Here at The Autopian, we’re big fans of depreciation. Partly because it allows awesome cars to be afforded by us mere mortals, and partly because it speaks volumes about the market’s confidence in a given make and model. Porsche 911s? They hold strong because everyone wants an older one. Large luxury sedans? Not so much. However, there’s a new challenger for the depreciation throne that most of us forgot existed, and it’s a neat one. On Tuesday, a 2019 Jaguar I-Pace sold on Cars & Bids for $16,250. That’s $71,269 in depreciation over just five years. Ouch.
With a range of 246 miles, a pragmatic midsize crossover form, and Jaguar luxury, the I-Pace was a pretty compelling product by the standards of 2018. Remember, there was no Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, BMW iX, or Tesla Model Y back then. If you wanted a larger electric crossover that wasn’t a Model X, the I-Pace was where it was at. However, the electric vehicle arms race has resembled the personal computer race of the early aughts, where everything just got so much better so quickly. These days, 246 miles of range isn’t exactly class-leading, nor is a maximum DC fast charging rate of 100 kW to recharge a 90 kWh battery pack, which makes a new I-Pace not the most competitive product on the new market.
At the same time, both luxury vehicles and electric vehicles feature higher rates of depreciation than say, a regular compact car. We’ve previously run down some insane deals on gently used EVs and write about cheap luxury cars often, but here’s some data. A 2024 iSeeCars study of five-year depreciation rates shows that electric vehicles hold their value the worst out of any major vehicle type, at 49.1 percent average depreciation over five years compared to 38.8 percent for all vehicles and 37.4 percent for hybrids. In addition, the 25 fastest-depreciating cars in this study all come from luxury brands, from the BMW 7 Series to the Range Rover. No wonder these electric Jaguars are so cheap.
Of course, since this Jaguar I-Pace is a proper luxury car, it comes with all the trimmings you’d expect despite the sensible price tag. We’re talking about LED headlights, four-zone climate control, a panoramic glass roof, a digital cluster, a Meridian sound system, stitched upper surfaces, veneers, heated rear seats, the works. It’s new enough to have Apple CarPlay, which a lot of $16,250 cars these days don’t have.
Okay, sure, this I-Pace isn’t rocking its original wheels, has seen two previous owners, and had 98,000 miles on the clock at the time of sale, but it also has a clean Carfax, and looks no worse for wear inside than most five-year-old cars. Plus, with 394 horsepower and 512 lb.-ft. of torque on tap, it moves out quick enough. In Car And Driver instrumented testing, a 2019 I-Pace ran from zero-to-60 mph in a scant 4.3 seconds, pulled 0.90 g on the skidpad, and managed a 12.8 second quarter-mile at 109 mph. Not bad figures by any means, and the magazine had praise for the way the I-Pace drove.
It’ll never be mentioned in the same breath as Miata or Cayman or Corvette, but the I-Pace whisked us away from traffic lights and through sweepers in ways that left our oil-stained palms tingling. While the EV genus is anchored to Earth by half-ton battery packs, the all-wheel-drive I-Pace builds off that stability with impressive athleticism. There’s a natural fluidity to its body motions, organic tugs and lulls in its steering weight.
An electric crossover that’s both affordable and good to drive? Now that seems like a tantalizing proposition. Plus, the I-Pace is proving surprisingly reliable for a British luxury car, with the most common problem being an appetite for 12-volt batteries. That’s not a bad downside for a rather exotic piece of European machinery, and moves this EV from a potentially questionable move to an actual contender.
While this $16,250 I-Pace is the cheapest we’ve seen recently, a quick look on the online classifieds show that early models sold by dealers are still in the realm of affordability. Here’s a 2019 model up for sale at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Nevada for $24,980, and while that is considerably more than $16,250 for a lower-spec car, this one only has 47,204 miles on its clock and may qualify for the maximum federal used EV tax rebate of $4,000.
If you want to give up some equipment to go one model year newer, this 2020 I-Pace S is up for sale at a Nissan dealership in Florida for $24,692 with 40,609 miles on the clock. I bet all that sidewall helps with ride quality, and since the price tag slides under the $25,000 mark, this, too, may qualify for up to a $4,000 federal used EV tax rebate, assuming you’re an eligible buyer.
It’s safe to say that the I-Pace is the closest a used Jaguar has ever come to being a sensible purchase. Between rock-bottom pricing for a five-year-old luxury crossover to relatively okay reliability for a five-year-old luxury crossover, this is a weird one worth shortlisting. Perhaps best of all, they’ll only continue to get cheaper, so let’s see where pricing lands in another few years.
(Photo credits: Cars & Bids, Autotrader sellers)
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