£2k annual service & consumables budget enough for a Tuscan?
Discussion
Just trying to get a ballpark figure in my mind and manage a budget. I live in london and don't need a car, so this would be a weekend toy (as most TVRs are) and do around 5k miles a year. I'm guessing a lot depends on this "rebuild" issue that seems to affect the speed six after 30-50k miles, which is no doubt expensive. I have seen some TVRs advertised with a sobering 5-8k of receipts over three year periods (ish) but perhaps to be expected given the low "entry" price vs performance of these cars. If I'm looking at the thick end of 3k annualised running costs, that would probably be too much.
Fingers in the wind welcome :-)
Cheers,
DT
Fingers in the wind welcome :-)
Cheers,
DT
Its not so much the running costs I've found, its the inability to just get the required work done without getting something shiny or Gucci fitted at the same time.
I've spent almost £6k in the 18 months I've had the car, but that was a new stereo system, silicon hoses, racetech shiny bits, ACT end cans, Decat, covercraft tailored car cover, partial re-trim...it goes on.
I will admit, my 6k service set me back £2k, but that was a new clutch, slave cylinder, the service and MOT as well as some other minor issues picked up during the service. My 12k service with shims which is supposed to be the uber expensive one was £730! So go figure. £2k a year for maintenance alone would be about right, some years it'll be less, some more. But don't forget the insurance, Tax & fuel though.
Should you do it? f
k yeah! Prices will only go one way as they get rarer, go for it.
If in any doubt just 'man maths' it and I'm sure it'll work out affordable.
I've spent almost £6k in the 18 months I've had the car, but that was a new stereo system, silicon hoses, racetech shiny bits, ACT end cans, Decat, covercraft tailored car cover, partial re-trim...it goes on.
I will admit, my 6k service set me back £2k, but that was a new clutch, slave cylinder, the service and MOT as well as some other minor issues picked up during the service. My 12k service with shims which is supposed to be the uber expensive one was £730! So go figure. £2k a year for maintenance alone would be about right, some years it'll be less, some more. But don't forget the insurance, Tax & fuel though.
Should you do it? f
k yeah! Prices will only go one way as they get rarer, go for it.If in any doubt just 'man maths' it and I'm sure it'll work out affordable.
£2K should be more than enough for the standard service items that you might expect to consume. Although you will need a slush fund on top of that that you can afford to dip into when stuff happens.
I have had mine for 6 years and average well under that:
Mine has 52K miles on it, loves to be driven and lives outside all year round. My most expensive service was about £1200 which included HID headlights as an upgrade. typically it has been around the £600-£800 mark annually.
For the last 3 years I have averaged 4K miles per year and have only had the car looked at once a year at the annual service with no other issues arising between services. (I had a clutch but that's a consumable right?)
Some would say I have been lucky
I would say you only ever hear about the horror stories...
On top of this, I had new suspension - £800, new tyres £550 all round and probably a few other bits n pieces over the years but not a significant amount.
Engine wise, never had an upgrade but may well go bang at any time - I am mentally budgeting £7500 should this happen although there is no sign that it is going to go pop.....
You also need to consider the chassis - just this week, mine is looking at chassis fixes (subject of another as yet unstarted thread) and this will probably stretch to more than a few £K.
If you have the attitude that things will happen and when they do, you are going to have to stump up reasonable wedges of cash to keep it in good nick then you will be fine. If you can't stomach the possibility of a few bills of a few £K over a few years, then maybe you won't.
For me, they have never been as good value as they are now and depreciation is glacial if well maintained. I see any running cost / maintenance as equal to depreciation on other marques.
For me the justification went something like:
You could spend £15k on an M3 and watch it drop to £5K plus a reasonable annual maintenance cost feeling as though it has cost you nothing to maintain. Or you can make the right choice and have a higher potential maintenance cost but lower depreciation.....
no brainer....
I have had mine for 6 years and average well under that:
Mine has 52K miles on it, loves to be driven and lives outside all year round. My most expensive service was about £1200 which included HID headlights as an upgrade. typically it has been around the £600-£800 mark annually.
For the last 3 years I have averaged 4K miles per year and have only had the car looked at once a year at the annual service with no other issues arising between services. (I had a clutch but that's a consumable right?)
Some would say I have been lucky
I would say you only ever hear about the horror stories...On top of this, I had new suspension - £800, new tyres £550 all round and probably a few other bits n pieces over the years but not a significant amount.
Engine wise, never had an upgrade but may well go bang at any time - I am mentally budgeting £7500 should this happen although there is no sign that it is going to go pop.....
You also need to consider the chassis - just this week, mine is looking at chassis fixes (subject of another as yet unstarted thread) and this will probably stretch to more than a few £K.
If you have the attitude that things will happen and when they do, you are going to have to stump up reasonable wedges of cash to keep it in good nick then you will be fine. If you can't stomach the possibility of a few bills of a few £K over a few years, then maybe you won't.
