first supercar

[ghost83]

im not a fantasist I'm just looking at the wisest place to put money OR just buy a car that will devalue but get abused

the RS3 is probably one of the best hot hatches out there but my spec is 55k after 4 yr the final payment is 22 but in reality most are worth between 25-30

but its still losing 30k and thats a bitter pill to swallow

at least putting it into something decent the values won't change much, especially if you aim to buy at the bottom of the curve! i never see ferrari or lamborghini heading back below 40k so if the crash does happen I'm not going to be losing as much as on a rs3 and at best case it might hold its value or go up

ppl thought i was a fantasist when i walked in one day and said at 26 yr old (still living at home) that i was going to buy my first house which would be a 4 bed detached with a decent garden (3 to be exact) and everyone laughed, 4 yrs later i bought that house! ok it was wrecked and its value had dropped from 250 to 170 because of its condition but I'm doing it up and recently had it valued at 265k when my bathroom driveway and extension is done the proposed value is over 300 and I'm 34 in my first house, and my wife has given up work to bring our 2 kids up so we survive on 1 wage, yes i work some god awful hours but to achieve my dream I've so far worked hard! i think to also have a nice golf gti pp that i bought new and spent 11k on our disney world adventure next month I'm not doing bad,

so when i say i will achieve and i will own the car i want believe me i will achieve it,

[ghost83]

Also please don’t take my post as anything other than I’m trying my hardest to have nice things in life and work my arse off

I’m not the likes of leg woppum andy74b or those ppl that can walk in to any dealer they choose and drop insanes amount of cash for the latest model or be on the list for a special model

I’m looking at a 10-15yr old car on finance which is probably ruinous lol

Imo I’m an average guy trying to live well beyond my means, not because I’m trying to impress anyone but because I want to better myself and have something nice! I don’t want to die in the next 5yrs living a mediocre life I want to enjoy it! Yes I wish I had their money but I’m not jealous of it I look upto them and would genuinely be interested in their stories of how they got where they are not to be a dick just out of genuine interest! I’m a true petrolhead if leg offered to take me in his cars I’d probably squeal like a little girl lol

I’m dying to have a ride in a pista if anyone’s getting one

[p1stonhead]

OP, with the greatest of respect, it does seem to me that a 'supercar' is going to be out of your price range without you losing sleep every night about potential bills etc. Even more so that its going to be on finance. I think the idea of owning a supercar may be hiding the true realities of it. If you work silly hours too, you may never even get to drive it!

Why not get something like a Boxster or some other nice sports car for something like £30k. £30k gets you a hell of a lot of car these days. It will still be great to have but wont (likely) have the potential to bankrupt you at a moments notice.

[ghost83]

p1stonhead said:

OP, with the greatest of respect, it does seem to me that a 'supercar' is going to be out of your price range without you losing sleep every night about potential bills etc. Even more so that its going to be on finance. I think the idea of owning a supercar may be hiding the true realities of it. If you work silly hours too, you may never even get to drive it!

Why not get something like a Boxster or some other nice sports car for something like £30k. £30k gets you a hell of a lot of car these days. It will still be great to have but wont (likely) have the potential to bankrupt you at a moments notice.

Well the next rung down to me is a Porsche 911 or Audi R8 or Aston vantage (hate the satnav on then though) there’s a lot of water to run under the bridge between now and then and this thread was just to garner owners advice on living with them

[p1stonhead]

ghost83 said:

p1stonhead said:

OP, with the greatest of respect, it does seem to me that a 'supercar' is going to be out of your price range without you losing sleep every night about potential bills etc. Even more so that its going to be on finance. I think the idea of owning a supercar may be hiding the true realities of it. If you work silly hours too, you may never even get to drive it!

Why not get something like a Boxster or some other nice sports car for something like £30k. £30k gets you a hell of a lot of car these days. It will still be great to have but wont (likely) have the potential to bankrupt you at a moments notice.

Well the next rung down to me is a Porsche 911 or Audi R8 or Aston vantage (hate the satnav on then though) there’s a lot of water to run under the bridge between now and then and this thread was just to garner owners advice on living with them

40k will get you into a V8 Vantage or R8. Much more suitable for your situation i would suggest. You are still reletively young. A supercar may come in time but dont kill yourself now for one. An R8 or V8V will still be very special.

[RamboLambo]

p1stonhead said:

OP, with the greatest of respect, it does seem to me that a 'supercar' is going to be out of your price range without you losing sleep every night about potential bills etc. Even more so that its going to be on finance. I think the idea of owning a supercar may be hiding the true realities of it. If you work silly hours too, you may never even get to drive it!

Why not get something like a Boxster or some other nice sports car for something like £30k. £30k gets you a hell of a lot of car these days. It will still be great to have but wont (likely) have the potential to bankrupt you at a moments notice.

