Reading "certain" motoring magazines & their negative opinions on the Rapid a common comment seems "poor residuals", when? trading in time comes again are we looking at expecting an abysmal trade in allowance, I DO agree there are not that many on the road, but have seen even less Toledos ....not too concerned at the moment, but would an Octavia have been a "wiser" purchase !

Depends how many years you intend to keep it.

 

The Rapid seems to lose a fair chunk of its list price in first few weeks (but list price is very high compared to price many actually pay).  After that probably down to about £1000 or less per year for next 10 years.   Of course this means you can find 1 year old cars at 40% of list, after which fall isn't bad.   So if held for a number of years will still be cheaper.  But if bought new and sold quickly will suffer badly.

 

The Octavia costs more, and in percentage terms the initial fall isn't quite so hefty, but will also gradually fall to about £1000 residual value at 12 years old.   The fall is more even, so Octavia tends to be better from new for a while.  But of course the absolute price difference is bigger.

 

Of course, If you intend to offload a new car after year or two, leasing would be better than buying.  If keeping for few years buying tends to be better option when costs averaged over its life.

 

One final thing, the Rapid is relatively poorly equipped compared to the Octavia.  Depending on which way you look at it this either means has less kerb appeal, or is a blessing because you have less expensive stuff to break down and potentially repair after warranty expires.

 

 

Agree. If you paid 11-13k for a new Rapid/Toledo then depreciation doesn't seem bad.  If you paid RRP at 17-20k however...

 

Mind you, since the pauper spec 2012/13 models the Rapid specs aren't so stingy really; it all but matched the Toledo's from 2015.

 

 

Edited 2 June, 20179 yr by camelspyyder

Yes...ok in the deal it was some 5k off list price & the Fabia p/x allowance was "acceptable" so really, who knows whats on offer in a few years time, & without being political a lot of us could be priced off the roads anyway !!