VW Arteon R, 2022, 27k, £32,099
We all know how a half-price heroes feature is meant to run. Pick the most lavishly optioned, multi-cylindered saloon going, select any year from this decade and fill your boots - easy as that. Fun, sure, if a little predictable. So, in the spirit of creativity (and while trying to avoid repeating the 2023 selection box), here are this year’s Christmas crackers from the classifieds. Beginning with - yes, really - a VW. More traditional offerings will follow. It says something of the brand’s staggering price rises for some models of late that £32k for a handsome 2022 Arteon R with less than 30k really is half the RRP, but it checks out. While the car is no longer available to order, the last test car we had was optioned to £68,000, and both bodystyles remain for sale from stock at more than £63,000. An unexpected mention, then, but more than worthy of inclusion.
Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, 2022, 12k, £122,995
Alright, some proper red meat to sink your teeth into. Divine Red, in fact, the colour first chosen for this DBS Superleggera just two years and 12,000 miles ago. A lovely shade for a pretty wonderful Aston Martin; the spec might be calling out for silver wheels and a little interior sparkle, though this is hardly an affront to colourways that would explain a significant saving. You’d be extremely happy behind the wheel of Aston’s Martin 725hp V12 former flagship cruising through 2025, just as would have been the case over the past few years. Particularly with £120k now being the price of entry, which makes qualms about the dash much easier to overlook. Some sources suggest £225,000 was the initial asking price, others more like a quarter of a million, though it’s unlikely any Superleggera reached its first owner without one or two extras on top. So £122,995 as an Aston-approved used vehicle makes the gorgeous DBS even more alluring than ever.
Mercedes-AMG S63 Cabriolet, 2021, 16k, £79,850
No list like this would be complete without an AMG monster of some kind. They’re simply too desirable and too prone to pretty savage depreciation to avoid. It isn’t alone in that, of course - less than brilliant residuals afflict a lot of flagships from mass market makers - though the sheer proliferation of AMG V8s made in recent years (legends that the good folk of Affalterbach are) does highlight their plight above others. This drop-top S-Class is the perfect example; realistically, the V8-powered S560 would have been sufficient for every customer, but Mercedes offered both a 612hp S63 and 630hp, V12 S65 as well. When this A217 generation was facelifted in 2018, an S63 with the 4.0-litre twin-turbo hot-v V8 cost £140,610. It’s very easy to imagine that by the time of this car’s first registration in 2021 (making it one of the last), with the Burmester sound and a couple of packages on top, that £160k was in reach. Half of that is £80k - and this one’s for sale at £79,850…
Audi RS e-tron GT, 2024, 13k, £77,950
As time marches on, so the preposterously powerful EV also starts to guarantee itself a spot in lists like this. With initial asking prices what they are, and customer confidence not where it was expected to be, that looks set to continue for a while yet. Bad news for manufacturers and new buyers, but plenty of opportunity for those considering secondhand. Consider this Audi RS e-tron GT, and the perfect storm that’s swirled around it: what looks to be a dealer demo in top-of-the-range Carbon Vorsprung spec, with more miles covered in 2024 than most, if still a trifling 13k in all. The Audi UK website suggests that an RS e-tron GT Carbon Vorsprung is a £150,780 prospect. Though the wheels and paint are NCOs, it again seems unlikely that this Audi is specced to exactly list price. Which makes £77,950 all the more remarkable.
Maserati Ghibli Trofeo, 2021, 18k, £58,880
While undeniably charming and supremely likeable, all of the V8-engined Maserati Trofeos were some way from recommendable as brand-new prospects. All of the base cars were years old before a 580hp derivative of the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 was crammed into the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante, meaning none of them could ride or handle as well as the rival super-saloons and SUVs - even if they could go just as hard, all the way to 200mph in the case of the four-doors. But with interiors not really befitting of six-figure asking prices either (up to £125k in the case of the QP and Levante), all the emotion and character in the world couldn’t make them true competitors in fiercely fought sectors. The situation is somewhat turned on its head, however, by slashing that price in half; a Ghibli Trofeo like this one would have cost its first owner at least £111,000 in 2021 (probably a good deal more given all the carbon). Now, 18,000 miles and only Maserati main dealer services later, it’s £58,880. That’s M340i money - and it’s not going to lose another £50k in quite such a hurry.
Range Rover Autobiography LWB 5.0, 2021, 42k, £59,995
For 50 years, there’s not been much to rival a V8 Range Rover. There’s the torque to make equally light work of mud-plugging or overtaking, a sound to stir the soul, and the power - certainly in later generations - to plaster a permagrin over the driver’s face. Nothing so grand should be so fast, though secretly you’d want it no other way. Trouble is that getting into a new eight-cylinder Range Rover of any description is an expensive endeavour: with six-cylinder diesels and hybrids covering most of the L460 range, the P530 4.4 V8 range kicks off at £142,400. Even this Range, a previous-gen 2021 L405 in long-wheelbase Autobiography trim, was a £120k proposition before thinking about massage rear seats and the like. Complete with that glorious 5.0-litre supercharged V8, too, making just five horsepower less than a new model. Now it’s £60k with 40,000 miles…
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