace. It’s a World Car of the Year, and that car was the first electric car, I’m pretty sure, to win overall Car of the Year. Such a beautiful car designed by the fabulous Ian Callum. I think now that kind of value, you know, you’ve got to be thinking about that, haven’t you, if you’re in the market for something and that’s your budget? Imagine if you live in Scotland and you can take access of that interest-free loan. Although you might not quite fall for that, but you know, it’s just a great car, isn’t it?
Or be it, you know, much more of a bargain now than it was a year ago. Yeah, so should I do number nine?
Nine, yeah, yeah. Let me go number nine. Okay, so in at number nine, we’re sticking with the executive theme. The Lexus UX300e that has seen a drop from £33,600, which it would have cost a year ago, to £21,913. That’s a 37.8% drop. You kind of expect a big drop with luxurious premium cars, but that’s a lot.
The Lexus UX300e, it’s a bit of a strange car. The first one that came out didn’t have a very big range and it was expensive to buy if you paid full list. And it had weird things like a CHAdeMO fast charging format, which as we know is kind of obsolete now. But then they improved it, they gave it more range, and it’s got a proper connector. And it’s not as bad as you think. I wouldn’t say it’s class-leading, but for just under £21,000 for a year-old car, I mean, I’d have one. It suddenly looks quite attractive next to, you know, a supermini or something.
It’s funny because it’s one of the only handful of electric cars that I haven’t driven, and I don’t know quite how it passed me by, but whenever we’ve had them into drive, I’ve just either not been around. So yeah, maybe I need to get one booked in with prices like that. Okay, over to you for number seven.
Oh, number eight. Number eight, sorry. Number eight, Mercedes EQA, which is another curious prestige car that again, I thought was quite nice, but it doesn’t do anything particularly special. But anyway, a year ago, a year-old one would have been worth £44,000, and now it’s £27,370. I mean, that’s, that’s, goodness me. You know, it looks a little dated, I think that car, and it was a curious one because it looked a little dated almost as soon as it was released. But again, you know, you’re getting a lot of car for the money.
Yeah, the Mercedes EQA, it’s a more expensive than the Jag though. You’d have the Jag, wouldn’t you? I’d have the Jag any day of the week. Yeah, I think I just, in like literally in a heartbeat, I still think that the iPace is one of the nicest electric cars to drive. It just handles really beautifully. Right, number six. Yeah, so I thought this would actually be higher up the chart, to be honest, but it’s the Vauxhall Corsa Electric. And it’s honestly a bit of a shock to see how little these are worth now. We all know and we keep talking about how overpriced it looks when it’s new. You know, the thought of spending more on a Corsa than on a Tesla Model 3 when they’re new is something that we just find incomprehensible, don’t we? But a year ago, a 12-month-old car would have been worth £22,430, which is a whopping fall from the high 30-grand mark when they were new. But now a year-old Corsa is worth £13,830. That makes the Corsa almost less than half its original price, doesn’t it?
It’s almost less than half its original price. I mean, it’s just much less, isn’t it? It’s almost a third. I know that for me, though, I think that’s quite good news. Obviously not good news for the payments on a new car, because of course, no wonder the finance payments are so high. But what it’s good news from is that that is, I mean, of the two, of course, I’ve always struggled with it a bit because I actually do much prefer the Corsa. I think it’s just a nicer looking package, and I think it’s always felt a bit like the poor relation to the Peugeot e208. But when you start to look at that for a 12-month-old car with 10,000 miles on the clock, that is a relatively affordable way into electric. And for me, that kind of stuff does make me feel happy because it means that so many people are priced out of new electric cars, but actually looking at prices like that for a Corsa, you can get a really good electric run around for that price. So I think that is quite good news out of that list, probably not good news for Corsa though, them out for Voxhall, not so good if you got finance.
Yeah, yeah. So are we ready for the top five?
Oh, yes, ready for the top five. Go on, do you want to take number five?
Okay, at number five, it’s another prestige one. It’s the Mercedes EQC, which has dropped a hilarious 20,000 in value. I mean, it’s 32,575. Yeah, that’s, again, that’s another car that’s less than half price than you. Oh my Lord, that is ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean, I’ve driven an EQC. I haven’t driven one for a couple of years, and back then I remember it being very refined and a really nice car to drive. But it’s old tech now, isn’t it? It feels like the Audi e-tron or Q8 now has been upgraded and it’s got bigger range. The Mercedes hasn’t. It’s still got that sub-200-mile range in the real world, which just means that it seems not great for a what could be a 70,000-pound car. But on the other side, I completely agree with that. That’s a lot of car for the money.
