VEHICLE Information Publishing, which provides current and future used values for cars and light commercials through its Trader Guide publication, has published what it views as the current ‘lemons’ in the market.

Alan Senior, Trader Guide’s Editorial Director said: ‘There are very few ‘bad’ new cars any more, but the flow of unwanted used cars continues. Some manufacturers appear unable to understand the UK used buyer.’

Trader Guide’s Lemons

Mercedes-Benz A-class
‘A-class build quality and reliability was questionable, it had bad press regarding it’s stability, and volume targets were only met due to daily rental deals. Subsequent used values were far worse than for any previous Mercedes-Benz.’

Audi A2
‘Limited sales, mostly due to overpricing of the Audi A2 and brand erosion caused it to be withdrawn from the market.’

Citroen C6
‘The Citroen C6 is destined to be a lemon in the UK used car market, unless buying habits make a drastic u-turn. Doubts about the brand (in the used large saloon market) include perceived reliability issues, and cost of servicing and maintenance.

‘The diesel models are best in terms of pound note values if buying new or nearly new, but if you can get hold of a 9-12 month old petrol (there won’t be many about!) and only do a limited mileage then the annual depreciation is slightly better.’

Peugeot 607
‘The 607 is under-engineered, expensive to maintain with a history of unwanted predecessors, the 607 has limited appeal to the UK used car buyer and used values are low.’

Fiat Croma
‘The latest Croma is a big car as far as Fiats go. The UK used buyer will only buy a big Fiat if it is very cheap.’