V8 vantage running costs vs E92 M3.

[Robbie_FRS]

What are the running costs of a V8 vantage?

I don't want to sound like a school boy but I think we all know over looking them can result in a sour relationship with a car.

I have recently owned an E92 M3, which, if I'm honest was a very expensive toy at certain points of ownership. I have sold the M3 and was heart set on a C63 AMG for a while, but realising I could get a vantage for a similar budget has lead me to consider it.

Are the running costs of the vantage going to be much worse than an M3/C63?

What does servicing cost?
Common repair faults?
Brake discs?
Resale value/part exchange and ease of sale privately.

Any ownership experience would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[JS1500]

Most likely a lot less than a C63.

[Jon1967x]

How old are you talking? Newish ones have menu priced servicing - £650 every 10k or year, insurance if you're the right age and post code is ridiculously cheap - sub £300 for a £80k car - road tax is the same at £500/year. Buy out of warranty and you may get a big bill, clutch is not uncommon, and if you want all the little bits and bobs done at a dealer it will get expensive but there are a few well known indy garages which will do it all just as well if not better for less. Official warranty is expensive

[bogie]

I had an RS6 estate for 30K miles in 18 months and then a Vantage over the same period ...cost me 1/2 as much in servicing/consumables

stick to independent servicing or some of the more competitive dealers and a Vantage should cost no more to run than a premium German car at a dealers...certainly the tyres/discs/pads etc are no more and its sub £700 a service every 10k miles

[Pentoman]

When I bought mine, it had been serviced (and a couple of other small things - O2 sensor, rear lamp unit) earlier that year. Cost was ~ £2,700 !

I don't, however, believe this is typical.

[Robbie_FRS]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I am afraid of an Aston as my budget would prob get me an 08 model and I am afraid it would be problematic. I had a few issues with my M3 so really am wanting a trouble free love affair.

I am also considering a GTR of around the same age or as I mentioned previously, a much newer C63.

I went to see a V8 vantage roadster at a dealer in Cardiff yesterday. If I'm honest, I wasn't that impressed with the condition inside. For a car with 30k it looked very weathered. And the passenger door didn't seem to open properly. 😒

If I'm buying a Roadster should I expect problems?

Sorry for all the questions but I do genuinely want to hear from you all and your experiences.

Thanks.

[mikey k]

I'd expect the GTR to be more problematic than a V8 roadster

[bogie]

mikey k said:

I'd expect the GTR to be more problematic than a V8 roadster

yeah, and cost a lot more to run ....

I have a 2006 car ive owned since 2007. Im still on the original clutch, which is going to be my biggest expense in the next 5-10k miles. Im up to 70K now with less than £1000 spent on non routine maintenance

the only way you can get a £2-3K service bill is if you've let all the consumables come due at the same time ...

4 tyres is not much change from £1000
4 discs and pads is around the same - £1000
a service is about £600-750 depending which one

in the last 8 years I have had years when Ive had a service and discs on one axle and/or a set of tyres in the same 12 month period

otherwise non routine stuff on an 8 year old car could include things Ive had:

O2 sensors - £80 + fitting each if they go
wheel bearings - about £300
coolants sensors -£20
aux belts - £80 + fitting
thermostat - £180 fitted

theres really nothing to be frightened of, its a V8, like a BMW or Audi V8, it has big tyres and consumes fuel at 18mpg

stay away from £150 per hour dealers who want £150 just to reset a MIL and you will be fine

[R8VBV]

I did a lot of research in to cars of this type before buying my V8. My Cayman S cost more to run than the V8. Another trick which has done me well for the past years of car ownership is to not keep any car too long. The last 6 cars I have owned, I kept for less the a year each. In that time I've serviced one car, bought tax once and never bought tyres or brakes for any of them. I've sold most for what I bought them for and on the Cayman I made £2.5k. I bought the Aston from a dealer so expecting a loss, but accept that for the privilege of owning such a nice car. When the tyres or brakes get a but low, I'll sell it back to them.

[gibbon]

R8VBV said:

I did a lot of research in to cars of this type before buying my V8. My Cayman S cost more to run than the V8. Another trick which has done me well for the past years of car ownership is to not keep any car too long. The last 6 cars I have owned, I kept for less the a year each. In that time I've serviced one car, bought tax once and never bought tyres or brakes for any of them. I've sold most for what I bought them for and on the Cayman I made £2.5k. I bought the Aston from a dealer so expecting a loss, but accept that for the privilege of owning such a nice car. When the tyres or brakes get a but low, I'll sell it back to them.

You don't think the dealer will notice the brakes and tyres being knackered and adjust accordingly?

I deliberately avoid buying cars that have been owned for short periods of time, for this exact reason, surely I cannot be alone and thus the market and price will be lower.

[bogie]

You see a few "super" cars for sale like that though; the 6 owner/5 year old Ferrari or Lambo ....all traded in before their yearly service became due. So the service cost/prep cost is absorbed by the dealer and the seller, who just accepts that hes lost £10k, £20k (whatever) for running the car for 11 months. The way deals are constructed in sales may make it more palatable but you cant get away from how much it costs to use one of these cars for a year. You just work out the best way for you in your circumstances and do the man maths accordingly

When you work out the cost over 11 months, and the real number of weekends you actually spent driving it, you can see how the appeal of supercar clubs work for low hassle, fixed cost use of a car.....