Wise words. In his circumstance the last thing I would be thinking about is a 10 year old supercar and money pit. TBH being a total car nut myself I get the desire but with the best man maths in the world spending anything over £40k sounds like complete madness.
I was wisely told to not finance a depreciating asset and don't have anymore than 10% of your net assets tied up in cars and that's the premise I work to.
Applying that rule of thumb and by the sounds of things this would be a lot less than £40k even

[Nano2nd]

ghost83 said:

but its still losing 30k and thats a bitter pill to swallow

its not £30k though it is? its £30k, plus interest on the £55k (minus your deposit). You need to look at the total cost of ownership rather than the headline deprecitation.

whats the TCO on 4 years on the RS3? including interest, insurance, tax, fuel, breakdown, service etc etc - bascally factor in everything.

then do the same calcs for a 360 and the mondeo you talking about... i imagine the costs are not that much difference in reality.

then decide how much driving round in a brand new top spec Audi versus having an old Ferrari and a rubbish Mondeo is worth to you

[ghost83]

Well the rs3 would be put through the business even though in my name so I wouldn’t see the insurance costs and service costs

My only input in the rs3 is I would have to pay a 20k deposit then the tracker and over 40k tax a year so 20k plus 500 a year ish

My only issue comes at year 4 when it’s lost money and I won’t have a deposit for the next car or I can accept a completely free mondeo estate (brand new) where I won’t have to pay a deposit and pocket the 20k that I will get from selling the golf

This is why I’m watching for a crash as that will net me 20k I already have 20k so I might not have to finance much or I could even extend it w year so no finance at all

[ghost83]

So in affect the rs3 costs to me direct are
20k/4yrs so 5k a year

Tracker and over 40k tax- £500

So in total £22k over 4yrs

Any supercar would be solely mine and used on a weekend so budget 3-4K a year

Mondeo provided for completely free

Sounds all complex but it isn’t in reality

[ghost83]

Or I could reduce my mortgage with the 40k I only over 118000 now

[Nano2nd]

i think you need to talk to an accountant, your maths don't stack up, you can't make a 20k personal capital contribution to a company car, your BIK liability will be more like £6k a year not £500... and just because you but something though "the business" doesn't mean there is not a cost, the cost of monthly payments, interest, insurance and servicing is money you can't draw out as a dividend (or salary)... so it still costs you in the end

[MDL111]

RamboLambo said:

p1stonhead said:

OP, with the greatest of respect, it does seem to me that a 'supercar' is going to be out of your price range without you losing sleep every night about potential bills etc. Even more so that its going to be on finance. I think the idea of owning a supercar may be hiding the true realities of it. If you work silly hours too, you may never even get to drive it!

Why not get something like a Boxster or some other nice sports car for something like £30k. £30k gets you a hell of a lot of car these days. It will still be great to have but wont (likely) have the potential to bankrupt you at a moments notice.

Wise words. In his circumstance the last thing I would be thinking about is a 10 year old supercar and money pit. TBH being a total car nut myself I get the desire but with the best man maths in the world spending anything over £40k sounds like complete madness.
I was wisely told to not finance a depreciating asset and don't have anymore than 10% of your net assets tied up in cars and that's the premise I work to.
Applying that rule of thumb and by the sounds of things this would be a lot less than £40k even

I agree with RL - having said that, I don't adhere to it myself. I have much more of my little net worth in cars and one of them is on a 80% Ferrari finance deal (and thanks to doing loads of miles, all my cars depreciate like there is no tomorrow).... ultimately it is a question of how important cars are to you and how much financial risk/pain you are willing to accept

[davek_964]

Most cars sat nav is out of date pretty quickly. Not buying a Vantage because of that is a little odd - it's a pretty minor thing.

If the market does crash, you may pick up a relative bargain - on the other hand, there are likely to be less cars about. I am still considering selling mine and may put it up for sale in the next few weeks. It's not because of the price rise, it's simply because as I get older I find myself less inclined to want a "supercar" even though I enjoy it a lot when I use it. Having said that though - I don't "need" to sell it, and if a crash suddenly wiped £20k off the value I think I'd decide I may as well keep it and enjoy it until the prices went back up.

