Luxury And Performance Under The Hammer

PH goes to Nottingham on the trail of some bargain exotica

With the prospect of a good selection of high-performance motors up for grabs late last week, we couldn't resist going along to kick some P-Zeros. The sale was a two-parter. First off were 236 BMW Group cars, followed by a wider selection of performance and prestige machinery, including the Ferraris we mentioned recently.

Somewhat predictably the BMW sale consisted more of oil-burning rep-mobiles than ultimate driving machines, but there were several fast Bavarians to be had. Some of them looked tempting, like a 2005 M6 resplendent in Black Sapphire with black extended Merino leather and a host of options. It had covered just 57,000 miles and fetched £17,300 on the hammer, but close inspection of the history revealed a missing stamp for its running-in service. Naughty.

There was a 2005 M5 which looked particularly good on 52,000 miles. It eventually made £18,000 to the surprise of a couple of trade buyers I spoke to, who didn't think it would reach such heights. They said the same of a well-optioned 2004 E60 545i Sport on 76,000 miles which went for a very respectable £7,700. Despite the supposed drop in used values of executive cars over the summer months, there was keen interest in every Bimmer (and Mini) there. How keen? Well out of the 236 cars which went on the block, every single one was sold. So much for the car market being on its arse.

Some BMW sale highlights:
2006 E46 M3 Coupe SMG, 67,000 miles, £11,000
2004 E46 M3 Conv. SMG, 62,000 miles, £9,300
2007 E93 335i Conv. Auto, 96,000 miles, £11,800
2006 E60 M5 Saloon, 80,000 miles, £15,000
2008 E92 M3 Coupe, 72,000 miles, £24,600
2007 E60 M5 Saloon, 52,000 miles, £21,300
2006 E92 325i SE Coupe, 75,000 miles, £9,100

Many of the hammer prices could have been higher though. The problem was that the internet bidders (understandably, perhaps) were consistently showing no interest in the early bidding and then trying to up the high bid by £100 at the last moment. More often than not they were too late...

With the BMWs shifted (for a total of around £2,000,000 on the hammer) it was time to move on to the general performance and prestige stuff. There were a few candidates for the 'loads of car for the money' prize, but the winner for me was probably a 2003 Porsche Cayenne 4.5 Turbo in black which provisionally sold for just £7,800. That it had covered 110,000 miles wasn't really bad news, but the eight previous keepers and the Cat D status... umm... was.

Not far behind the Porker though was an Audi A8 Quattro with the W12 motor, just 34,000 warranted miles and two former keepers. It needed a little paintwork on a wing but looked good apart from that. £10,900 was the winning bid.

The first supercar on the block was the 1991 Testarossa which, despite having covered just 6,200 miles had a history showing no-less than six cambelt changes. On close inspection it was a very good example with just one registered former keeper, so the ensuing fight for it didn't come as a surprise. Despite some fierce bidding the hammer fell at £43,400, which observers seemed to think was pretty good for such a low-mileage, one owner car whose value is likely to increase.

The same can't be said though of the 2007 612 Scaglietti which stood up well to close inspection and had covered just 10,000 miles. For a car that should retail somewhere in the mid-to-high eighties, a hammer price of £75,400 suggests that it was a pretty good buy.

Somewhat strangely, two Lamborghinis - a Murcielago and a Gallardo Superleggera - were entered in the auction just two days before the event and so didn't get the benefit of any real publicity. It didn't come as much of a shock then that the 2003 Murcielago didn't sell at a top bid of £76,500, although the 2008 Gallardo was provisionally sold for £94,500, which with just 8,000 miles on the clock is a good deal if it eventually goes for that - even after the extra costs are added.

Remember the Cat D 2002 360 Modena Spider? Well it was far from a complete dog, but the wheels were quite badly kerbed and the fit of the front bumper looked more than a little dubious. £31,000 was the top bid and it wasn't enough. The black F430 Spider though was a beauty and provisionally sold for £78,000.

The overall impression from the auction is that despite the sense of doom surrounding the economy in general, the amount of interest and the prices being paid suggests that things are relatively stable in the world of prestige and performance cars. Oh and that Ferrari 456 which was for sale at Belle Vue? It made £15,000 on the hammer.

Highlights from the main sale:
2006 Audi RS4 Quattro, 58,000 miles, £18,600
2006 Porsche Carrera 4, 31,000 miles, £29,200
2007 Mercedes CLS500, 47,000 miles, £13,100
2004 Bentley Continental GT, 27,000 miles, £33,400
2007 Audi S5 Quattro, 42,000 miles, £17,800
2009 Jaguar XKR Conv. 31,000 miles, £41,600
2007 Volkswagen Touareg V10, 40,000 miles, £18,400
2004 Bentley Continental GT, 32,000 miles, £33,600
2010 Ford Focus RS, 5,000 miles, £21,100
2005 Porsche Cayenne 4.5S, 93,000 miles, £10,700
2006 Jaguar XK Conv. 43,000 miles, £20,200
2008 Range Rover TDV8 Sport, 43,000 miles, £29,000
2003 Porsche Boxster 2.7, 119,000 miles, £5,900
2009 Audi R8 V10, 7,000 miles, £74,500 (provisional)
2003 Bentley Azure, 12,000 miles, £75,000
1999 Bentley Arnage Red Label, 60,000 miles, £17,000 (provisional)
2006 Aston Martin V8, 24,000 miles, £34,500

*All prices are exclusive of buyer's premiums and VAT

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