Z8's....
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Discussion

boxbox

Original Poster:

56 posts

167 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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What are peoples thoughts on Z8's? I remember when these were £65K in 2003/4 time. I really quite fancy one, but dont know whether it will be a good long term bet (in terms of holding it's value). I hate the idea of parking in in a garage and just looking at it, so I'd want to do 4-5K a year in it

There are cars that seem to have been for sale for what looks like a year with 10K ish miles on them. Wonder if it is that people like them, but dont see that value in them? There are other modern classic cars that seem to have gone up more in recent years and sell quicker when they come to market

I'm a bit confused what to think. All that is obvious, judging by some of the higher mileage ones I have been watching, is that they seem to be worth about £1K less for every 1000 miles on them above about 10K

Wondering if a better bet than a Merc SLS at £90-100K in terms of 'value loss'. Obviously they'll depreciate less, but if dealers are holding onto them for so long, you can bet they want a big spread across them to take them into stock, knowing they will hold onto them for a while. For this reason the depreciation might be small but the loss still pretty big compared to more modern cars of similar value


Yellowcab

259 posts

247 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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I thought these were fetching way over £100k now. Seems like their prices have gone through the roof recently.

Cheib

25,223 posts

201 months

Tuesday 11th June 2013
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Z8 market is a law unto itself...looking at the classifieds there's one with 60k miles for £80k.

Friend of mind had a Z8 in 2002 he was trying to sell....think he'd done his conkers on it and was being offered £35k by a dealer. Hexagon are pretty much solely responsible for Z8 prices, I was told this by someone I know who works there. They noticed in 2004 that Z8's here were cheaper in the UK than they were on the Continent so they proceeded to buy every single car they could in the UK and started pushing prices up....they used to have 8 or 10 in stock at any one time. No other dealers would touch them at that stage. Every time they sold a car they'd buy another and so on....eventually pushing UK prices higher than they were in Europe and importing them from there. Since then all the other premium dealers have jumped on the bandwagon and now it looks like a mint low miler is probably worth £100k.

Very hard to say what the real level is but I wouldn't buy a £100k car and start putting "big" miles on it....

As a comparison the Z1 which was made in similar numbers and you could argue is equally collectible is still the same price it was in 2004!

belleair302

7,001 posts

233 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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Lame to drive even with improvements, suspect build quality too. A car for cruising in California or Arizona, not for early morning blasts across Wales or around Norfolk. Looks are so, so, the chassis is not good at putting down the power and an E39 is a way better drive. Avoid spending silly money on a car that is hugely overprices and massively unrewarding to own and drive. An Alpina Roadster will give all of the fun, better performance and lots of looks for under £18 K. Z8's are like XJ-S's in the late 80's.....mid life crisis cars for those who don't get cars.

CRA1G

7,201 posts

221 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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It is one car I do regret selling but the LHD limits it's daily use IMO,I sold one of the last an 03 car in Topaz with Cream done 7k about 8 years ago for £55K.........!cry about 3 years after that Hexagon had it with 12K on it advertised at £90k and i would think today with less than 20K on it would be £120K........!weeping and after saying all that it wasn't the easiest car to drive 400 BHP in a light alloy body is great in a straight line but not the best for cornering..........yikes never the less a iconic car now.driving

Cheib

25,223 posts

201 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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CRA1G said:
It is one car I do regret selling but the LHD limits it's daily use IMO,I sold one of the last an 03 car in Topaz with Cream done 7k about 8 years ago for £55K.........!cry about 3 years after that Hexagon had it with 12K on it advertised at £90k and i would think today with less than 20K on it would be £120K........!weeping and after saying all that it wasn't the easiest car to drive 400 BHP in a light alloy body is great in a straight line but not the best for cornering..........yikes never the less a iconic car now.driving
If it's any consolation it's probably not worth £120k! Here's a 1400 mile car for £116k

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

Hexagon have got a 10,000 mile car for £120k though.......



Galahad

2,029 posts

294 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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Cheib said:
If it's any consolation it's probably not worth £120k! Here's a 1400 mile car for £116k

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
£116k plus VAT...

CRA1G

7,201 posts

221 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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Galahad said:
Cheib said:
If it's any consolation it's probably not worth £120k! Here's a 1400 mile car for £116k

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...
£116k plus VAT...
Wow......just sort of £140K then.......! I wish the 8 series Sport would be the same I have a low mileage one of them under wraps.....! But then may be not........hehe

rtg0616

27 posts

248 months

Wednesday 12th June 2013
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belleair302 said:
Lame to drive even with improvements, suspect build quality too. A car for cruising in California or Arizona, not for early morning blasts across Wales or around Norfolk. Looks are so, so, the chassis is not good at putting down the power and an E39 is a way better drive. Avoid spending silly money on a car that is hugely overprices and massively unrewarding to own and drive. An Alpina Roadster will give all of the fun, better performance and lots of looks for under £18 K. Z8's are like XJ-S's in the late 80's.....mid life crisis cars for those who don't get cars.
What a complete and utter load of shiite! Have you ever owned or even driven one? Probably not when you're making comparisons with an XJS?
The Z8 may not be the best drivers car out there, and of course there are plenty of faster/better handling cars etc. But the Z8 is a beautifully built, fantastic car to own and drive and it would easily handle everyday use, as German owners have shown.
I sold mine after two years of ownership and made a healthy profit. I regret it to this day, but fortunately I still have regular drives in one, thanks to a very kind friend. If you can afford one, I would go for it, you will not regret it. I'm sure those people who bought when they were selling for £55k are likely to agree looking at the way their values have shot through the roof!

JDFR

1,219 posts

161 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
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Cheib said:
As a comparison the Z1 which was made in similar numbers and you could argue is equally collectible is still the same price it was in 2004!
I think they made 50% more Z1s than Z8s.

NAS

2,579 posts

257 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
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Saw 2 of these only yesterday driving around town.

In red especially it's quite an arresting sight. Oh, how I wish it had the same depreciation curve as an E39 M5.....

belleair302

7,001 posts

233 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
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It is odd but in the US these are nowhere near as expensive as in Europe. Possibly because there are many more of them and they don't have the appeal of an Aston Martin, Ferrari or tuned 993's or 996's.

Johnky1990

140 posts

164 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
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BMW AUC site doesn't seem to show but I've seen Leicester Sytner displaying virtually new and mint condition Z8 for sale (think it was 98k)

MarsellusWallace

1,180 posts

227 months

Thursday 20th June 2013
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My best friend was a BMW new car sales manager when these cars were brand new.He says they had real problems shifting them and the ones he sold new went with massive discounts and a sigh of relief from the supplying dealer.
The last few unsold cars in the UK dealer network were sent to selected dealers and force registered.