Which Renault Captur trim holds its value better?
In a crowded compact crossover marketplace, the Renault Captur has always stood out for being one of the nicest-looking examples of its type. It never sold in huge numbers, though, and with a new generation Captur due to arrive in South Africa soon, this could be a great opportunity to snatch up one of the first-generation models. We looked at the facelifted version, which launched in 2017, to see which trim holds its value better.
Initially introduced in South Africa in 2015, the first-generation Captur was treated to a mild facelift at the end of 2017. This saw the range expanding to include a manual 1.2-litre variant, on top of a host of cosmetic updates. These facelifted cars form a good starting point for this value retention comparison, as they are now almost exactly 3 years old and will have weathered the initial depreciation storm already.
We searched AutoTrader for used, 2017-model (facelift) Renault Capturs with a maximum of 60 000 km (corresponding to an industry average mileage of 20 000 km per year), and compared their averaged current prices to what they cost when new. We also calculated the percentage of their value they retained over the 3-year period, to get an indication of this range’s medium-term depreciation.
Related: Is the Renault Captur good for families?
2017 Renault Captur 66kW Blaze
New Price: R 229 900
Average Current Value: R 177 708
Value Retained: 77.3%
With only 5 examples of this specific derivative listed on site at the time of writing, the pickings are quite slim for this variant. However, they’re all priced close to each other, and reveals a decent value retention of 77.3% after three years. This indicates that, while these cars weren’t sales champions when new, strong second-hand demand ensures surprisingly slow depreciation.
2017 Renault Captur 66kW Dynamique
New Price: R 269 900
Average Current Value: R 181 423
Value Retained: 67.2%
This derivative’s comparatively poor showing in the used-vale stakes can likely be ascribed to it rather inflated price when new – a R 40 000 premium got the buyer some extra luxuries and nicer wheels, but the overall package still struggled to justify the price premium it commanded when new. However, this makes for great-value second-hand buying: a used Dynamique is much nicer than a rather barren entry-level example, but is on average less than R 4 000 more expensive in the used market.
2017 Renault Captur 1.5 dCi Dynamique
New Price: R 294 900
For a while, this was the only diesel Captur on our market, and didn’t sell all that well when it was new. In fact, there were no examples matching our search criteria on site at the time of writing, although there were three listings of 2017-model 1.5 dCi variants with higher mileages. These cars only retain about 62% of their new value, however, making for great savings in the used market.
Related: Plush, practical, and pretty – we reviewed the Renault Captur 1.5 dCi Dynamique and loved it.
2017 Renault Captur 88kW Dynamique (manual)
New Price: R 294 900
This derivative was a new addition that appeared during the mid-life update, and apparently didn’t get a lot of attention in its first model year – there were no 2017-model Captur 88 kW Dynamique manuals listed on AutoTrader at the time of writing. However, there were two 2018-model examples on site, which retained (on average) 73% of their new value after two years. This is a very small sample size, though, so their real-life value retention would likely be somewhat different from our calculation.
2017 Renault Captur 88kW EDC Dynamique (automatic)
New Price: R 309 900
Average Used Price: R 186 939
Value Retained: 60.3%
The top-level Captur trim (and, at that stage, the only one with an automatic gearbox) sold quite well, but demonstrates pretty poor value retention of 60.3% over only three years. This isn’t good news for current owners of ageing Capturs, but it does make for comparatively bargain-priced used-car shopping.
For less than R 6 000 (on average) over a 66 kW Dynamique manual, buyers can get an automatic transmission and a much more-potent and smoother 1.2-litre 4-cylinder turbo, instead of a 0.9-litre 3-cylinder turbo engine. That makes the Captur 88 kW EDC Dynamique the best used buy in the range.
Related: What is covered by the Renault Captur manufacturer warranty?
Which one depreciates the fastest?
We would have expected the nicer, faster Capturs to retain more of their value than the cheaper variants, but the exact opposite is true in the marketplace. In fact, the best value retention is found at the absolute entry level, while the biggest used-car bargains are found at the top end. Our advice would be to go for a late-ish model Captur 88 kW EDC when buying used, but rather stick to the lower-powered versions when buying new.
