V8, practical, sub 20k?

[Begall]

I’m currently running two cars and I’m moving down to one, an RX-8 that I own and is being sold and a Golf R Estate lease that is being collected.

Rather than get something cheap and boring that I’ll end up hating, my current thought is to look at a reasonably practical (coupe with 4 seats, saloons, estates) V8 that’s finished it’s depreciating. Mainly because I’ve never had a V8 and I’ve always fancied one, but ideally I’d like to avoid a situation where it eats £300/month while doing 500 miles per month.

There doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of choice here now (I was tracking this market closely a couple of years ago and there was quite a bit more available) but I’m thinking C63 W204s and E92 M3s are my best bet?

Specifically these look like the decent shouts unlikely to drop in value much more?

C63
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107255...

E92
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107155...

I’ve also looked at E63s and IS-F’s (well literally the one for sale in the whole country) but there’s far fewer of them for sale, making it difficult to judge their value accurately. Anyone got any thoughts on these options or ones I’ve not considered?

[fflump]

There are V8 audi S5s well in budget or a manual Maserati coupe which are most likely appreciating

[Mr_Webb]

I'd also consider the B7 RS4. Manual V8 and at the bottom of their depreciation curve. Really nice car to daily too.

[village24]

S4 3.0 v6 tfsi with a remap and supercharger pulley upgrade you'll tick most of the boxes.

But yeah c63, e90/e92
Jag XF R 5.0 v8

[ZX10R NIN]

Begall said:

I’m currently running two cars and I’m moving down to one, an RX-8 that I own and is being sold and a Golf R Estate lease that is being collected.

Rather than get something cheap and boring that I’ll end up hating, my current thought is to look at a reasonably practical (coupe with 4 seats, saloons, estates) V8 that’s finished it’s depreciating. Mainly because I’ve never had a V8 and I’ve always fancied one, but ideally I’d like to avoid a situation where it eats £300/month while doing 500 miles per month.

There doesn’t seem to be a massive amount of choice here now (I was tracking this market closely a couple of years ago and there was quite a bit more available) but I’m thinking C63 W204s and E92 M3s are my best bet?

Specifically these look like the decent shouts unlikely to drop in value much more?

C63
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107255...

E92
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107155...

I’ve also looked at E63s and IS-F’s (well literally the one for sale in the whole country) but there’s far fewer of them for sale, making it difficult to judge their value accurately. Anyone got any thoughts on these options or ones I’ve not considered?

The two you're looking at are great examples of great cars, for me (yes I'm bias) the C63 is the better overall package more of the time BUT when you're on it the E90/92 is the sweeter steer.

Somewhere in between the two is the RS5 is somewhere between the two with a very special V8:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202106294...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108166...

The VXR8 is another well worth a look but they're holding their money well:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105152...

The IS-F is a creeper of a car as in after owning one for a while it'll have grown on you , finding one in the metallic red is a rare find:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108236...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185002935835?hash=item2...

Like the VXR8 these are holding their money very well.

[georgeyboy12345]

Why have you picked two cars from private sellers? A bit risky dropping 20k on something you'll have no comeback on if it goes pear shaped, imo

This trader selling this E9x BMW M3 might be interested in part exing your RX-8 - you gotta go for this one!
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108075...


This 2006 Audi S4 has had it's timing chains sorted and can be had for half your budget. Granted, some of the infotainment, etc is a bit old now if that kind of thing bothers you, but on the plus side it has done depreciating
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108065...


Jag XFR - there's one on AT with only 14k miles for the same price, but I'd go for this one, I reckon it'll be in better nick
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108156...


Mercedes C63 AMG
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202104071...


Porsche Panamera 4S
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103180...


Vauxhall VXR8
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105152...

[Begall]

georgeyboy12345 said:

Why have you picked two cars from private sellers? A bit risky dropping 20k on something you'll have no comeback on if it goes pear shaped, imo

Perhaps stoking some controversy here, but I don’t put much faith in dealer warranties on older performance cars, particularly where the dealer is on the other side of the country. Not to say I avoid dealer cars, but I generally would trade the (IMO) limited risk mitigation for saving on the dealer profit margin.

