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The economy is in rough water and the situation will probably get worse before it gets better. This means South African car buyers are keener than ever for good value in the pre-owned car market.
Gumtree SA Head of Automotive Jeff Osborne says one of the main reasons for establishing the Gumtree Pre-Owned Car Awards was to help consumers navigate the sprawling used car landscape. “There are hundreds of thousands of pre-owned vehicles traded every year in South Africa and nobody had a good benchmark for quality. All the awards and media coverage tended to focus on new vehicles and we’re trying to change that.”
The inaugural Gumtree Auto Pre-Owned Awards were held last year and the 2018 winners were announced this week with Volkswagen dominating the lower price brackets and winning five of the eleven categories overall. Toyota, Mazda and Audi also had two wins each.
All the five finalists tested in each category were 2016 models and they were rated by an expert judging panel on what Osborne calls “real world pre-owned criteria” - resale value, quality, durability, overall performance and economy.
Osborne says some of the lessons from the awards for pre-owned buyers are:
- ideally look for vehicles between one and three years old as this is where the best mix of value and performance can be found
- set your budget – and make sure you are properly factoring in the value of any existing warranty or maintenance plan and likely running costs – and then use the relevant awards category as a guide
- in the current climate seriously consider fuel economy as a key purchase factor – research the data for each brand/model and also get the engine of the particular vehicle checked to make sure it is running optimally
- unless you have a passion for a particular car, or you are getting an exceptional deal, buy an established and popular brand – there are good reasons why VW, Toyota, Mazda and Audi hold their values so well and dominate these awards
- there are some particular gems highlighted by the awards like the Mazda CX3 which won ‘Cross-overs under R325,000’ and was the only unanimous category winner among all 11 judges.
2018 GUMTREE AUTO PRE-OWNED AWARDS – CATEGORY WINNERS
Budget city car under R130 000
Winner – 2016 Volkswagen Take Up! 1.0 3-door
Light hatchback under R160 000
Winner – 2016 Volkswagen Polo Vivo 1.4 Trendline
Medium-sized family sedan under R260 000
Winner – 2016 Volkswagen Jetta 1.2TSi Trendline
Hatchback under R275 000
Winner – 2016 Volkswagen Golf 7 1.4 TSi Trendline
Cross-overs under R325 000
Winner – Mazda CX3 2.0 Individual (A)
SUVs under 330 000
Winner – 2016 Mazda CX5 2.0 Active (A)
SUVs under R505 000
Winner – 2016 Toyota Fortuner 2.8 GD-6 RB (A)
Medium-sized luxury sedan under R550 000
Winner – 2016 Audi A4 2.0 TDi S-Tronic
Double cab bakkies 4x2 under R460 000
Winner – 2016 Toyota Hilux 2.8 GD-6 Raised Body Raider (A)
Performance cars under R615 000
Joint winners – 2016 Volkswagen Golf 7 R (DSG) & 2016 Audi S3 S-Tronic
Luxury SUVs under R700 000
Winner – 2016 Jaguar F-Pace 2.0 Di 4 AWD Pure
For more on the 2018 Gumtree Auto Pre-Owned Awards visit www.Gumtree.co.za/awards
This post and content is sponsored, written and provided by Gumtree.
