IMO there are few good looking cars on the market today. I lament BMW’s current ‘style’ since they were once noted for their understated elegance and I’ve had many of those in the past. I also lament Mercedes’ current lineup.
Now, obviously I’m out of date for sure but rather like my love of naim, linn and Rega products, for me less is still more.
Unfortunately they are typically going to market around or over £100k. I think this figure will deliver catastrophic depreciation to those who are tempted. Fab cars but they are a 3 series. BMW have traditionally relied upon very substantial ‘contributions’ ie discounts to sell their M cars. I suspect this discount will emerge at some point in the future and add to the pain of depreciation. Hopefully I am wrong, but I doubt it! They will make for a super second hand car in a couple of years time if the market returns to more normal times.
Peter
We bought a 2015 vw polo for our daughters to learn on in September 2018. Surprised to find it’s worth about what we paid for it 4.5 years ago.
I’m looking at Polos and Fiestas for the same reason and trying to come to terms with the prices.
I’ m afraid that in this post covid era discounts Will be a legend of the past. Premium car makers like BMW or Porsche, particulary the latter, for direct experience, sell at full RP. In US official dealers sell at full RP + ADM for GT models. Not to mention the last increase of prices. A GT3 for MY '23 was 184k in Italy. Over the last few months It jumped ti 200.5k euro
Whilst I do agree with you on the here and now, I disagree on what the future holds. If you look on Autotrader here in UK, you will find several BMW models being offered brand new with significant discounts. This is a reflection on BMW recovering their production capacity and (speculation on my part) perhaps a cooling of the car market. The model I recently purchased from a main BMW dealer with 3,000 miles on the clock, was approximately 6 months old. Having checked on the BMW new model configurator, I paid retail less more than £15k. That was quite a surprise to me.
Porsche are an altogether different animal working on a much smaller production scale. With their top models such as 992 Turbo S and GT3, they have carefully controlled access to new models and their resale onto the used market. The overs dealers were seeking, particularly for the GT3 are crazy, as they were for the Turbo S. But there is only so much control Porsche can exert and we are seeing the Turbo S prices significantly reduce as, presumably, demand is simply not supporting the crazy overs being sought. GT3s have been much more resilient, even the 991.2 GT3 has maintained depreciation avoidance. Must confess that I simply do not understand how this can continue - whilst not a mass producer, the GT3s have been made in substantial numbers and I find it hard to imagine that they can continue to avoid the inevitable. As always, I could be wrong!
Peter
I can only add as a comparison that we got corporate discounts of 25-40% on some new BMWs thinking back about 10 years. 530d and 335 CC come to mind as I try to recall. I’m told there were even bigger discounts on the 6 and 7 series at that time.
These discounts always bite you in the end though. I bought a fairly new 640d Gran Coupe M Sport with just about every option ticked in 2018 at something like 50% of its official list price but 6 months later I still got burned selling it. I lost something like 25% of its value. The worst depreciation I’ve ever experienced.
I expect we won’t return to those levels of discount.
We currently drive two Subaru Legacy wagons, each with close to 250 kms on the clock. The upkeep is absolutely minimal and they both ride like a new car at 60 kph or 130 kph. People try to say they are slow, but I’ve had fast cars most life (1969 mini cooper S, 325i, 540i), all manual trans, and my subarU is really quite quick. I run high test fuel, 94 is all we get here, and the low c of g from the flat-four engine allows it to handle very well.
It’s not a 540i, but at half the price, conservative expenditures like these allow us to give generously to charitible causes which we like to do.
I always found that when I had high-end cars, if I wasn’t going to take it for track days a few times a year (and scrub thru a set of tires each time) then it was a waste. I can drive and corner very fast and public roads just weren’t a place for that.
I honestly can’t see the point of expensive cars that are only fun to drive on a closed circuit.
Having said all that, I really do like to drive fast in a safe environment, but I wonder how people manage to keep their licences. Driving 10-20 mph over the limit just isn’t a thrill (to me, anyway).