All great suggestions btw, from you and others. I think the XF and panamera (and likely E63) might be pointlessly large for me, but the ISF, VXR, RS4 and S4 are good shouts - the only thing about the Audi’s is that I’m less aware of the things to look out for. For the M3 it’s the throttle actuators/rod bearings and the C63 the head bolts, but with the Audi’s I just have a general sense of unreliability (similar with the XF actually).

I also believe that Kent Rotaries are the ones that seem to have an endless supply of stunningly high compression RX-8’s, I’m not sure they’re trustworthy at all.

[Begall]

Feeling a little tempted by this… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202006029...

But it has been up 3 months so not sure if there’s something I’m missing or if the price has recently been cut drastically…

[ZX10R NIN]

Begall said:

Feeling a little tempted by this… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202006029...

But it has been up 3 months so not sure if there’s something I’m missing or if the price has recently been cut drastically…

Like your other picks this is a good one that's had all the right bits done, the nigh on 20k & then 30k gap between services isn't the best but it's a used car & when it has been serviced it seems to be main dealer so I could let that go but I would use it as a haggling point.

The heads will need nut blasting as they'll be coked up (due to the age of the car) this transforms the cars performance, the seller doesn't list it being done & you would if you were one, so assume that's a cost you'll have to pay out for.

I had a supercharged RS4 & while it was fun it didn't grab me as something I wanted to keep, the RS5 with it's sweeter high revving V8 grabbed me more but not enough to buy one.

The headbolt issue on early C63's is over hyped but it has affected some cars, the first two cars you picked had the right spec/work carried out on them & out of the three it's the first two that would see my money not the RS4.

The RS4/5 do cost a bit more to run but not massively more, also I wouldn't even look at an S4 when considering these types of car.

From what you say I think the VXR8 & anything else that size are to big for your needs so I'd scrub those from your list, also buying private is the way to go on this type of purchase but I wouldn't pass over a nice one with receipts at a dealer.

[Begall]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108206...

So this C63 is really close to me and hopefully I’ll be able to get over tonight and have a look. Compared to the one I posted in the OP:

- Cheaper but older, with similar mileage
- Also has a strong service history with head bolt work completed
- Similarly clean MOT history, with a new MOT
- Is missing the PPP
- Has modifications which IMO are just the right side of tasteful, but I don’t think the decat is doing it any favours at all.

Anyone think this would be a major mistake?

[ZX10R NIN]

It wouldn't be a mistake but you'll want to put some sports cats in because you lose a bit of midrange fully decatting a 6.2 C63 & the C63 is much better drive with the Limited Slip Diff.

Personally I'd take the first one the diff alone is worth the extra 2k & that's before the better brakes & extra bhp, also a remap will see you at around 510bhp minimum as you'll actually get full throttle.

[voram]

It's all very well buying a car that's "finished depreciating" but all the ones mentioned in this thread are capable of landing you with some pretty mahoosive bills. And in many ways the older/cheaper the car the more likely that becomes.

[Begall]

ZX10R NIN said:

It wouldn't be a mistake but you'll want to put some sports cats in because you lose a bit of midrange fully decatting a 6.2 C63 & the C63 is much better drive with the Limited Slip Diff.

Personally I'd take the first one the diff alone is worth the extra 2k & that's before the better brakes & extra bhp, also a remap will see you at around 510bhp minimum as you'll actually get full throttle.

Good points, thanks. I hadn’t known that the decat was actively detrimental beyond the obvious, I also can’t see where you can buy cats or sports cats for them (beyond one guy on eBay selling a stock pair for £2k).

voram said:

It's all very well buying a car that's "finished depreciating" but all the ones mentioned in this thread are capable of landing you with some pretty mahoosive bills. And in many ways the older/cheaper the car the more likely that becomes.

This is a fair point and something I’d be genuinely concerned about if I was planning to smash it with 15k+ miles a year. As it is my usage will be more like 6k a year and at that level the risk is tolerable for me.

[Terzo123]

Begall said:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108206...

So this C63 is really close to me and hopefully I’ll be able to get over tonight and have a look. Compared to the one I posted in the OP:

- Cheaper but older, with similar mileage
- Also has a strong service history with head bolt work completed
- Similarly clean MOT history, with a new MOT
- Is missing the PPP
- Has modifications which IMO are just the right side of tasteful, but I don’t think the decat is doing it any favours at all.

