Suggestions for a first supercar

[JapanRed]

Hi all,

Please be gentle, this isn’t an investment or depreciation thread.

I’d like to buy my first supercar. Budget ideally £90k but could go a little higher to maybe £120k.

I’ve got a 2008 911 at the minute and it’s only cost me £7k over 3.5 years which I know is nothing compared to running supercars. I would do about 2000 miles per year.

Not keen on Aston’s and not sure I want another Porsche but do like Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren. I’d like something quite modern (within last 15 years). I’d much prefer a coupe rather than convertible.

From what I can see I’ve got a few options;
Gallardo
360
F430
12C
540C
570GT
570S
650S (at a push).

I’ve not test drove any of the above but can’t believe I would dislike any of them.

I’m a long way from being a millionaire; I work for the NHS on a reasonable salary but don’t have infinite amounts of cash to spend on running these things. I would happily pay £5k per year running costs (excluding fuel etc) but can’t justify silly running costs such as £15k a year for a Murci. Also, I’m not bothered about the car being an investment, but if it doesn’t haemorrhage value over 5 years or so I’d be a very happy guy indeed.

Can anyone point me in the right direction (or at least tell me I’m being daft and should stick with my 911).

Thanks in advance.

[JapanRed]

Thanks all,

AV185 - My current 911 is a 2008 C4S. Good shout on the GT3; I’ve looked into them but just wondered whether I would fancy something a bit different to what I have now. Suppose it will be quite a huge step up from what I have now regardless. Are running costs reasonable on the GT3’s?

I really don’t mind whether I have N/A or turbo. Love the N/A of the 911 but also have a newish M3 and enjoy the shove of the 2 turbos in that just as much.

Pixel - R8 V10 is also a good shout but is it in the same league as McLaren? If I drive past a McLaren I do a double take but not sure I do with R8’s? Appreciate the V10 will be a step up from the C4S though.

[JapanRed]

Larry - that figure has come from this forum haha. Maybe all needs to be taken with a pinch of salt but there’s a relatively recent thread on here that details £80k+ being spent on Murci’s over a 5 year period.

If you’re telling me I can run one for my budget of £5k a year then I might well be tempted to up the budget a little ;-)

[JapanRed]

Larry5.2 said:

JapanRed said:

Larry - that figure has come from this forum haha. Maybe all needs to be taken with a pinch of salt but there’s a relatively recent thread on here that details £80k+ being spent on Murci’s over a 5 year period.

If you’re telling me I can run one for my budget of £5k a year then I might well be tempted to up the budget a little ;-)

I think you could, I recommend them , but they might be above your upper limit...

I’ve actually got enough to buy one but my head would probably not let me spend that much in one go unless it was on a house. Probably not suitable for my first foray into supercars either. Would rather dip my toe in at the shallow end if possible (unless I knew that the murci would be worth £100k more in 10 years and then man maths can do the rest). Also, head says at least half of my money should be invested sensibly :-)

[JapanRed]

Thanks everyone. Gallardo Superleggera is a great shout. I do like manuals but will go for whatever is recommend for the car I eventually decide to go for.

James thanks for your honest review of the R8 V10. I do love the sound of the V10 but feel like I’d want something just a little more exotic.

Thanks for the heads up on some of the older cars being dated; this is the only thing that put me off a 996 Turbo when I was last looking 3.5 years ago.

[JapanRed]

Everything is subjective and I think it’s impirtant to sometimes step back and take a reality check.

Case in point: 99% of people would love my 997 C4S but, now I want something better such as Gallardo, but then someone else (Countach comment above) wouldn’t look twice at a Gallardo. In reality all these cars are great to own. It’s important not to forget that owning any of the aforementioned cars isn’t a right; whether we’ve worked hard to get the money or whether we’ve had it handed down from parents or whether we’ve won the lottery. I’m sure all our stories could be different had a coin toss gone the other way somewhere down the line.

I class myself as very fortunate to even be considering these cars.

[JapanRed]

Selfish Gene I can relate to that. I’m extremely cautious with money and it will take a lot for me to take the leap into supercar territory.

Craigwww you raise an interesting point. My salary is £60k and my wife’s is £40k. Reasonable salaries but I’m fortunate enough to run a business on the side which earns us a bit more. We have 3 cars between us which we paid for in cash (cost £103k in total). It’s nice not having loans going out each month for them. So basically live on a combined wage of £6k a month which allows us to build up about £30k of savings per year (which we planned to pay off the mortgage but now I’m considering spending on yet another car)

Is it daft having 3 cars worth 100% of a years salary? A supercar would take this to 150% of our combined salaries...

Edited by JapanRed on Wednesday 29th August 13:51

[JapanRed]

Completely agree regarding depreciation. I will pay cash for whatever car I decide on and simply can’t afford for it to depreciate by £20k+ per year. I’d look to keep the car for approx 5 years and could probably justify a £30k hit in depreciation during that time frame.

Chainsaw - good shout regarding the supercar club. Any recommendations of which ones are any good? I’ve looked into them in the past (before I got the 911) but they all seemed a bit expensive. Might be worth it to try for a year before buying though.