[BeauBee]

I went through this whole process back in April last year.
Looked at a C63 AMG as well.
I had been running a 2011 Audi RS5 for a couple of years so used this as a bench mark for running, servicing, tax and insurance costs.
I found that if I bought a second-hand (2007-56) low mileage (15,000m) V8V it would actually be cheaper to run.
The one thing that I did decide was to buy from a reputable dealer (I can highly recommend H R Owen, Cheltenham) and get the 12 month extended warranty for piece of mind.
HTH

[BravoV8V]

R8VBV said:

I did a lot of research in to cars of this type before buying my V8. My Cayman S cost more to run than the V8. Another trick which has done me well for the past years of car ownership is to not keep any car too long. The last 6 cars I have owned, I kept for less the a year each. In that time I've serviced one car, bought tax once and never bought tyres or brakes for any of them. I've sold most for what I bought them for and on the Cayman I made £2.5k. I bought the Aston from a dealer so expecting a loss, but accept that for the privilege of owning such a nice car. When the tyres or brakes get a but low, I'll sell it back to them.

Memo to self - I won't ever be buying a car from Mr Barnes.

[Neil1300r]

bogie said:

You see a few "super" cars for sale like that though; the 6 owner/5 year old Ferrari or Lambo ....all traded in before their yearly service became due. So the service cost/prep cost is absorbed by the dealer and the seller, who just accepts that hes lost £10k, £20k (whatever) for running the car for 11 months. The way deals are constructed in sales may make it more palatable but you cant get away from how much it costs to use one of these cars for a year. You just work out the best way for you in your circumstances and do the man maths accordingly

When you work out the cost over 11 months, and the real number of weekends you actually spent driving it, you can see how the appeal of supercar clubs work for low hassle, fixed cost use of a car.....

Its the reason I avoid buying the multiple owner cars. Always worried about what they didn't fix. Also makes me think they don't even do basic checks such as oil levels / tracking etc.

[btcc123]

BravoV8V said:

Memo to self - I won't ever be buying a car from Mr Barnes.

Not all Mr Barnes are the same.

If you bought one on my four cars that I have owned for at least 7 years,serviced every year,kept in top condition,do not need any work,look pretty much like new then you will have a bargain.

Very little to no depreciation on three cars and the other is worth three times what I paid for it.

Overall free motoring for the last 7 plus years,whats not to like.

[Robbie_FRS]

i hear a lot of clutch changes going on. What do these cost and is it an issue on the sportshift as well as the manual?

[bogie]

Robbie_FRS said:

i hear a lot of clutch changes going on. What do these cost and is it an issue on the sportshift as well as the manual?

Well clutches are a consumable on any car, so yeah, they wear out so you see lots of people mentioning it now the cars have been around since 2005

Personally from reading threads on here, you would think that sportshift cars are worse for consuming clutches. Remember the sportshift is not an automatic, its a robotised manual gearbox, with a clutch just the same

I have a manual car thats on 70k miles on OE clutch...others have not faired so well with clutch life (although ive seen a couple with more than mine on OE clutch). Many people have changed clutches at 30,40K miles

However as always, it depends on how you drive, if you hold the car on the clutch, how well you can use the fly off handbrake for hill starts, how well you can reverse when reverse gear is 40mph

The clutch price varies for the OE clutch as some places will do it cheaper and only replace the worn clutch, others follow factory recommendation and replace flywheel too. Parts alone can cost £1500 before a days labour at whatever rate

So a full clutch pack at main dealer is £3k ish. Just the wear parts at an independent could be £1500 (or less)

thats before you look at upgrade clutches/lighter flywheels and such like......

if you are buying an older car thats done some miles I would want to see evidence of clutch replacement. If its a low mile car it could be worse, because you dont know how its been driven.....that low mile garage queen could be imminently in need of a £3k clutch. Such things are wear parts and not covered by warranties generally. You may get lucky and a dealer may honor it within a short timespan/mileage

Edited by bogie on Monday 19th January 13:13

[bogie]

Neil1300r said:

bogie said:

You see a few "super" cars for sale like that though; the 6 owner/5 year old Ferrari or Lambo ....all traded in before their yearly service became due. So the service cost/prep cost is absorbed by the dealer and the seller, who just accepts that hes lost £10k, £20k (whatever) for running the car for 11 months. The way deals are constructed in sales may make it more palatable but you cant get away from how much it costs to use one of these cars for a year. You just work out the best way for you in your circumstances and do the man maths accordingly

When you work out the cost over 11 months, and the real number of weekends you actually spent driving it, you can see how the appeal of supercar clubs work for low hassle, fixed cost use of a car.....

Its the reason I avoid buying the multiple owner cars. Always worried about what they didn't fix. Also makes me think they don't even do basic checks such as oil levels / tracking etc.

Yeah, agree with you there Neil ...I know guys like that, do a couple of thousand miles before the car is being changed and they have never even lifted the bonnet to check the oil or even tyre pressure. No need to they assume, its hassle free motoring to them.

Of course in an ideal world we all want to buy a one owner car thats been cherished from new, with a full history folder. As they say when buying a used car, its really the owner you are buying ....

[Robbie_FRS]

The slaesman at the dealership mentioned this to me on the weekend and actually made a positive of it. Cars that have had 5 owners or more have been in to them 5 times, inspected 5 times, most likely serviced 5 times and any issues resolved 5 times. He has a point but i would still prefer a car with less owners than more.

And as for buying the previous owner, i totally agree with that. I wont even look at a car if it has a poor advert or the guy doesnt sound helpful or enthusiastic on the phone. I got criticised on another forum for saying that but its the truth and i stand by it.

[Jon1967x]

Robbie_FRS said:

The slaesman at the dealership mentioned this to me on the weekend and actually made a positive of it. Cars that have had 5 owners or more have been in to them 5 times, inspected 5 times, most likely serviced 5 times and any issues resolved 5 times. He has a point but i would still prefer a car with less owners than more.

And 5 reasons why they decided to get rid of it!

Give me a "Its 3 years old, one owner car who's traded up to a Vanquish" anyday