"Buying" a car that you can't really afford...

[white_goodman]

For a short-term ownership obviously... Be it high payments on a new/nearly new luxury/performance car on a short-term lease or something relatively cheap to buy but prodigiously expensive to run. I'm thinking E46/E92 M3, E60 M5, C5 RS6, B5 RS4, 996 Carrera, L322 Range Rover, possibly an AMG etc. R230 Mercedes SL350s/500s look particularly cheap right now (starting around 5k) but have a poor reputation for build quality/reliability and are pretty expensive to fix. Are these a viable alternative to a "sensible" but decent 10k Fiesta ST for example?

With the "expensive" new/nearly new option, I guess there's a bit more peace of mind but you have that high, fixed cost every month and there may be some heavy depreciation to contend with when it's all over. A lot of the cheap "performance heroes" mentioned above are an absolute steal on the used market on the face of it and if you can run one of them for 1-2 years with no major problems, then you're "quids in", as they are unlikely to have suffered much, if any depreciation. They all have the potential to bankrupt you though and if the engine blows up then you're certainly not going to make your money back!

So has anyone "lived the dream" with the knowledge that ownership is going to only be viable for a short period of time? Was it worth it or did you have sleepless nights worrying about the next big bill/maintaining the payments? Did you go "all-in" and run it as your daily driver or did you have a backup car for when it invariably all went wrong?

[groundcontrol]

Possibly qualifies for this, I had a V8 Vantage for a year not too long ago. Wanted to do it before I turned 30. Biggest loan the bank would give me, got it bought. Lost £800 on it over 12 months in depreciation, put 3,000 or so miles on it and burnt a lot of fuel.

Good laugh. Potential for big bills but it only cost me a battery in that time. Glad I did it. Probably do the same thing with a C6 Z06 in a year or two.

[ensignia]

groundcontrol said:

Lost £800 on it over 12 months in depreciation

How did you cope?!

[akadk]

Thank god for pcp

[bloomen]

There've been cars that I could afford but cost me far more than I was intending. It got to the point where I resented them so deeply I couldn't see the point in keeping them.

If they're sucking up 50% of my available money that is not a productive allocation of resources for a very limited return in enjoyment, and that enjoyment would be diminishing by the day anyway. They'd get the boot in favour of something that broadly matched the cost expectations.

I've gone from stuff worth 20-30 grand to cars I paid £500 for. In the end I enjoyed the old nails more because they weren't taking the piss out of me.

[kambites]

I guess I'm fortunate in finding modern cars thoroughly unappealing so there's plenty of £10k oldish cars which I'd rather drive than any £100k new car. Sure they can present significant bills, but those bills are generally nothing compared to the depreciation you end up paying on something new or nearly new.

[Lozw86]

I’m quite happy dropping £500’ish quid a month for something new and reliable. It’s easily affordable, low risk and satisfies my yearn to change every few years

Do I have the capital to buy a similar car outright? No. Would it make sense to? Debatable

I wouldn’t fancy anything expensive to fix and out of warranty

[Welshbeef]

I bought a C5 RS6 6 years ago and the strict aim was to run it for 1 year “inbetween services”.

It cost a fortune on fuel, I had to change tyres twice in a year, an oil leak which luckily only required tightening the bolt - otherwise it was an engine out job...

All up PPM it was cheaper than my current 535d “10” rev which I’ve had for 5 years. However it’s cheaper - and only just - because there was no servicing requirement, add that in and then it’s world of additional cost + I was doing 20k miles a year and daily driving it. Took stuff to the dump shopping trips camping trips a hooligan of a car and a memory I’ll never forget.

Problem I found was I was driving fast most of the time and provided it was clear I’d be breaking the 100 every day - even if only for a very short period of time long gearing - only 5 speed auto meant legally I could only get max power in 1&2nd whereas 3rd you’d be looking way over 100mph.

Tunnels were fun

Fuel fill ups even with a big fuel tank we’re tiring
Door to door it was no quicker in reality than even the wife’s diesel S Max

Sat nav was shockingly bad

Starting it up was a joy - is wind the windows down to enjoy it.

Regrets? Nope - though I think I should have kept it another year and hand on heart not gone to diesel following it.

[Monkeylegend]

Had my R230 SL350 three and a half years now, cost me a new battery, a crank position sensor, an A service and three straight MOT passes so far.

You only hear the scare stories.

[trickywoo]

I know this isn’t very powerfully built but I bought an e60 545i with this ethos.

A fsh 70k mile example with new Michelin boots cost me about £8k including depreciation but not fuel or insurance over three years and 20k miles.

I’m glad I did it but wouldn’t again because something was always wrong and it was still costing big bucks.

If I went ‘high end’ again I’d go new and pay the extra monthly ‘hire’ costs.

That being said I looked at Golf R the other day and saw it would cost £18k over four years. I’ve got better things to spend that kind of money on than a car.

[tril]

I would much rather take the risk on an older performance car that's depreciated, or even has the chance to appreciate a la 996 Turbo, and run that than plough money into a depreciating new car.

Or just buy a 991 GT3 and lose nothing at all

[Welshbeef]

tril said:

I would much rather take the risk on an older performance car that's depreciated, or even has the chance to appreciate a la 996 Turbo, and run that than plough money into a depreciating new car.

