Nod to SA’s top used vehicles
The inaugural Gumtree Pre-Owned Awards could be useful when buying a second hand ride, writes Lerato Matebese
THE inaugural Gumtree Pre-Owned Vehicle Awards took place at the Killarney Racetrack in Cape Town recently, where 24 vehicles out of a total of 50 and across 10 categories were chosen as the best pre-owned vehicles by nine judges, including yours truly.
Volkswagen was the big winner with seven awards, including three first place wins.
Before we announce all the winners, let us shed some light on how the competition works and how we arrived at the winners of each category.
With such a significant number of used car models out there, it was always going to be crucial to find a starting point, as gathering data of all the models available on the used car market would be an arduous task without the expertise of a vehicle data provider.
This is where vehicle data provider TransUnion, which gives definitive data on the used car market, was commissioned.
The criteria was to seek the best-selling or performing preowned vehicles on the used car market as the barometer.
The cars with the strongest value retention are either those in high demand or those sold in limited quantities such as high-end performance limited edition variants.
Then we had to determine how old these vehicles should be. According to the data captured, the highest percentage of vehicles sold are two-year-old vehicles. Thus the models chosen were no older than three years, as most still had the balance of the service and maintenance plan in place.
We then created categories and TransUnion sourced the data from the best-selling pre-owned vehicles per category. Each category was then whittled down to about 20 vehicles.
TransUnion then supplied judges with the following information on each model, the retained percentage of retail value of the vehicle’s new list price in the registered year and the value depreciation percentage in the past 12 months.
To narrow it down to the top five in each category, the figures were analysed based on the best performing vehicles in their respective segment. Vehicles were chosen solely on data supplied by TransUnion, so no emotional or biased opinions could influence the votes.
From hereon the scoring by the panel of judges, including motoring media and other industry experts, took place.
The top five vehicles from each category were then put through their paces on a road test. Information from the road tests was sent out to the judging panel to weigh up aspects such as overall value for money; look and feel – quality and degradation of exterior and interior materials; standard equipment; safety features; engine performance; drivetrain; braking; ride quality; warranty and maintenance plans. Out of maintenance risk; parts basket; mechanical reliability history and perception; desirability and affordability were also taken into consideration.
Following the voting process and auditing of the scores, the following vehicles emerged winners in their respective segments.
In the Budget City, the Kia Picanto won both the overall and People’s Choice categories. Medium Hatch went to the Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI Trendline. The Crossover winner was the Mazda CX-3 Individual. SUV under R350 000 went to the Toyota Rav 4 2.0 GX, while the Toyota Fortuner 2.5 D-4D RB took the People’s Choice award in the category.
Luxury Saloons under R475 000 was won by the Mercedes-Benz C220 Bluetec and the Audi A5 Sportback 2.0 TFSI won the People’s Choice award. The Double Cab Bakkies award went to the Ford Ranger 3.2 TDCi XLT, while the SUV under R700 000 went to the Mercedes-Benz GLC 250d with the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI winning the People’s Choice award. The Performance Hatch winner was the Volkswagen Golf 7 R 2.0 TSI, while the Mercedes-AMG 45 won the People’s Choice award in the category.
The Performance Saloon and Sportscar winner was the BMW M4, and the Mercedes-AMG C63 S the People’s Choice winner. – BDLive