comparitive costs (to mainstream)

[Simian Dave]

I'm not really in the position to compare my project to a mainstream market segment, but any GTM or Quantum owners out there mind telling me (in private if you prefer) the cost of getting one on the road, depreciation, cost of buying 2nd hand, cost of running (mpg, maintaining, servicing, etc). Why you went for that car and what mainstream car(s) you'd compare it to would also really help.

There's loads of data out there on things like an Elise, TVR, MGF, even Ginetta and Marcos for me to comapre to (that's a very British car heavy list isn't it?) so I can benchmark the two.

I am trying to put something together to help clarify comparitive cost of ownership and people can put their own spin on the cost of their time.

Cheers,

Dave

[rdodger]

You should be fine with your XI. The Lotus twincam engined one is in the Lotus classified section at the moment.

GTM values have suffered over the past few years. If you go back to the Paddy and Peter days you could build a nice Libra for 12-15k. That car now maybe 8 years old would be worth 5-6k. So not too bad. Buy a new one from the factory now for 25k+ and 2 years later it's worth probably less than 15k. No so good.

The usual stuff, that you can buy an Elise for 6k now, a boxter for less than 10k Blah Blah

Insurance is cheap, it costs the same to service as a rover 200, it's dead easy to work on as the front and rear bodywork opens up and can be removed in 10 mins. Iit's Fun Fun Fun, better looking than nearly every other car out there and I only see another one at kit car shows. Then not always .

It's sort of pratical and I love it. I didn't build it, but I do take it apart regularly to pretend I did

Edited by rdodger on Monday 8th December 22:20

Edited by rdodger on Monday 8th December 22:22

[Furyblade_Lee]

When i bought my Libra (143 bhp at the time) i got an insurance quote for £350 fully comprehensive. I also got a quote for a basic Elise (115bhp version) and that was £1,200. That alone made the choice to stop looking at Elises at my age. As Roger says, in the past the long term residules were OK, but short term residules are quite scary to say the least. It is quite possible that you could lose 50% in a year on a new Libra. When you are talking £25-30k for a factory built car then that is quite serious, and unlike Lotus or Caterham there is no dealer network to buy it back and keep residules high. BUT that is the same for 99% or kit cars, not just a GTM. Buying second hand is a totally different prospect, £8k gets you a fantastic Libra. But that also gets you an old Elise, Caterham or early Boxter...