KUALA LUMPUR – Take a tour of the used car classifieds today or tomorrow and you will find some very well priced used high specification luxury sedans on sale. Why are we sharing this fact with you? Read on. These luxury sedans in question are plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles that have now hit the 4 to 5-year age and their owners have to now ‘unload’ their gremlin loaded cars to an unsuspecting buyer like yourself.
In the past few months, a number of friends have contacted us to ask our advice on buying a used PHEV and we have had to repeat the same ‘please do not buy even if the price is hard to ignore’ speech to them as the asking prices are too good to be true and these are low mileage luxury sedans with all the ‘wanted’ bell and whistles that many drivers want to have.
High quality leather interior, best in class sound system, powerful performance (when working), carpet like ride and sporty handling when needed is what you get, plus there is the luxury brand image that comes with the brands in question. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
Let us share some interesting facts with you.
The 2011-2013 Audi A6 Hybrid uses a 2.0-litre TFSI petrol engine working with an electric motor. This was the first luxury hybrid sedan to get the full eco-friendly tax exemption from our government. Prices today in the used car market range from RM52,000 to RM60,000 before hard negotiating.
The 2015 Mercedes E300 Bluetech Diesel Hybrid was priced at RM338,888.00 new. This Mercedes E300 Hybrid today has lost more than 70 per cent of its value after 5-years. The online classifieds show owners trying to get between RM85,000 to RM95,000 today but in reality they might just get RM70,000.
So, if you are still keen to buy a unit, make sure the first owner purchased the extended battery warranty that Mercedes Benz Malaysia offered to owners at RM2,688 for an additional 4 years. This means this 2015 hybrid battery is covered by warranty until 2023. If not, the replacement hybrid battery pricing is close to RM70,000! Which is much more than the used price of an Audi A6 hybrid we mentioned above.
Then there is the Mercedes Benz S400L Hybrid which arrived as a local assembled model in May 2014. Its ‘actual’ selling price was to be about RM900,000 but because it was locally assembled in Pekan Pahang and it was a hybrid, it got a great tax discount to allow all the well to do Malaysians to buy a luxury tax-free car at just RM587,888. At the time, the middle class Malaysians were paying full tax when they bought non hybrid cars (as they had no choice) whilst rich Malaysians enjoyed a super savings of nearly RM320,000 on their S-Class hybrid.
Fair or not? Well, today this S-Class hybrid after only 5-years plus has depreciated to a price of just RM180,000 before negotiations. There are plenty for sale and you can take your time to check around and bargain with the sellers.
What about a stylish BMW 530e? At its launch in January 2018 its selling price was RM343,800 and it was a sales success, Today, just 33 months later, a used unit is selling for RM190,000 in the used classifieds. To counter the battery life issue and costs, BMW Malaysia in June this year offered a battery warranty of additional 2 Years and 60,000KM, bringing the programme to 8 Years/ 160,000KM (whichever comes first).
Direct rival Mercedes-Benz had extended their PHEV battery warranty in March 2019 to a new warranty that offered current PHEV owners either eight years or 180,000 km from the date of registration, whichever comes first.
For luxury SUV lovers there is the BMW X5 2.0 XDrive40E which was launched in June 2016 for RM388,800 and now 4 years later the used car market has dozens of units for sale from only RM170,000.
So, why are these luxury PHEV’s priced so low? Well, apart from the ongoing electronic issues and the high electrical parts replacement costs for all the above mentioned brands, there is the battery pack replacement price. A PHEV battery pack does not last forever and you need to take that into consideration when buying a used plug-in hybrid and please lets not forget the ongoing issues with its electronics for all brands. – The Vibes, October 6, 2020
This article is powered by www.dsf.my . For more automotive updates, follow DSF.my on Facebook and Instagram.
