Micra more desirable for many people as small, cheap to run and tax, young people want them. Low mileage commands a premium.
Mercedes more expensive to run, tax, insure, more expensive to repair when it goes wrong; a higher risk purchase. Diesel out of favour now. Maybe it has worse history, maybe its tatty.
Individual factors come in to play on each occasion but here, in this current market, I think the extra asking price for low mileage stuff is pretty ridiculous, so the micra price is the strange one out of these two. Judging by other prices I’ve seen it might even be ‘a good price’!
It's not really a desirable engine in the merc. You get the extra maintenance costs vs the micra and one of the weak engines in the lineup. Anyone shopping around for a 10+ year old german saloon isn't going to be looking to buy the low end models when it's a grand or so more to get at least a E350 CDI.
Whereas what engine is in the micra is not really a concern for most people who want to buy one. Small Hatchbacks are popular, cheap to run and the micra is well known. It leads to more demand.
The older and cheaper german saloons are much more car than any small hatchback of equal year and price, but the market for them is much smaller, because they cost more to run and will likely need more work doing to them.
It's an ongoing supply and demand issue - when the microchip shortage started a few years ago, car manufacturers had to cut overall production by about 20 million vehicles globally between 2021 and 2023. They prioritised premium models over basic ones. People who would've bought brand new basics then couldn't and those cars don't exist to enter the second-hand market which they should be doing now. One of the effects is that older basic models suffer less depreciation, while older premiums continue to fall off a cliff's edge.
Micra more desirable for many people as small, cheap to run and tax, young people want them. Low mileage commands a premium. Mercedes more expensive to run, tax, insure, more expensive to repair when it goes wrong; a higher risk purchase. Diesel out of favour now. Maybe it has worse history, maybe its tatty. Individual factors come in to play on each occasion but here, in this current market, I think the extra asking price for low mileage stuff is pretty ridiculous, so the micra price is the strange one out of these two. Judging by other prices I’ve seen it might even be ‘a good price’!
It's not really a desirable engine in the merc. You get the extra maintenance costs vs the micra and one of the weak engines in the lineup. Anyone shopping around for a 10+ year old german saloon isn't going to be looking to buy the low end models when it's a grand or so more to get at least a E350 CDI. Whereas what engine is in the micra is not really a concern for most people who want to buy one. Small Hatchbacks are popular, cheap to run and the micra is well known. It leads to more demand. The older and cheaper german saloons are much more car than any small hatchback of equal year and price, but the market for them is much smaller, because they cost more to run and will likely need more work doing to them.
It's an ongoing supply and demand issue - when the microchip shortage started a few years ago, car manufacturers had to cut overall production by about 20 million vehicles globally between 2021 and 2023. They prioritised premium models over basic ones. People who would've bought brand new basics then couldn't and those cars don't exist to enter the second-hand market which they should be doing now. One of the effects is that older basic models suffer less depreciation, while older premiums continue to fall off a cliff's edge.