Practical car which won't depreciate - the holy grail?
Discussion
Hello Clouds, Hello Sky,
I'll be in the market to replace my much loved 2018 Octavia Estate 1.5 lease car in July. I was doing 15k miles a year and needed something reliable and OK to drive, both of which the Skoda has been - it's been a great car.
Now I don't do so many miles, one of my sons has suggested I buy something which won't depreciate. He did suggest an Alfa Romeo Montreal, but once we'd had the conversation about a 50 year old V8 sitting on the hard shoulder of the M4 with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet, we agreed this wouldn't really work.
What I need is something i can buy for up to, say, £20k, which is probably a petrol estate or large hatchback, which is reliable, OK to drive and crucially, won't depreciate if it's looked after, serviced regularly and doesn't have moonshot mileage. I'm not after an RS4 or similar - it must be OK on fuel and servicing.
Does such a car exist? Am I searching for a unicorn?
Cheers - HM
I'll be in the market to replace my much loved 2018 Octavia Estate 1.5 lease car in July. I was doing 15k miles a year and needed something reliable and OK to drive, both of which the Skoda has been - it's been a great car.
Now I don't do so many miles, one of my sons has suggested I buy something which won't depreciate. He did suggest an Alfa Romeo Montreal, but once we'd had the conversation about a 50 year old V8 sitting on the hard shoulder of the M4 with smoke billowing out from under the bonnet, we agreed this wouldn't really work.
What I need is something i can buy for up to, say, £20k, which is probably a petrol estate or large hatchback, which is reliable, OK to drive and crucially, won't depreciate if it's looked after, serviced regularly and doesn't have moonshot mileage. I'm not after an RS4 or similar - it must be OK on fuel and servicing.
Does such a car exist? Am I searching for a unicorn?
Cheers - HM
I'd buy something at the bottom of it's depreciation curve, rather than something that's necessarily up to £20k
Classic Mercedes or something - maybe a W124. You may lose a little, but it's anyone's guess at the moment with the world economy and current (sometimes insane) pricing for cars old and new.
Classic Mercedes or something - maybe a W124. You may lose a little, but it's anyone's guess at the moment with the world economy and current (sometimes insane) pricing for cars old and new.
yellowbentines said:
How practical does it need to be? Would a V8 Mustang tick all of the boxes? I'd imagine they are fairly easy to own and maintain and rarity seems to help keep values up, whilst being an interesting thing to woofle around in.
How I'd love one of these! Would have to be manual, in yellow with black go-faster stripes.I need an estate or a hatch, as we have a pooch, and I always seem to be moving bicycles, instrument flightcases and endless cases for various children. A Mustang is one of my 'always wanted one' list, though fuelling a V8 in these times would be beyond my meagre bank balance!
Anything deemed reasonably rare or desirable will hold its value alright, Id be looking at something like a BMW Individual spec 3/5 series? (or Audi exclusive paint A4/A6) something with a unique colour combo that will hold its value as the cars start to come back up the depreciation curve
You might want to try an Octavia vRS, values of them have seemingly firmed up and they're such a good all-round car. I'm running a 2016 TSI 230 hatch and it's a wonderful balance of fun and practicality. They sold pretty well so there's a decent amount of choice. On a motorway run I'm getting about 42mpg, 35ish on normal B road driving, low 30s if I get a bit carried away.
Some people might not want to get a car so similar to what they've had before, though. However, in character the vRS is a fair bit different to the rest of the lineup - faster steering, lower, stiffer, noisier, different seats, different exterior styling to name just a few.
See also: Golf R estate, Leon Cupra estate (also available as an FR with the 1.8 TSI).
Some people might not want to get a car so similar to what they've had before, though. However, in character the vRS is a fair bit different to the rest of the lineup - faster steering, lower, stiffer, noisier, different seats, different exterior styling to name just a few.
See also: Golf R estate, Leon Cupra estate (also available as an FR with the 1.8 TSI).
Fuzzarr said:
You might want to try an Octavia vRS, values of them have seemingly firmed up and they're such a good all-round car. I'm running a 2016 TSI 230 hatch and it's a wonderful balance of fun and practicality. They sold pretty well so there's a decent amount of choice. On a motorway run I'm getting about 42mpg, 35ish on normal B road driving, low 30s if I get a bit carried away.
Some people might not want to get a car so similar to what they've had before, though. However, in character the vRS is a fair bit different to the rest of the lineup - faster steering, lower, stiffer, noisier, different seats, different exterior styling to name just a few.
See also: Golf R estate, Leon Cupra estate (also available as an FR with the 1.8 TSI).
Not a bad shout actually. I have heard you need one with adaptive suspension if you don't want to shake your fillings loose.Some people might not want to get a car so similar to what they've had before, though. However, in character the vRS is a fair bit different to the rest of the lineup - faster steering, lower, stiffer, noisier, different seats, different exterior styling to name just a few.
