Costs of owning an older 'supercar'

Man of Honour
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Indulge me here, we've all seen the 10 year old Aston Martin Vantages, Audi R8's, Bentleys and other similar cars that have entered more 'affordable' price ranges.

This is largely because of the terrifying potential running costs attached to them.

But just how bad are these costs? Does anyone actually own an older car like this? Or have you in the past?

If you have an experienced and knowledgeable mechanic on hand, isn't it just a case of getting the parts at a non-extortionate cost?
 

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Soldato
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if you dont mind getting your hands dirty very reasonable

parts costs are not quite eyewatering just expensive for most things although a lot of parts are raided from other parts of various groups part bins so can be had reasonably.cheaply,

if your averse to working on your own cars or are not confident then run a mile. R8 clutch kit £1500 which isnt the end of the world, but when your looking at a labout bill of double that again it gets a bit frightening . not a major if you dont mind spending a weekend doing it yourself but not great if your dropping it off at a dealer.



be wary of the cost of parts as well, check out the price of basic parts such as headlight assemblies and windscreens for example, most supercars wont be a £75 excess and a trip to autoglass, gallardo front windscreen for example would set you back 5 grand headlamp assembly for the same, into 4 figures and your only a single flung up stone away from either needing changed.


that said looking at the R8 audi will do your servicing for £500 for a minor £800 for a major and thats every 10k/12 months

discs and pads are easy enough for most people to do themselves, pads £140 a set discs £400 a pair
 
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Soldato
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To actually run some of them on serviceable wear and tear parts it isn't as bad as you think, it's when other parts go wrong/get damaged it gets silly. It also depends on who is doing the servicing.
 
Man of Honour
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It depends on many factors but as a general rule they will come with the running costs of the list price car not the current market value of the car. I would strongly advise against buying a car that cost 120K plus when new for £30K today and not having 10K (at least) in the bank to pay for the unexpected. My gearbox was 23K. Now I could have had is stripped and rebuilt by a specialist (not some bloke with a rag who does Rovers down a back street) for maybe 8K, but that is still 8K. New pads are £1300 no matter where you source them. New discs are 3K A CORNER! no matter where you source them. Man maths are a risk and the old adage is wise...

If you can't afford two, don't buy one.
 
Soldato
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It depends on many factors but as a general rule they will come with the running costs of the list price car not the current market value of the car. I would strongly advise against buying a car that cost 120K plus when new for £30K today and not having 10K (at least) in the bank to pay for the unexpected. My gearbox was 23K. Now I could have had is stripped and rebuilt by a specialist (not some bloke with a rag who does Rovers down a back street) for maybe 8K, but that is still 8K. New pads are £1300 no matter where you source them. New discs are 3K A CORNER! no matter where you source them. Man maths are a risk and the old adage is wise...

If you can't afford two, don't buy one.

bloody hell !
 
Man of Honour
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It is why many of these sorts of cars are so cheap. People buy them, realise they can't afford them really when something goes wrong and then cut corners to repair them. It is like boats really. You go into a chandler in Dartmouth and look for a thermostat for your boat. It is 20 times the price of one in the car, but you get it and realise, "this is the same one I had on my Cortina for a 20th of the price". There is an element of tax that also comes with these sorts of cars. They are complex and specialised. Even Audi struggles with my R8 and they made the bloody thing.
 
Man of Honour
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Indulge me here, we've all seen the 10 year old Aston Martin Vantages, Audi R8's, Bentleys and other similar cars that have entered more 'affordable' price ranges.

This is largely because of the terrifying potential running costs attached to them.

But just how bad are these costs? Does anyone actually own an older car like this? Or have you in the past?

If you have an experienced and knowledgeable mechanic on hand, isn't it just a case of getting the parts at a non-extortionate cost?

Potentially astronomical. A friend of mine was looking at a 90s ferrari. Fortunately I managed to talk him out of it.

It depends on many factors but as a general rule they will come with the running costs of the list price car not the current market value of the car. I would strongly advise against buying a car that cost 120K plus when new for £30K today and not having 10K (at least) in the bank to pay for the unexpected. My gearbox was 23K. Now I could have had is stripped and rebuilt by a specialist (not some bloke with a rag who does Rovers down a back street) for maybe 8K, but that is still 8K. New pads are £1300 no matter where you source them. New discs are 3K A CORNER! no matter where you source them. Man maths are a risk and the old adage is wise...

