Which Audi Q2 trim holds its value better?

By Martin Pretorius

SUVs and Crossovers are all the rage at the moment, which means that almost every manufacturer has at least one competitor in this lucrative market segment. Audi fields quite an extensive range, with their Q2 being the entry-level crossover model. And, now that it’s been locally available for two years, we can determine which Q2 trim suffers the least from depreciation.

 

To compile this report, we found average resale values for two-year-old Q2 variants (2017 models) listed on AutoTrader, and compared these values to the list prices of these variants at launch. These prices don’t take optional extras into account, however, as there are numerous ways of increasing the purchase price of a new Q2, yet such extras usually don’t really reflect in the cars’ resale values. 

Unfortunately, 2017 model year Q2s aren’t exactly in over supply in the second-hand market yet, so this list won’t include every variant on offer, and the sample size is small, due to low overall sales volumes. However, you will get a good idea where the good used-car deals can be found, and which new Q2 will cost you the least in depreciation when the time comes to sell it on. Value retention is expressed as a percentage of the list price when new.

 

Audi Q2 1.0TFSI Auto (S-Tronic)

New Price:                                      R 453 000

Average Used Price:                      R 379 950

Percentage of value retained:      82.77%

The smallest-engined Q2 gives quite a disappointing showing for a two-year-old car, with only 82.77% of its new value retained after such a short time span. Making matters worse, this figure is inflated by the presence of a very low-mileage example in our test sample. Average-mileage examples are even cheaper, with the least-expensive listed 1.0TFSI Auto retaining only 77.2% of its new value.

This is bad news for current Q2 owners, but great news for buyers in the used market: there are some fantastic bargains on nearly-new Q2 1.0TFSI examples around.

 

Audi Q2 1.4 TFSI Sport Auto (S-Tronic)

New Price:                                     R 529 500

Average Used Price:                     R 433 289

Percentage of value retained:      81.83%

If you thought the entry-level Q2 suffer from heavy depreciation, the top-spec 1.4TFSI Sport S-Tronic manages to surpass even those low standards. With an average value retention of only 81.83% over 3 years, the most-expensive Q2 (barring the slow-selling diesel derivative) loses its value very quickly. 

This is most likely because premium-branded “boutique” compact Crossovers are subject to the whims of those fashion-conscious buyers who purchase them in the first place: those customers generally buy The Hottest New Thing, but once there’s something newer and hotter available, they’ll often sell it on (usually at a loss) and move on to the Next Big Thing. 

Such buying patterns affect all fashion-forward products, and is by no means confined to Audi. Fortunately, that means that pre-owned buyers can score real bargains, with low-mileage, stylish, well-specced and high-tech cars available at almost-unbelievable prices. And, because they cars are still so young, there’s the added allure of some active years left on the maintenance plan. This is what clever used-car buying is about, after all!