Or just buy a 991 GT3 and lose nothing at all

Depends on your annual miles - our 20k a year into a 996 Turbo and see its value be decimated ditto the 991 GT3 imagine trying to seek one with 250k++ miles, Pork isverg sensative to price and that’s why 70k seems to be he upper end for 997’s let alone anything newer

[white_goodman]

bloomen said:

There've been cars that I could afford but cost me far more than I was intending. It got to the point where I resented them so deeply I couldn't see the point in keeping them.

If they're sucking up 50% of my available money that is not a productive allocation of resources for a very limited return in enjoyment, and that enjoyment would be diminishing by the day anyway. They'd get the boot in favour of something that broadly matched the cost expectations.

I've gone from stuff worth 20-30 grand to cars I paid £500 for. In the end I enjoyed the old nails more because they weren't taking the piss out of me.

I guess the flip side of that is that if you like the car then you don't begrudge so much spending the money on it, as even boring, "normal" cars can throw up big bills. Just had my wife's boring family wagon in the dealership for an auto transmission remap, as it had a hesitation. Whilst it was in there, they diagnosed a leaky strut and I was surprised how much it was going to cost to replace it (mostly labour) and they also recommended that I change the other side as well, so double the money! I wouldn't object to buying the part and doing it myself but a lack of time and don't really have the right tools and a safe place to work and do it. I have no love for that car but I guess these things wear out and it has been fairly reliable. I had one really expensive MOT on my old WRX though. Needed a new exhaust, cat and brakes. Just wear and tear stuff but Subaru parts aren't cheap and aftermarket parts can be a false economy (as I found out with a cheap alternator on that car, which caused a lot of problems). Fortunately, Subarus are generally pretty reliable though and I only had to take it for a drive to forget about the high parts prices!

Like you, I had a couple of vehicles that cost me an "arm and a leg "to run and shouldn't have though (mk4 Golf GTi and a WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee). Nothing but problems with both but I wasn't that attached to either, so both lasted less than a year in my ownership, despite originally planning to keep both for 2-3 years. The Golf was especially disappointing, as it was supposed to be a more "sensible" replacement for my Corrado VR6. Cost me about twice as much in repairs and was also worse on fuel without the performance and "cool" factor of the Corrado.

I'm with you on the old "bangers" though. My 200,000 miler, 700 pound C-Class diesel estate is still one of my favourite cars that I have owned, despite it being just a short-term "stop-gap" car.

[white_goodman]

Monkeylegend said:

Had my R230 SL350 three and a half years now, cost me a new battery, a crank position sensor, an A service and three straight MOT passes so far.

You only hear the scare stories.

That sounds pretty good. I guess the 350 is a slightly less risky purchase, as it just has conventional steel springs? I don't think that you can buy such an expensive-looking car for so little than the R230 SL and it still looks clean and modern. Is yours an early or late example?

[So]

white_goodman said:

So has anyone "lived the dream" with the knowledge that ownership is going to only be viable for a short period of time?

Personally, I find it a deeply unhappy feeling having something desirable that I cannot keep.

[Welshbeef]

So said:

white_goodman said:

So has anyone "lived the dream" with the knowledge that ownership is going to only be viable for a short period of time?

Personally, I find it a deeply unhappy feeling having something desirable that I cannot keep.

Surely every car we have unless you do own it until the scrap yard you are merely a custodian - Patek’s brand line

[bloomen]

white_goodman said:

I guess the flip side of that is that if you like the car then you don't begrudge so much spending the money on it, as even boring, "normal" cars can throw up big bills.

Going forward I will only own two types of car - dream mobiles, or something that can be binned at the first major expense. I don't see the point of the middle ground any more.

[Monkeylegend]

white_goodman said:

Monkeylegend said:

Had my R230 SL350 three and a half years now, cost me a new battery, a crank position sensor, an A service and three straight MOT passes so far.

You only hear the scare stories.

That sounds pretty good. I guess the 350 is a slightly less risky purchase, as it just has conventional steel springs? I don't think that you can buy such an expensive-looking car for so little than the R230 SL and it still looks clean and modern. Is yours an early or late example?

It's a 2004 car and with standard springs as you say and the 3.7 litre engine so avoids the balancer shaft issues of the early 3.5 litre engines.

To be fair they can throw up some biggish bills if you don't buy carefully and look after them, but avoiding ABC can make it more palatable.

They are exceptionally good value at the moment so depreciation is not too much off an issue so worth taking the risk in my opinion.

[tril]

Welshbeef said:

Depends on your annual miles - our 20k a year into a 996 Turbo and see its value be decimated ditto the 991 GT3 imagine trying to seek one with 250k++ miles, Pork isverg sensative to price and that’s why 70k seems to be he upper end for 997’s let alone anything newer

Yeah agreed, fair point

[Welshbeef]

So said:

white_goodman said:

So has anyone "lived the dream" with the knowledge that ownership is going to only be viable for a short period of time?

Personally, I find it a deeply unhappy feeling having something desirable that I cannot keep.

Surely every car we have unless you do own it until the scrap yard you are merely a custodian - Patek’s brand line