Should I ditch my diesel-engined Porsche? 

I own a 3.0-litre V6 Porsche Macan Diesel. I bought it new in late 2016 and it now has just 19,000 miles on the clock. Owning a Porsche was a dream of mine, and the Macan was the cheapest way in. My wife and I love the car. It’s fast, fun to drive, practical and not that expensive to run. 

However, all the talk about the demise of diesel makes me worried that the value of my Macan could start to plummet, as does the fact that Porsche has stopped selling cars with diesel engines. I’m starting to wonder if I should trade the car in for a petrol or hybrid model instead. 

The Macan is worth around £30,000, so it would be a hefty deposit on a new car, but I’m in a quandary over what to buy.

I don’t want to trade the car in for a new Macan, because it is in very good condition and aside from the different engine, the latest model isn’t that different from ours. The Porsche Cayenne is an option, but it’s bigger, so I have mixed feelings about it, and it’s more expensive, so it would stretch our budget a bit.

I’ve also considered a BMW M340i xDrive Touring, which costs less. However, my wife isn’t keen on the brand. 

Do you think my Macan will lose value in the near future, or do you think it will be okay for us to keep it for five or 10 years? 

Rob Pearce

What Car? says…

We can understand that Porsche distancing itself from diesel engines and the move away from this type of fuel by many car makers could be a concern. However, we don’t expect the value of diesel cars to be affected in the short term, especially among fairly large SUVs like the Macan that are better suited to this type of engine. 

The Macan has been hugely popular because it's the sort of car buyers want at the moment and has the cachet of a Porsche badge on its bonnet. That’s one reason why it’s one of the UK’s slowest-depreciating cars. According to our data, owners can expect their cars to retain more than 62% of their original value after three years and 30,000 miles – and we don’t expect that to change in the near future. 

The ban on selling new diesel, petrol and hybrid cars in the UK doesn’t come into force until 2035, and even then we believe there will still be a strong demand for used diesels by those who do frequent long motorway journeys and don’t often drive into major cities. 

Your particular car has the added benefit that it was first registered a year before the 'luxury' road tax supplement of £325 a year was introduced for cars costing more than £40,000. The extra fee applies for years two to six of the car’s life, so a new Macan would cost you £1625 more in road tax over the next six years. 

As you say, trading your car in for a Cayenne will give you additional expenses, so this doesn’t sound like the best option. And although we think the BMW 340i Touring is a great car to drive, its large six-cylinder petrol engine will be thirsty, and it won’t hold its value as well as your Macan. 

The only caveat to this is if you do a lot of urban driving, because cities around the UK might introduce ultra low emission zones with fees for non-electric cars to drive into them. It’s worth bearing in mind that although the Macan has fairly high CO2 emissions, it is Euro 6 compliant, so it has very low NOx emissions and particulates, both of which can be harmful to those living in cities. 

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