How cheap are these now?!

Skeeter said:
501BHP, 15MPG

Those 2 firgures alone will put off anyone who is even the slightest bit concerned about running costs and tax.
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Aye but thats not the Key demographic this car is trying to attract come SH time.

Whilst they will be put off they would never have gone looking for this sort of car in the first place.

No idea on the Manual Gearbox thing, mind saying that i do like the idea of SMG in the CSL worked really well so i can see why they stick with it.
 
Interesting thread - On a side note, I wonder if we will see some nice chunky reductions in used luxury/sports car prices over the next year as people who have stretched themselves start selling things that aren't necessities.

If the "credit crunch" continues, I wonder if dealers will start revising their prices down a bit in the face of weakening demand? I presume this would have a knock-on effect on used prices too? Saving hard now and waiting could put me in a pretty nice position late next year if I have, say, an 16-20K budget :p
 
Solari said:
Interesting thread - On a side note, I wonder if we will see some nice chunky reductions in used luxury/sports car prices over the next year as people who have stretched themselves start selling things that aren't necessities.

If the "credit crunch" continues, I wonder if dealers will start revising their prices down a bit in the face of weakening demand? I presume this would have a knock-on effect on used prices too? Saving hard now and waiting could put me in a pretty nice position late next year if I have, say, an 16-20K budget :p
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We are already seeing this, used prices of everything large and thirsty are bottoming out extremely fast. Just look the the used values of BMW 7's, Mercedes S-class, and Range Rover's. Its mad :)
 
I think we can look forward to even more cheap, Large, Big Engined, SH cars for sale soon.

Even now it amazes me what amazing metal sub 10k gets you, makes you wonder why people buy tin boxes.
 
Firestar_3x said:
Aye but thats not the Key demographic this car is trying to attract come SH time.

Whilst they will be put off they would never have gone looking for this sort of car in the first place.

No idea on the Manual Gearbox thing, mind saying that i do like the idea of SMG in the CSL worked really well so i can see why they stick with it.
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I know that you are kind of expecting to pay if your looking for a car like this, but what im sayign is that 501BHP and 15MPG is a much more scary set of figures now than it would have been 4 years ago.

4 years ago a second hand car with those stats would have been 'expensive'
Now, those stats mean 'OMFG THE GOVERNMENT HATES ME AND WILL TAX ME THROUGH THE NOSE!'
 
Firestar_3x said:
I think we can look forward to even more cheap, Large, Big Engined, SH cars for sale soon.

Even now it amazes me what amazing metal sub 10k gets you, makes you wonder why people buy tin boxes.
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The issue is the fuel consumption and repair costs. If you take my car as an example, its easy to buy, its almost worthless infact. However it WILL sting every now again for a few grand in repairs, if you have to worry about the odd thousand here and there then its not the car for you, little tin boxes never present large bills like this. It also will not do more than 25mpg, ever, which is appauling compared with some cars.

Works well for me as i dont mind spending a bit in running costs in order to have a nice car, yet dont have to have much capital tied into a car or worry about it too much.
 
Firestar_3x said:
I think we can look forward to even more cheap, Large, Big Engined, SH cars for sale soon.

Even now it amazes me what amazing metal sub 10k gets you, makes you wonder why people buy tin boxes.
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Indeed, anyone doing low miles is in for a good time IMO.
 
Jez said:
We are already seeing this, used prices of everything large and thirsty are bottoming out extremely fast. Just look the the used values of BMW 7's, Mercedes S-class, and Range Rover's. Its mad :)
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Bit big for me, I'm hoping it hits the Elise prices :p

I can imagine stuff like Merc SL500s should be hit hard though. Saw one of those yesterday and thought it was quite a nice motor.
 
jamoor said:
Makes you wonder why they didnt sell the car in manual form here, can't be too hard to convert can it?
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May be to do with RHD and space or something?

Or because nobody in the USA would want a manual, so they would never actually need to build one :D
 
Jez said:
The issue is the fuel consumption and repair costs. If you take my car as an example, its easy to buy, its almost worthless infact. However it WILL sting every now again for a few grand in repairs, if you have to worry about the odd thousand here and there then its not the car for you, little tin boxes never present large bills like this. It also will not do more than 25mpg, ever, which is appauling compared with some cars.

Works well for me as i dont mind spending a bit in running costs in order to have a nice car, yet dont have to have much capital tied into a car or worry about it too much.
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Agreed however i feel your car is almost the worst possible case, i suppose middle ground could be achived by selecting something large yet not as complex?
 
Does make you wonder about the next car though - something 1-2 years old, nice economical Efficient Dynamics engine, low CO2 or..... something 4-5 years old with none of that stuff and a whole heap of cash left over for petrol..
 
Jez said:
quite? They are about as perfect as a car can be!
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I did read up on Honest John and thought "OMG - Awesome!" :) TBH They are a bit Bling though and could probably attract the wrong sort of attention, at least where I live at the moment.
 
What makes this even nicer is that the M5 was not subjected to LCI as was the same with the old M3. I am looking at between 20 and 30 for a 07 530i. This might have to take its place :)
 
Jez said:
However it WILL sting every now again for a few grand in repairs
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What sort of things are generating these huge bills? The basic mechanicals can't be much more complicated than most other cars on the road, after all brakes, suspension etc haven't evolved massively in recent times. Are we looking at essential mechanical repairs to keep the car useable or spending silly money to keep the electronic motorised widgets all functioning. Whilst you can't cut corners on the mechanicals the toys are less of a concern.

I can't imagine MB labour is particularly cheap, but then if the car is 'worthless' you've no need to worry about maintaining an MB history so you could do the work yourself or at a cheap independent. Parts costs? Again you'll be paying badge tax plus presumably inflated prices to due low volumes, so I can see potential for simple parts costing silly money to buy with no alternative source.

Just trying to get a handle on what proportion of these high costs are avoidable if you know what you're doing and how much is down taking advantage of your typical MB owner being the kind of person who drops the car off at the main dealer then hands over their card without even looking at the bill when picking it up.
 
One of the most expensive things to fix which most cars don't have is the air suspension.

Then you have the fact that everything is bigger in the first place, discs etc so they all cost a disproportionate amount.
 
Skeeter said:
That a polite way of saying ugly?

If I was to have an M5, Id have to have the Touring just to get rid of that frankly hidious rear end on the saloon
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Nope not really I love the look of the M5s now they have grown on me like all bangle creations. But some people actually do dislike the look to a great extent.
 
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