The Maserati Quattroporte Is Still the Undisputed King of Depreciation
No car loses its value as quickly as the Quattroporte over a five-year span, according to new data.
It's no secret that pretty much all new cars depreciate as soon as they're driven off the lot. Luxury cars, with their often expensive maintenance and oodles of technology, go downhill in value much quicker than others, but even in the realm of upscale automobiles, there are big winners and losers. The Porsche 911, for instance, depreciates an average of just 9.3% over five years. For the Maserati Quattroporte, it's 64.5%, or about $90,000 off the average list price of the car. Quite the gradient.
Those two cars are the most- and least-depreciating vehicles out there, at least according to data from iSeeCars from the last five years. For anyone familiar with used car prices, the Maserati tidbit should be no surprise. European luxury cars are notorious for suffering massive depreciation not long after they're sold, with cars from the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and the aforementioned brand from Modena often among the worst offenders. The Quattroporte in particular, though, with its exquisite mix of Italian reliability and electronic gizmos, is the poster child for this phenomenon.
It's not alone at the top of the poor automotive investment list, though. The top ten includes two other Maseratis, the Ghibli and Levante, three BMWs, the Jaguar XF, Infiniti QX80, Audi A7, and Cadillac Escalade ESV. For those among the readership who are reading this thinking they should pick up a cheap used BMW—the 7 Series is #2—I assure you there is no such thing.
The cars that depreciate the least are another story. The 911 coupe is #1, that much was made clear earlier, but it's followed by another Porsche, the 718 Cayman, and then there's a bunch of Japanese cars from the likes of Subaru, Toyota, and Honda, as well as the Jeep Wrangler and, get this, the Chevy Camaro. That's something of a wild card to me. but I guess they are—or were—a lot of car for the money.
Probably the worst news for any particular group of owners on this list is Corvette owners. They will be very sorry to find out that, while America's sports car actually hasn't depreciated much in the past five years (just 27.5%), that means the average Corvette did not increase in value. Now I know what you're thinking reading this: there is no such thing as an average Corvette. But if yours is parked in a garage right now and only removed on Sundays to be cleaned with cotton swabs, you might as well go drive it. It can actually be a pretty good time.
Email the author at peter@thedrive.com
