Which Honda Amaze trim depreciates the fastest?
Small sedans still make up a surprisingly substantial section of the South African new-car market. The Honda Amaze is one of very few competitors left in this rather niche segment, and should continue Honda’s reputation for strong resale values. This begs the question: which Honda Amaze trim depreciates the fastest? We looked at the current statistics to find out.
Having left its Brio sibling behind after only one local model cycle, the Honda Amaze is now a stand-alone model, and is responsible for a significant chunk of Honda’s local sales. The current-generation Amaze has been available locally for more than two years now, following a late-2018 introduction, so we decided to have a look at this range’s initial value retention.
Checking out the listing pages here on AutoTrader, we narrowed-down our selection to 2019 model year Amazes with less than 40 000 km on the clock (representing the industry average yearly mileage’s upper limits), and compared their averaged current (used) market values to what they cost new. Value retention is expressed as a percentage of the new price, and the lowest percentage will correspond to the fastest depreciation.
Related: Get all the details about the current Honda Amaze model range in this launch review.
2019 Honda Amaze 1.2 Trend
New Price: R 179 900
Current Market Value: R 153 150
Value Retained: 85.1 %
This is a decent showing for such a niche product, but it’s clear that Amaze values will drop quite rapidly as the years pass. 85.1% value retention after two years isn’t really fantastic, which makes a low-mileage, entry-level Amaze a pretty good used-car buy at about 77% of what a new one would cost you today.
2019 Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort manual
New Price: R 193 900
Current Market Value: R 176 900
Value retained: 91.2%
That 91.2% value retention figure looks extremely promising, but the reality is that our sample size for this derivative is far too small to be statistically relevant. There was only one Amaze Comfort with a manual gearbox listed on site at the time of writing, so drawing any conclusions from this incomplete dataset would likely be significantly flawed. Let’s see how the (much more plentiful) Amaze Comfort performs with an automatic gearbox instead...
2019 Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort automatic (CVT)
New Price: R 217 400
Current Market Value: R 175 878
Value Retained: 80.9%
This is much more in line with what we’d expect from an entry-level sedan’s initial depreciation: the range-topping Amaze Comfort automatic drops almost 20% of its new-car value after two years. Consequently, this model appears to be the best second-hand buy – provided you can live with that CVT and its lazy performance, that is!
Related: Is the Honda Amaze good for new drivers?
Verdict
As expected, the strongest value retention in the current Honda Amaze range points towards the entry-level “Trend” trim level, which makes it the best choice for new-car buyers who want their cars to retain as much of their resale value as possible. However, the range as a whole seems to suffer from quite steep depreciation, making any variant a good-value used buy.
Considering a used current-generation Honda Amaze because of their low prices? Well, even the most-elderly ones on site will still have at least 2 years and 150 000 km left in their OEM warranties, although their service plans will have now run out. Fortunately, these cars appear to be as robust as Honda’s reputation demands, meaning that it would be a good few years yet before they need serious attention.
Related: Foreigner in a strange land – we review the Honda Amaze 1.2 Comfort manual.
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Shop for new and used Honda Amaze cars for sale here.