Anyone think this would be a major mistake?

The figures quoted by the seller for the de-cat and remap are extremely optimistic. In fact id take them with a pinch of salt. For those kind of figures you'd need upgraded headers.

Apart from that, looks a decent car, with some good preventative maintenance.

Although given the choice, i'd probably go for the PP car you posted earlier, even if the seller appears to be over egging the pudding somewhat in the ad.

Edited by Terzo123 on Sunday 5th September 20:52

[ZX10R NIN]

Begall said:

ZX10R NIN said:

It wouldn't be a mistake but you'll want to put some sports cats in because you lose a bit of midrange fully decatting a 6.2 C63 & the C63 is much better drive with the Limited Slip Diff.

Personally I'd take the first one the diff alone is worth the extra 2k & that's before the better brakes & extra bhp, also a remap will see you at around 510bhp minimum as you'll actually get full throttle.

Good points, thanks. I hadn’t known that the decat was actively detrimental beyond the obvious, I also can’t see where you can buy cats or sports cats for them (beyond one guy on eBay selling a stock pair for £2k).

voram said:

It's all very well buying a car that's "finished depreciating" but all the ones mentioned in this thread are capable of landing you with some pretty mahoosive bills. And in many ways the older/cheaper the car the more likely that becomes.

This is a fair point and something I’d be genuinely concerned about if I was planning to smash it with 15k+ miles a year. As it is my usage will be more like 6k a year and at that level the risk is tolerable for me.

You can buy HiFlow Sports Cats from most exhaust makers Milltek/Scorpion/Remus etc expect to spend around £200-300 per cat.

As I said the LSD makes the biggest difference to the way the 63 drives & that's why I'd be getting the other one unless you want to fit a Quaife diff to the less expensive car, your first C63 is still the pick.

[Begall]

Terzo123 said:

The figures quoted by the seller for the de-cat and remap are extremely optimistic. In fact id take them with a pinch of salt. For those kind of figures you'd need upgraded headers.

Apart from that, looks a decent car, with some good preventative maintenance.

Although given the choice, i'd probably go for the PP car you posted earlier, even if the seller appears to be over egging the pudding somewhat in the ad.

Edited by Terzo123 on Sunday 5th September 20:52

Yeah I'm not worried about how much HP it's putting out, to be honest I'd have preferred it stock!

ZX10R NIN said:

You can buy HiFlow Sports Cats from most exhaust makers Milltek/Scorpion/Remus etc expect to spend around £200-300 per cat.

As I said the LSD makes the biggest difference to the way the 63 drives & that's why I'd be getting the other one unless you want to fit a Quaife diff to the less expensive car, your first C63 is still the pick.

Interesting thanks, do you think this definitely should have the LSD? My understanding is that by 2010 the PP did not include the LSD and the seller makes no mention of it - it feels like something someone would 100% highlight.

[ZX10R NIN]

Begall said:

Interesting thanks, do you think this definitely should have the LSD? My understanding is that by 2010 the PP did not include the LSD and the seller makes no mention of it - it feels like something someone would 100% highlight.

It was an optional extra but it's not often you find one without it but I have purchased cars with the LSD where the seller didn't know but I agree this car may not have one, it still seems like the one to buy & if it doesn't have the diff that would be a nice negotiating point.

[TheAngryDog]

Can you stretch to a facelift version? The interiors to me look much nicer than the pre facelift cars.

Edited by TheAngryDog on Monday 6th September 08:32

[Begall]

TheAngryDog said:

Can you stretch to a facelift version? The interiors to me look much nicer than the pre facelift cars.

Edited by TheAngryDog on Monday 6th September 08:32

I don’t mind the pre-facelift interior too much and I’m not 100% convinced that they fit my ‘low depreciation’ aim, I think they still have a little bit to fall.

I went to see the local C63 and it’s in really good condition, it also sounds insane with the decat haha. I also think it’s exactly the kind of car that I want as a single car right now.

The C63 in the OP doesn’t have the LSD unfortunately, I checked via the VIN. I have an agreed price of £17K for the local C63, I’m currently minded to accept it - I’m not sure the 2k - 2.5k extra plus 2x weekend days / 500 miles to see then get for the PP will be worth it for me.

[ZX10R NIN]

Go for it if you're happy with the car then go for it.