Top 20 most affordable diesel cars on the secondary market in Ukraine
Having studied the array of ads on major online platforms using the Automoto.ua aggregator, analysts from the Auto Market Research Institute identified the most affordable models with diesel engines presented on our secondary market. Only those options were taken into account for which at least 3 thousand ads were created during 2024.
Despite the growing popularity of electric vehicles, the main advantage of which is economy, diesel variants are not much inferior to them so far, especially when it comes to frequent long-distance trips. Then diesel engines show all their strengths — moderate fuel consumption, confident traction thanks to high torque, "unlimited" climate control, a significant range on one gas station and a few minutes to fill up the next full tank at the gas station and continue the journey.
At the same time, in urban operation, diesel cars are not the best solution — during short trips, these engines do not have time to reach the required temperature regime, systems for reducing the amount of harmful exhaust substances are not able to perform their functions in a short time, frequent cold starts reduce the engineʼs overall resource. So, to summarize, diesel should be chosen when you need to drive often and over relatively long distances, at least related to interregional routes or commercial transportation.
And which diesel passenger cars were offered most often last year? This is what analysts from the Institute for Automotive Market Research have determined and are ready to share this information.
Leaders in the rating by price
- Opel Vectra — despite the fact that the model has already been discontinued, and those copies that are still in service have an average age of 21.5 years, statistics show that there are still enough offers with "Vectras". This model turned out to be the cheapest on the list — its average price is $3500 for diesel versions.
- Peugeot Partner — although it is not quite a passenger car, rather this model is closer to the LCV segment, but in Ukraine such minivans are often used as universal vehicles — for work and family trips. Considering that driving them is allowed with category “B” in the driver’s license, we will classify such options as passenger cars this time. So, if the average age of 16.4 years is not scary, and the budget is about $3950 — you can consider this model.
- The Citroen Berlingo is actually a “relative” of the van (in terms of body layout), which ranked second on our list. It has a slightly lower average age (15.4 years), but also a higher average price — $4,250 for this diesel utility vehicle.
Prices, age and manufacturers
- Prices: Most cars on this list have an average price of up to $6,300, with the average for the top twenty being $5,220.
- Average age: The youngest car on the list is the Skoda Fabia (13.8 years old), the oldest is the Opel Vectra, 21.5 years old, which also tops the list in terms of price.
- Popular manufacturers: The list most often includes models from European manufacturers, among which there are only two Japanese models — Nissan X-Trail and Mazda 6. It is also interesting that among the twenty options, six are passenger vans or minibuses.
Segment features
Despite the known (and mentioned at the beginning of this text) advantages, diesel engines are not without their drawbacks. In particular, they are sensitive to fuel quality and the general technical condition of the main and auxiliary systems. This in turn indicates that servicing a diesel engine is usually more expensive than petrol engines of similar volume, power and number of cylinders. Therefore, the rating given here should be taken only as an initial guideline, if you are considering buying an inexpensive diesel car. In order not to encounter significant repair costs later, you should first check the history of a particular car (the veracity of its odometer readings), for example, using Cebia, and then conduct a detailed diagnosis of the technical condition at a specialized service station.
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