I sold my bike last year, a Kawasaki ZX9R Ninja which was blindingly quick in any gear. So I really do like speed and tight, low, corner leans at 140, but again, the track was the only place for fun driving. I got away with it on the road a few times when I could see all the way around a corner, but I gave that up in my early 60s, and got tired of putterring around.
Anyway, just some thots.
Happy motoring …
Maybe Bmw is much bigger with many production plants around the world. Although last August i ordered a new Cooper S at zero discount, although i traded a 5yo One for the same money i payed then, + 3years free service. The car in early October was ready to be shipped from the Oxford plant but only arrived early December as they are transported by ship arriving at Livorno Hub and being stuck there at custom. A friend of mine has the same problem now with A Toyota HI-Lux arriving from south Africa.
Porsches, bar Cayennes, Macans and Taycans are now built in limited numbers. This year my dealer had an allocation for only a 992T. I ordered a new 718 Spyder PDK last July, it entered production end of this May, it was due to arrive this week, but is now delayed to 14th July, apparently being stuck at Manufaktur dept. for trim issues.
Ohh, I know the feeling. We had 3 cars stolen one night, they came into the house for the keys. We had only moved in about 4 weeks at the time and knew that the door security was weak but just hadn’t got round to improving things. We hadn’t had any one in the house other than carpet fitters and we are sure it was them who did the recce for the cars, as on the night whoever was in the house knew exactly where to go for the keys. They came in through the ‘weak’ front door, on through to the kitchen for the keys and out through the utility room.
If they come into the house for the keys there’s not a lot you can do about it! However with todays modern key systems they tend to favour a relay which eliminates the ‘risk’ of entering the house. Essentially one scum bag stands by the car with his devise will his scum bag mate gets as close the the house as possible with his devise tov scan for your keys and then relay the signal to scum bag one who can then un lock and start your car. Keeping your keys in a Faraday pouch/case as far away from exterior walls as possible is a good idea.
I have heard a lot of good reports about the Ghost 2 so that would be a good investment, if I remember the name correctly Ben Hatfield is the guy to see for one.
Cracking car, health to enjoy. Yes that B58 is something else!! I have a M140i and after 4 years it still makes me smile and giggle!!
I have a Tracker and a Ghost 2 immobiliser…relatively low cost investment vs some peace of mind…
Because it’s the best GT3 ever made!
OK I’ll concede that point, the 991.2 remains a halo model along with the 997.2, but here’s a thing - even the chocolate teapot engined 991.1 GT3s are still fetching north of £100k as they close in on the expiry of the 10 year sticking plaster warranty Porsche were compelled to offer!
Peter
I think many expected the used value of the gen 1 to tank as cars hit 10 years old but it seems thats not the case (so far). I think there has been a lot of focus on 10 years but I believe that was on top of whatever warranty was already in place. If there was already a 5 year extended manufacturers warranty, the 10 years was added to that so cover would be for 15 years in total - I seem to recall reading that somewhere but it doesn’t come up often so could be completely wrong.
I havent paid close attention but I would be surprised if there wasn’t a price delta between the E/F and G-spec engines. It will also be interesting to see what the aftermarket comes up with as a pre-emptive fix for E (if any left) or F engines which weren’t replaced, the way IMS bearing solutions appeared for the 997.1
Thanks for the reminder - must get the ghost fitted - I’ve heard too many tales of the tea leaves managing to work around tracker units. Presumably because they emit some sort of detectable signal, something I’m lead to believe is not the case with the ghost 2. I hope!!
Peter
Hi people am I allowed to post a pic of a car? Even though its not mine
I’ve had the Jimny for almost 2 years. Had no issues whatsoever and apart from a little shy on power it’s been faultless. It’s also the only car I’ve ever bought that increased in value, I paid $38ks for a demo and the insurance value is now $48ks.