If you can't afford two, don't buy one.

Gearbox cost is to be expected. That disc cost though! Plus these cars will all be in the window at the lower price point where these things need doing.

Audi’s aren’t exactly known for reliability either, so you’ll be paying out even more.
 
Sgarrista
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'affordable' price ranges.

how bad are these costs?

The cheaper the car, the worse the costs. The cheap cars are being sold on in naff condition, great if you have someone who can do the work at the right price, but for an average owner? Will be bank emptying.


My gallardo for all intents was the right price for the potential work, needed a major service (1k-1.5 independant opposed to 4k+ lambo), and will likely need a new clutch at some point £~3k.

Short of a catastrophic failure, of which the most likely I have remedied my running costs will be fuel, tyres and pads, with an oil and filter service next year to the tune of 150 quid.

It also has a 10k warranty on the car which will cover the majority of anything major going wrong.
 
Man of Honour
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I paid close to 90 grand for my R8. It would trade for mid 50's today, probably sell for low 60's at a dealer but a dealer would bid me in the nuts around 50K as they would want 10K in it. That is 10K after it was just big serviced, MOT'd with zero issues and good brake state (a HUGE bill potential on the V10+ due to ceramics). I know that it needs a dashboard repair (grand) due to a mark. It needs the carbon blade doing £800 to repair to high standard £3000 to replace with new. It needs quality paint £1500 (bonnet, bumpers front and back). It needs all wheels doing £300. It needs tracking and alignment £400 to to it to a good standard. This is how these things creep up on you when you use cars like this, as I do. I have done 34000 miles in the car in three years. That is not typical and will cost me money, but I have accounted for that. I can afford the bills, many I suspect would not be able to easily. Don't forget it cost me close to £4000 last month alone in tax, warranty, insurance, servicing. THAT is real world and yes you can do things cheaper but it's not a Mk2 Escort.
 
Man of Honour
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....also its not a Supercar because Audi init.

All the 5K baseball cap wearing chavs will tell you this.....and the city boys in the Lambo version.
 
Soldato
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Surely there must be decent warranty products out there? They'll be pricey but at least you'll average out the big costs and so you'll know what to budget.

Should be able to work out wear and tear costs.
 
Man of Honour
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Surely there must be decent warranty products out there? They'll be pricey but at least you'll average out the big costs and so you'll know what to budget.
That has zero benefit on the consumable costs.

I have an Audi warranty, I would NEVER run a supercar (sorry, TT) without one, it would be to be crazy. It is £1200 which is superb value I thought for such a car. To add many 3rd party warranties put ridiculous value limits on parts because they are built for mundane cars not ones with 10K parts.
 
Soldato
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What will break the bank is engine (internals), gearbox, dif problems.

The up side to the older Aston though, is they have a lot of stuff from Ford and Volvo parts bins. Some people say it's a bad thing, but it's not when they get old :p
 
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Soldato
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The general rule has always been if you can't afford to buy two, you cant afford to run one.

Yes I understand why general rules like that work. However, you could be the poor sod that has a major cost every 6 months or the lucky one that has no problems. That is why insurance exists.

Consumables, yes you are right but you should be able to work that out.
 
Sgarrista
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Yes I understand why general rules like that work. However, you could be the poor sod that has a major cost every 6 months or the lucky one that has no problems. That is why insurance exists.

Its worth mentioning the jacked up TT Housey drives has ridiculous markups because it is a halo car. Incidentally, stick a lambo badge on it and the prices are more reasonable :D
 
Man of Honour
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Consumables, yes you are right but you should be able to work that out.

How many people on this forum do you think can afford £20k-£25K per year cost of ownership? Not a willy wave, but I think most people who are not doing this have little idea.

Depreciation £12K a year
Services £1K a year
Tyres £1K per year
Warranty £1.2K
Fuel £2.5K
Insurance £1K
Stuff

Add in things going wrong and other consumables (pads, set up etc). We are talking a different league in costs to a fast M car or 911 for example.
 
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