What current cars will you be shopping for as a used buy a few years down the line?
Virtual tyre kicking to ponder one's next purchase in the PH classifieds is, of course, one of life's great joys. But I also enjoy looking down the line and pondering which of the new cars on the market today I'll be clicking on five or 10 years down the line and might actually stand a chance of appearing on my driveway.
Leave the sticker on chaps, I'll be having it back
This is especially relevant today for those of us taking a bit of a Luddite view of the automotive world and trying to identify which of the cars on sale now will carry through the values we appreciate while the rest of the world embraces hybrids, electrification and autonomous driving. And I'm talking real world cars here, stuff I might conceivably afford and that would actually fit with my automotive needs.
Stuff like the Megane Trophy I was driving into the office in this morning for instance. Much as I've fought hard to defend the Clio 200 we've got on the PH Fleet the Megane is definitely old-school Renaultsport in comparison and I'd be surprised if its eventual successor carries through such hardcore, driver focused thrills. A few years down the line expect to find me in the Megane section of the classifieds then, perhaps in search of my carefully specced 265 long-termer.
There's definitely room for one of these
There is, of course, another long-termer that you may just possibly have detected a degree of enthusiasm for. Yes,
KY63 ZRK I'll be following your progress - and depreciation - closely over the years to come. I've already done a bit of
shopping around for '63 wagons and finding one with the correct spec (in other words with the Performance Pack and optional limited-slip diff) is a challenge. But I managed to convince a mate into buying one in exactly this configuration so I'll be making sure he looks after it properly, circling vulture-like and ready to swoop as and when the novelty wears off. That might be a while though, I think my sales pitch was a bit too good and he seems as bewitched by it as I am of my long termer.
What else? Well, GT86s and BRZs haven't exactly been flying out of the showrooms apparently so my heart lifts every time I see one on the road on the basis that this indicates there will be a supply of them for years to come in the classifieds. When the Eunos eventually expires that's the one for me as a relatively cheap and simple skiddable weekend car I reckon. I know from previous experience you can fit a downhill bike in the back of them so that covers that eventuality too. The red one I saw this morning de-winged and with a set of bronze Rota Grids would do me nicely, ta. Something like this, but perhaps on 17s rather than 18s.
Daily runabout hack a few years hence
And what of a replacement for the Shed money Fiesta shopping trolley bought for domestic chores a little while back? That
Suzuki Swift Sport we had in recently would be just the ticket given that five doors are a minimum for a car in this role.
There's my future shopping list. What's yours?
Dan
[Sources: Wheeldude.com]
