Another smorgasbord of second-hand seducement awaits. Guard your wallets closely, dear reader, as we assemble a host of inviting new cars, each a partner to its opposite number from the used market, and then decide, in turn, whether your money would go on the showroom-fresh new car or the extra-value, nicely run-in used equivalent.
This new-versus-used special is different because, for the first time, one of our featured used bargains is an electric car. Which means two of them aren’t, of course. We will be stopping in to ponder the prospect of a daily-driven affordable fast estate, as road tester Illya Verpraet takes you through the relative merits of a new Skoda Octavia vRS and a used Mercedes-AMG C43.
With the help of editor-at-large Matt Prior, we will also be wondering if the only thing potent enough to convince a true petrolhead not to blow £33,000 on a new Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch is a 12-year-old Audi R8 supercar.
There will be other ‘old against new’ titbits too, some high-priced and some more real-world, collected and collated for you by Autocar’s resident used car deliberators Felix Page and Jack Warrick.
But even those of us who like our ‘new’ cars with more of a lived-in vibe must move with the times; and so, before we get to all the combustion-engined treats, road test editor Matt Saunders will start by checking in on how cheaply the practical, desirable and surprisingly dynamic-handling Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV can be bought on the second-hand car market in 2021. Then he will mull over whether it would make a smarter family buy than the kind of new electric car that the same money might buy, which comes in the shape of the Volkswagen ID 3.
Follow the links below for temptation, then. And don’t say we didn’t warn you…
New Volkswagen ID 3 vs used Jaguar I-Pace
New Skoda Octavia vRS Estate vs used Mercedes-AMG C43 Estate
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Back in the real world, how many of us would consider an ageing supercar in place of a new factory fresh motor with a warranty and the certainty of low running costs for the forseeable future? Of course the used car offers much better value in terms of metal for the money and kerb appeal but it comes at a price. Running costs will almost certainly be much higher and who's to say that the ongoing depreciation will be less than that of a new in-demand model thaat everyone wants? Plus it's likely that the used model will have its share of niggly little issues that dealers can't be bothered to fix. Both options have their appeal, but I doubt many buyers would be torn between these alternatives.