It’s a more expensive than the Jag though. You’d have the Jag, wouldn’t you? I’d have the Jag any day of the week. Yeah, I think I just, in a heartbeat, I think that’s one of the nicest electric cars to drive. It just handles really beautifully. Right, okay, gosh, right, number four. We’re coming back down to earth a bit on number four, keeping it real with the Mazda MX-30. Now, it’s an interesting car, this isn’t it? Because I think we’ve not always reviewed it in the best way, but there’s something that I do quite like, does it like elements of this car. And particularly now when you see the price, so this time last year, a 12-month-old Mazda MX-30 with 10,000 miles on the clock would have cost 22,330. That has now dropped to 13,738. My jaw is literally on the floor at that. We’ve always had a few issues with the MX-30, mainly around its battery size, which just doesn’t seem to suit actually a car that is aimed at families. But again, at that kind of price, that’s really opening up electric car ownership to more people, isn’t it?
I think that there are a lot of people who don’t want a car like the Corsa and bear in mind that the Corsa and this year old are now the same sort of price. And they like a crossover. They like being set up a bit higher. They think the doors are funky on the MX-30. The interior looks good and it’s nice to drive. And perhaps they don’t do the huge mileages that mean they need a big battery. And 13 grand, you start thinking maybe an MX-30 is the answer, which isn’t something we normally say, is it?
No, but it’s a great first electric car. I think that’s, albeit it’s still a reasonably expensive one, but if you can get that over a decent payment term, then that’s not too bad at all, is it?
No, not at all. So should we do the top one?
Let’s do the top one. Have we got a drum roll sound effect perhaps? Manos, you can add one in. And if not, here we go. Okay, number one, the most appreciating electric car, the Vauxhall Mokka Electric. No, does not surprise me. I was kind of, yeah, it is. It’s both a surprise and not a surprise, isn’t it? So last year, a year-old example would have cost you £26,400. Now, £15,110. That’s a whopping 42% drop. It makes the Mokka seem great value.
I don’t think it’s a bad car, the Mokka. Good, isn’t it? Yeah, but if you look at that, that’s a new prices on the Mokka. Correct me if I’m wrong, they’re not far off 37 grand, are they?
Yeah, it’s about that, isn’t it? And the new one, which has got the better battery and things, is even more expensive. So I think we’ve pointed out before that you could have a Tesla Model Y for less than the price of a top Mokka. But in the used market is where you get the real alignments, isn’t it? So that’s where the real value of things comes out. And that’s what people are saying, that a year-old one’s worth 15 grand. Yeah, that’s really interesting. It’s interesting, isn’t it? We still haven’t got a great range on it. So you’re probably looking at 170, 180 miles of range. But actually, again, if you were looking at that as a family run around, there’s definitely so much more choice, isn’t there now in the market? Yeah, I think there’s a lot you can get hold of now that’s different even within stantis, there’s more choice of this type of car, that kind of small SUV. And I don’t know, people maybe just don’t want a Vauxhall badge anymore. I don’t know. Is it? Come on, take your pick, Tom. Which are you having out of the top 10? You’ve got, you can have whatever budget you want. I think you know what I’m going to go for.
Well, you’re going to go for the I-Pace, aren’t you? I think I’d have the Lexus. Just because it’s slightly different. And then if it’s the newer one with the bigger battery, I think that at 21 grand is astonishing value for that sort of car. It’s a great car. It’s a really great car. It’s well put together. It drives well. It was kind of, I think it was one of the first batch of newer electric cars that I drove. You know, it’s been around. You know, it’s been around a while now, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that they did a great job with that. And you know, I could talk about Scotland all the time, but you know, that loan, which is up to 30,000 interest-free over five years, you know, if you’re putting it up, and you can get that kind of finance deal, then that’s starting to look like a much more affordable proposition, isn’t it, for a little family run around?
It is, yeah. But would you, and I think this is the up problem, it’s a great car. Would you borrow another PCP and then get yourself into a Corsa or an MX-30? I don’t know. If you don’t, I don’t know. I think I’d rather have an up than a Corsa, personally. I think I would. And, yeah, I don’t know. Yeah, you’re right. But that, yeah, exactly. I suppose it just depends on what you want. I think that the up is the one in terms of value. The up is the one. But, you know, you gave me unlimited budget, so I did. No, we’re running out of time now, but you are also going to do a bit of a peruse around the auctions, aren’t you? We’re going to do another podcast special coming up in a couple of weeks that looks at just some of the great deals because these are the top 10 cars that have dropped the most in price over the past 12 months. So hopefully that’s helped you a bit if you’re looking for a used electric bargain. But we might come back with some more specific options to have a chat about other cars that have caught our eye that are particularly good value at the moment. And keep watching. And if you aren’t subscribed already, do subscribe because we’re probably going to do that as a podcast special in a couple of weeks. But Tom, our market guru, don’t go and buy any of them now, will you?
Well, I do need to buy an electric car, which is how I keep stumbling across these bargains. But I must stop. As always, thanks for watching. And like I said, if you aren’t subscribed, please do click on the icons. You know what to do. And we’ll be back soon. Bye-bye.
