South Africans have not been introduced to the current seventh-generation of the Volkswagen Jetta as the brand has decided to focus on its crossovers, SUVs and hatchback in the local line-up, however, there are still hundreds of pre-owned Jetta models listed for sale on AutoTrader and we are going to ascertain which one of the updated seventh-generation Jetta derivatives has held its value best since new.
To determine which Jetta variant holds its values best, we have used 2014 and 2015 models with no more than 140 000km on the odometer, allowing for 20 000km per year as this is deemed an industry standard for annual mileage for passenger vehicles. There were 37 Jetta models that qualified for our comparison with at least three examples of each derivative sold in 2014 and 2015 aside from the 1.6 TDI 77kW Comfortline DSG and 1.4 TSI 118kW Highline DSG, excluding them from the comparison.
2014/2015 1.2 TSI 77kW Trendline
New Price: R 258 000
Current Market Value: R183 900
Value Retained: 71.27%
The base model 1.2 TSI models found for this comparison had relatively low mileage versus the other derivatives used for this comparison, which is likely why this model appears to have the best resale value.
1.4 TSI 90kW Trendline
New Price: R 272 500
Current Market Value: R 140 299
Value Retained: 51.48%
The Trendline manual model was the second most numerous derivatives found during our research, with many of these models coming in very close to our 140 000km mileage cap, going some way to explaining why their resale values were the lowest in the test.
1.4 TSI 90kW Comfortline
New Price: R 286 700
Current Market Value: R 199 404
Value Retained: 69.55%
The Comfortline manual models were the most numerous in this comparison by quite a margin, with a variety of examples with a broad range of colours and odometer readings, making the average value retention impressive.
1.4 TSI 90kW Comfortline DSG
New Price: R 302 700
Current Market Value: R190 350
Value Retained: 62.88%
The Comfortline DSG models were the third most common found during our search and had an impressively stable pricing and mileage curve across the eight examples found.
1.6 TDI 77kW Comfortline
New Price: R 302 900
Current Market Value: R 206 161
Value Retained: 68.06%
With seven examples of the 1.6 TDI manual models listed, we again found some impressive consistency in the average mileage and pricing for these models.
2.0 TDI 103kW Highline DSG
New Price: R 358 000
Current Market Value: R 175 600
Value Retained: 49.05%
There were just three examples of the flagship TDI Highline model found during our search, two of which appeared to be in poor condition, which reflects badly in the average value for these models.
* Pricing was accurate at the time of writing but may change without any prior notice.
Verdict
The data appears clear when it comes to which Jetta model holds its value best, and that is the 1.2 TSI Trendline, with a figure of 71.27%, however, there were just four examples of this product, versus the 13 examples of the 1.4 TSI Comfortline manual models, which was close in terms of value, with a figure of 69.55%.
