Steven Ward looks at hybrids.

Following on from my recent trip to the auctions to see how Nissan LEAF residuals were holding up (CM, July 2018), only to miss the sale due to the allure of a hot beef sandwich, I thought I’d better make amends to readers.

I went along to watch three Toyota Yarises go through a fleet sale, one of which was a hybrid. Although I’m a big fan of hybrids, I’m not entirely convinced of the merits of the system in such a small car. Personally, I’d always advise buying a British-built Auris hybrid over the Frenchbuilt Yaris but, for some buyers, size and company car tax trumps other concerns.

At the sale, a flat red, 15-plate hybrid Yaris Excel five-door, which had covered 28,000 miles and had a full Toyota service history (FTSH), made £9700 plus fees. I thought this was a lot, although the book price was £10,250.

Next up was a metallic-red, 15-plate Yaris 1.3 Icon five-door, which had covered 21,117 miles, again with FTSH. This was sold outright to a bidder in the hall for £6600 plus fees. Book price was £7100.

Is the hybrid system really worth an extra £3000? You would have to do a lot of miles to recuperate the extra purchase price through petrol and road tax savings.

Finally, I watched a metallic red, 17-plate Yaris 1.3 Icon five-door which had covered a paltry 761 miles sell outright online for £9050 plus fees. Which left me wondering if you would really pay more for a used hybrid than a virtually new car? I know which one I’d buy.

The answer possibly lies in the fact the hybrid comes with what Toyota call their Synergy Drive system, more commonly known as a CVT autobox. For some, a good auto is worth a lot more than even the sweetest manual.

‘Is a hybrid system really worth an extra £3000?’