See also: Golf R estate, Leon Cupra estate (also available as an FR with the 1.8 TSI).
Unless you're looking at something rare, older or sought after a £20k budget is still going to take a knock. I bought a V8 AMG for around that money, realistically the car is still worth around that but it's not practical and it's remained silly low mileage. Not really a daily car.
Personally, the lease depreciation I've experienced vs how much use I've got out of a car was my old E Class. Bought for £4k with 100k on the clock. Drove for 4 years and put just over 40k on the clock, it was reliable, comfortable, practical and genuinely cheap to run. I sold it for £1,500 so £625 a year in depreciation is pretty good. The next owner probably hasn't lost anything since buying it.
Personally, the lease depreciation I've experienced vs how much use I've got out of a car was my old E Class. Bought for £4k with 100k on the clock. Drove for 4 years and put just over 40k on the clock, it was reliable, comfortable, practical and genuinely cheap to run. I sold it for £1,500 so £625 a year in depreciation is pretty good. The next owner probably hasn't lost anything since buying it.
I was in a similar position and bought a relatively low miles (88k) 1992 BMW 730i for under £5k a year ago. I've done about 5000 miles in it since buying it and it's been faultless. Yes, it's not great on fuel getting around 22mpg, but since I'm no longer commuting (permanent WFH) I don't care. I've already been offered more for it than I paid, so that's my fuel bill taken care of if I want to sell. My only regret is that I didn't get a bigger V8 model. It's so comfortable it's like driving a four-poster bed, and it can hustle surprisingly well. An E39 M5 is probably the holy grail though. Slightly smaller, much faster and won't depreciate. The 730i means I now only use my Boxster S on fun drives rather than wasting mileage sitting on motorways, so the mileage of that car is being kept low too which obviously helps maintain value and keeps it feeling more special.
Gratuitous photo...
Gratuitous photo...
Hairymonster said:
Not a bad shout actually. I have heard you need one with adaptive suspension if you don't want to shake your fillings loose.
I haven't found it too bad! And I'm on 19s. Most 220s are on 18s. Ride can be improved with tweaks to tyre size/variant. In some markets they were available with 17s, too, so if ride quality is important you've got some options for improving it.If you're ever in York or the East Yorkshire region give me a shout and you can have a go.
What cars don't depreciate? Either top end new ones where you can sometimes even get a premium for a year or ones near the bottom of their depreciation curves.
At £20k budget the (potentially) bottom of the curve possibilities have high borkage potential? Bentley continental, Maserati granturismo, performance Audi estate.
I think it's too high a price almost to be depreciation free. Older/cheaper is the way to go IMO for low depreciation, you can know all the cars typical faults and rule some in out on that basis and you can also find a mint one close to the price of a shed. Then if there is an leveling of prices and even appreciation then these mint ones will still be desirable, someone always wants 'a good one' of everything in the long run?
At £20k budget the (potentially) bottom of the curve possibilities have high borkage potential? Bentley continental, Maserati granturismo, performance Audi estate.
I think it's too high a price almost to be depreciation free. Older/cheaper is the way to go IMO for low depreciation, you can know all the cars typical faults and rule some in out on that basis and you can also find a mint one close to the price of a shed. Then if there is an leveling of prices and even appreciation then these mint ones will still be desirable, someone always wants 'a good one' of everything in the long run?
Scootersp said:
What cars don't depreciate? Either top end new ones where you can sometimes even get a premium for a year or ones near the bottom of their depreciation curves.
At £20k budget the (potentially) bottom of the curve possibilities have high borkage potential? Bentley continental, Maserati granturismo, performance Audi estate.
I think it's too high a price almost to be depreciation free. Older/cheaper is the way to go IMO for low depreciation, you can know all the cars typical faults and rule some in out on that basis and you can also find a mint one close to the price of a shed. Then if there is an leveling of prices and even appreciation then these mint ones will still be desirable, someone always wants 'a good one' of everything in the long run?
£20k is the max I'd want to spend. The cars you mention I wouldn't go near for the very reason you highlight!At £20k budget the (potentially) bottom of the curve possibilities have high borkage potential? Bentley continental, Maserati granturismo, performance Audi estate.
I think it's too high a price almost to be depreciation free. Older/cheaper is the way to go IMO for low depreciation, you can know all the cars typical faults and rule some in out on that basis and you can also find a mint one close to the price of a shed. Then if there is an leveling of prices and even appreciation then these mint ones will still be desirable, someone always wants 'a good one' of everything in the long run?
If I could spend £10k or £5k, I'd be perfectly happy too. I am thinking some flavour of older Benz estate is probably the way to go.
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