For me, they have never been as good value as they are now and depreciation is glacial if well maintained. I see any running cost / maintenance as equal to depreciation on other marques.
For me the justification went something like:
You could spend £15k on an M3 and watch it drop to £5K plus a reasonable annual maintenance cost feeling as though it has cost you nothing to maintain. Or you can make the right choice and have a higher potential maintenance cost but lower depreciation.....
no brainer....
fat80b said:
£2K should be more than enough for the standard service items that you might expect to consume. Although you will need a slush fund on top of that that you can afford to dip into when stuff happens.
I have had mine for 6 years and average well under that:
Mine has 52K miles on it, loves to be driven and lives outside all year round. My most expensive service was about £1200 which included HID headlights as an upgrade. typically it has been around the £600-£800 mark annually.
For the last 3 years I have averaged 4K miles per year and have only had the car looked at once a year at the annual service with no other issues arising between services. (I had a clutch but that's a consumable right?)
Some would say I have been lucky I would say you only ever hear about the horror stories...
On top of this, I had new suspension - £800, new tyres £550 all round and probably a few other bits n pieces over the years but not a significant amount.
Engine wise, never had an upgrade but may well go bang at any time - I am mentally budgeting £7500 should this happen although there is no sign that it is going to go pop.....
You also need to consider the chassis - just this week, mine is looking at chassis fixes (subject of another as yet unstarted thread) and this will probably stretch to more than a few £K.
If you have the attitude that things will happen and when they do, you are going to have to stump up reasonable wedges of cash to keep it in good nick then you will be fine. If you can't stomach the possibility of a few bills of a few £K over a few years, then maybe you won't.
For me, they have never been as good value as they are now and depreciation is glacial if well maintained. I see any running cost / maintenance as equal to depreciation on other marques.
For me the justification went something like:
You could spend £15k on an M3 and watch it drop to £5K plus a reasonable annual maintenance cost feeling as though it has cost you nothing to maintain. Or you can make the right choice and have a higher potential maintenance cost but lower depreciation.....
no brainer....
As usual, the man maths makes perfect sense I have had mine for 6 years and average well under that:
Mine has 52K miles on it, loves to be driven and lives outside all year round. My most expensive service was about £1200 which included HID headlights as an upgrade. typically it has been around the £600-£800 mark annually.
For the last 3 years I have averaged 4K miles per year and have only had the car looked at once a year at the annual service with no other issues arising between services. (I had a clutch but that's a consumable right?)
Some would say I have been lucky
I would say you only ever hear about the horror stories...On top of this, I had new suspension - £800, new tyres £550 all round and probably a few other bits n pieces over the years but not a significant amount.
Engine wise, never had an upgrade but may well go bang at any time - I am mentally budgeting £7500 should this happen although there is no sign that it is going to go pop.....
You also need to consider the chassis - just this week, mine is looking at chassis fixes (subject of another as yet unstarted thread) and this will probably stretch to more than a few £K.
If you have the attitude that things will happen and when they do, you are going to have to stump up reasonable wedges of cash to keep it in good nick then you will be fine. If you can't stomach the possibility of a few bills of a few £K over a few years, then maybe you won't.
For me, they have never been as good value as they are now and depreciation is glacial if well maintained. I see any running cost / maintenance as equal to depreciation on other marques.
For me the justification went something like:
You could spend £15k on an M3 and watch it drop to £5K plus a reasonable annual maintenance cost feeling as though it has cost you nothing to maintain. Or you can make the right choice and have a higher potential maintenance cost but lower depreciation.....
no brainer....
Thanks for the pointers there chaps. I think this might be the way to go - buy an older and slower-depreciating car which nets off the servicing costs to an extent (fingers crossed). Was looking at 996 turbos for similar reasons also but they're just so god-damn dull. I think the Tuscan has far more personality and will be a real weekend thrill compared to the boring looking german super saloons (RS4, M3 etc) and the still-heavily-depreciating UK GTs (AM V8, Evora). Although the latter two are lovely motors...
So it sounds like £2k, maybe £2.5k annualised is a reasonable budget to insure agaisnt non-service expenditure. If the Tuscan cost me more than £7.5k to run over the 3 years I'd be slightly annoyed.
The only other issue I have is leaving it parked outside permanently. I have a garage option, but that would cost £50-60 per month. Might just be better to shelter it from the elements regardless?
Anyway, I've been lurking on this forum for a long time and still have millions of questions...
Thanks again for your assistance.
DT
B3NNL said:
fat80b said:
new tyres £550 all round
Really?! Just spent £360 getting my rears done and that was special mates rates. I assume you went for budget rubber? - I managed to get a deal when black circles were doing a set of 4 Toyo Proxes as recommended on here about 3 yrs ago?they might have been £560 but no more than that.....
Bob
(I guess I wont get such a good deal next time around)
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