CAR BUYERS who paid list price for a new car last year could lose as much as 65 per cent of their vehicle's value in a year.

According to car pricing experts, WiseBuyer, buyers who picked a depreciation-dodging model instead might only lose 20 per cent of the car's value.

The depreciation disaster of 2004 is the Proton Wira.

The 1.5 LXi saloon crashed in value from a list price of more than £8,000 to a trade value of less than £3,000 just over a third of what a new customer will have paid

The worst performer in the executive car market is the Hyundai Sonata, where the 2.7 V6 has seen 64 per cent of its original list price fall away in depreciation.

Other cars suffering from depreciation include the Renault Velsatis and Vauxhall Signum.

Among the cars with the lowest depreciation values are the Volvo XC90 at just nine per cent, the Mazda RX-8 at 15 per cent and the Honda Jazz at 20 per cent.