What’s it worth.

[John-b9xqk]

Opinions would be appreciated on the final sale value of an Evo kit built to a high standard.
The specification as follows. LS7 engine,Porsche transaxle with Quafe diff,wing,air conditioning,carpets,leather dashboard and other minor extras, IVA tested etc. The total cost of the kit being £73000.

[bennno]

50k ?

Depends if somebody wants a car which somebody else has built in their garage.

Half of the attraction of an ultima is to those who want to build it, and to their own specification.

[Racingroj]

If built to a high standard as you say I would £70k to £75k is about right for a new LS7 engined car. Definitely not £50k.

[John-b9xqk]

Probably won’t make any difference to your opinion but to be built in proper workshops by experienced mechanic.

[soad]

Is this a brand new car?

[John-b9xqk]

soad said:

Is this a brand new car?

YES

[highflyer]

What does the factory charge for a turn key car similar spec ?

[John-b9xqk]

highflyer said:

What does the factory charge for a turn key car similar spec ?

I am reliably told by the factory £95000 with three years waiting list.

[Storer]

As are general rule you will struggle to make back the cost of the parts.

Only the Factory are able to command a premium to cover their labour but do not build without a confirmed order.

The only way to make a few thousand building an Ultima is to do a commissioned build for someone who can't do it themselves. Find the buyer first and get the money in instalments up front.

[John-b9xqk]

Storer said:

As are general rule you will struggle to make back the cost of the parts.

Only the Factory are able to command a premium to cover their labour but do not build without a confirmed order.

The only way to make a few thousand building an Ultima is to do a commissioned build for someone who can't do it themselves. Find the buyer first and get the money in instalments up front.

Thanks for the reply. This is the conclusion I had come to, but really wanted to know what I was letting myself into before placing an order. Any other input would be greatly appreciated.

[renmure]

I’ve got no skills or inclination to build cars so am paying someone to build a (non Ultima) car for me. But, the decision to do that was based solely on their widespread reputation and I think unless you have that then you are going to struggle. The cost of the Ultima kit alone means it’s a hefty financial investment for anyone to hand over to someone else unless there is a reputation or established business behind you.

Once you start factoring in your fee for building it, a payment schedule for you to get paid, a timescale for completion, etc you end up either with a legal contract that's so involved because it needs to cover a multitude of eventualities and costs and "what if's" ... or simply no contract and do it on trust. Again, that's difficult to do without some sort of established reputation or existing relationship with your "customer"

Edited by renmure on Friday 9th March 09:35

[John-b9xqk]

The question is now irrelevant as I have now paid the initial deposit. However thanks for all the feed back.

[soad]

Post here sometime, chap: Readers' Cars

[Steve Dean]

Hi John,
Congrats on ordering your Ultima kit.
I presume you would have had some conversation with the guys at Ultima regarding possible engines. With ever tightening emissions regulations, are the traditional LS3 and LS7 engines still OK or is there now a move towards the Generation V LT1 (460 BHP) or LT4 (650 BHP) engines.
By the way ..... this is not a smart arse question, I'm genuinely interested to know, with a view to a future build.

[Racingroj]

LT4! See Autobionics Facebook site re their new LT4 and Porsche PDK gearbox package. The only thing is nobody knows how much but I’m sure its not cheap.

[Fastpedeller]

It's a stange anomoly I've never been able to get my head around - a lot of amateur built kit cars are assembled with painstaking attention to detail with little expense spared over a time period which isn't governed by profit yet if resold they realise less money than factory assembled ones.
I can only guess that a customer who doesn't feel confident in building their own car is also not confident in assessing an amateur built one, so goes for the 'safe bet' of getting it factory built.

[John-b9xqk]

Steve Dean said:

Hi John,
Congrats on ordering your Ultima kit.
I presume you would have had some conversation with the guys at Ultima regarding possible engines. With ever tightening emissions regulations, are the traditional LS3 and LS7 engines still OK or is there now a move towards the Generation V LT1 (460 BHP) or LT4 (650 BHP) engines.
By the way ..... this is not a smart arse question, I'm genuinely interested to know, with a view to a future build.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention,I shall ask the question tomorrow together with the question “are the front wishbones now the same length as those supplied by Autobionics” unless someone here can tell me.

[John-b9xqk]

Fastpedeller said:

It's a stange anomoly I've never been able to get my head around - a lot of amateur built kit cars are assembled with painstaking attention to detail with little expense spared over a time period which isn't governed by profit yet if resold they realise less money than factory assembled ones.
I can only guess that a customer who doesn't feel confident in building their own car is also not confident in assessing an amateur built one, so goes for the 'safe bet' of getting it factory built.

I don’t think it is always correct to call all cars amateur built. Many are built by very professional individuals in very well equipped workshops.The factory will also assess a non factory built car for anyone not confident in doing so themselves. The fee I believe is £500

[Storer]

John-b9xqk said:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention,I shall ask the question tomorrow together with the question “are the front wishbones now the same length as those supplied by Autobionics” unless someone here can tell me.

The Factory can now supply long front wishbones.

If I was you I would avoid mentioning Autobionics to the Factory.


BTW the PDK transmission option is bl**dy expensive.

[Fastpedeller]

John-b9xqk said:

Fastpedeller said:

It's a stange anomoly I've never been able to get my head around - a lot of amateur built kit cars are assembled with painstaking attention to detail with little expense spared over a time period which isn't governed by profit yet if resold they realise less money than factory assembled ones.
I can only guess that a customer who doesn't feel confident in building their own car is also not confident in assessing an amateur built one, so goes for the 'safe bet' of getting it factory built.

I don’t think it is always correct to call all cars amateur built. Many are built by very professional individuals in very well equipped workshops.The factory will also assess a non factory built car for anyone not confident in doing so themselves. The fee I believe is £500

To avoid any confusion, I wasn't commenting on Ultimas, but kits generally. We are in agreement, as although strictly 'amateur built' the point I was trying to get across (maybe poorly) is that they can quite often be far superior to manufacturer built cars, but this seems to be missed by the potential purchasers.