[ghost83]

Nano2nd said:

i think you need to talk to an accountant, your maths don't stack up, you can't make a 20k personal capital contribution to a company car, your BIK liability will be more like £6k a year not £500... and just because you but something though "the business" doesn't mean there is not a cost, the cost of monthly payments, interest, insurance and servicing is money you can't draw out as a dividend (or salary)... so it still costs you in the end

Trust me our accountant is amazing I won’t go into specifics publically but there’s none of that to worry about rl and just had a tax inspection go through it all a couple of yr ago so it is all as I’ve said so don’t get caught up on little details like that

[p1stonhead]

ghost83 said:

Nano2nd said:

i think you need to talk to an accountant, your maths don't stack up, you can't make a 20k personal capital contribution to a company car, your BIK liability will be more like £6k a year not £500... and just because you but something though "the business" doesn't mean there is not a cost, the cost of monthly payments, interest, insurance and servicing is money you can't draw out as a dividend (or salary)... so it still costs you in the end

Trust me our accountant is amazing I won’t go into specifics publically but there’s none of that to worry about rl and just had a tax inspection go through it all a couple of yr ago so it is all as I’ve said so don’t get caught up on little details like that

This could have come straight out of Donald Trump's mouth

[Durzel]

MDL111 said:

Thread deteriorated a little

Just as an aside - the gearbox on my FF spilled oil all over the road last summer and had to be sent back to Italy - without a warranty that would have probably been a very uncomfortable bill. So it does happen and I am not sure I would want to run one of the older cars out of warranty if I could not pick up a 10k plus bill or do the work myself (which still leaves parts costs etc). It can end in tears even if over a longer period of time it will indeed average out at 3k. Also don’t forget something like a blown engine will more likely be multiples of 10k to get sorted.

On top of this, even if nothing actually does go wrong the paralysis that you have when driving the car thinking about how much each mile might be eating into the value, or how any kind of noise you hear is a symptom of a stomach-churning bill you might not be able to afford, etc is a recipe for a horrible, horrible ownership experience.

I can't think of anything worse than buying a car like this, a dream car, a bedroom poster car, and not being able to enjoy it without being paralysed with fear over depreciation, running costs, potential big bills, etc.

For what it's worth OP I had a £8k suspension bill on my 458 - and I had a Ferrari Power warranty, and a 458 is certainly not renowned for having major problems (e.g. like chocolate manifolds or top mounts, etc). All Ferraris are like any other car, things go wrong and the cost to put right will be commensurate with the overall cost of the car. Don't get into a position where you think that because a 360 costs £60k that it will be just like maintenance on a much newer car where the manufacturer knows the clientele haven't got bottomless pockets.

Edited by Durzel on Wednesday 18th April 12:57

[Pat H]

Durzel said:

For what it's worth, I had a £8k suspension bill on my 458 - and I had a Ferrari Power warranty, and a 458 is certainly not renowned for having major problems (e.g. like chocolate manifolds or top mounts, etc). All Ferraris are like any other car, things go wrong and the cost to put right will be commensurate with the overall cost of the car. Don't get into a position where you think that because a 360 costs £60k that it will be just like maintenance on a much newer car where the manufacturer knows the clientele haven't got bottomless pockets.

I know it's not in the same league, but when I was in my early thirties I bought a 21,000 mile Lotus Esprit which was then 15 years old.

It had a full main dealer history and had plainly been looked after very well.

During the first year of ownership, I had to replace the radiator, the gear linkage, the clutch hose, the steering rack, the silencer and the brake servo. It also needed repairs to the headlamp pod motors, the steering column UJ and various other bits and pieces.

I had a cheap car that I used every day, a double garage to park the Lotus in, lots of enthusiasm and a good toolkit.

Even doing all of the repairs myself, it was still a pretty expensive first year of ownership.

And a Lotus Esprit is just a lump of fibreglass and old Ford and BL parts loosely held together with self tappers and silicone sealant. There were no fancy electronic systems to think about.

Old exotic cars are temperamental animals. They like lots of attention and time lavishing on them. The only way that I could justify owning cars like my old Esprit or F328 was knowing that I could do most of the routine maintenance and servicing myself.

Stuff like F360s are too complex for me. Who the hell needs electronically adjustable damping rates on a car that you only use on sunny Sundays?

I'd much rather have an E-Type. At least I would have a chance of being able to fettle it myself.

[ghost83]

My cousin was trained by Ferrari and worked at jct Brooklands so knows the cars inside out upto the 430 era Also worked at Porsche and lotus so servicing and fixing isn’t something I’m too concerned about

[Never you mind]

Hey OP instead of buying a 10yr old supercar how about getting yourself into an Exige? Fast, fun and pretty cheap to run. I had an elise a while back and it was super fun and I could throw it around without the fear of a) losing my licence and b) if it does break it won't cost a fortune to get it repaired. About as much fun as my lambo if I am honest though the lambo does feel like a big elise to me.

Taught me a lot about driving did that car.

[davek_964]

ghost83 said:

My cousin was trained by Ferrari and worked at jct Brooklands so knows the cars inside out upto the 430 era Also worked at Porsche and lotus so servicing and fixing isn’t something I’m too concerned about

Unless your cousin works at a main dealer or recognised independent, I don't think that will help you much. What you save in servicing, you're likely to lose when you come to sell.