Costs of owning an older 'supercar'

Soldato
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Ceramics are the one thing I would prefer not to have specced on any car that I own. The cost:benefit would just never make sense for me on a road car.
 
Soldato
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I think many people do remove them and fit steels, then re-fit them when they sell the car on. Makes it a bit of a farce really :p

Unless your a pro racing driver it's probably best not to use ceramic disks.
 
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OcUK Staff
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There's probably a market for downwards conversions.


I converted my 911 to steels for track use, to prevent the damage and expense being created by using ceramics (de-lamination), beauty of cars equipped with ceramics on Porsches, you get the bigger calipers, so all you need is a set of steel disc which for me was a set of 911 Turbo steel disc at £600 from OPC with discount.
You can use ceramic pads on steel disc fine, just not other way round.
 
Soldato
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I think you're basically swapping depreciation for running costs, ish. Depends how old you go, back far enough to something relatively basic under the skin but still special (996 Turbo?) shouldn't throw any humungous bills and hold it's value. Something like a R-Tronic V10 R8 however, potential for big bills!

As usual, do your research and have an emergency fund.
 
OcUK Staff
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I think you're basically swapping depreciation for running costs, ish. Depends how old you go, back far enough to something relatively basic under the skin but still special (996 Turbo?) shouldn't throw any humungous bills and hold it's value. Something like a R-Tronic V10 R8 however, potential for big bills!

As usual, do your research and have an emergency fund.


My mate had an old 996 Turbo, two years into ownership, he got an 11k bill, that was a specialist, not OPC.
Radiators, turbo rebuild and some other stuff, it quickly adds up.

You either get lucky, or you do not.
 
Don
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About 20 years ago I was looking at buying a Porsche 928 GTS and a mate said to me: "It may be supercar performance for banger money, but it comes with all the usual banger problems for supercar money".
 
Soldato
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My mate had an old 996 Turbo, two years into ownership, he got an 11k bill, that was a specialist, not OPC.
Radiators, turbo rebuild and some other stuff, it quickly adds up.

You either get lucky, or you do not.
Radiators and turbo shouldn't be anything like that, i should know as i've had both done.
 
Caporegime
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About 20 years ago I was looking at buying a Porsche 928 GTS and a mate said to me: "It may be supercar performance for banger money, but it comes with all the usual banger problems for supercar money".


This is probably the best way to describe it.

There's a chap in Streatham who has a 911 Turbo, the generation with the IMS bearing issue? Not sure, either way it's a fairly well known car in the area. Massive rims with tiny little rubber bands stretched over them, curbed to hell and gone. I've always known it was one of those cars that conveys the champagne lifestyle on a Lambrini budget and one day it was confirmed when he spluttered to a halt in front of me, he'd run out of juice. I then saw it parked up at McDonalds a while later and it had some of the nastiest looking tyres I've ever seen on it, two different brands too. Ditchfinders of the highest order. The devil is in the details, the entire car was effectively made of little bodges and fixes to just keep that Porsche badge rolling along. It's embarrassing to anyone who recognizes it.
 
Soldato
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F
There was quite a big list, those were around half the cost, then just lots of other stuff all adding up.
Fair enough, I should mention I had most of the work done by a local garage not an OPC. One thing that really surprised me is the life of the tyres, I had PS2s all round (an old Tyre, but N rated) and I could easily get 15k out the rears, I think I only changed them once in 40k (while alternating winters). By comparison, my m3 is getting close to 3 mill after 1 year (also swapped out with winters). I still think Porsche is the cheapest supersupercar to buy and run, any others that cost less?
 
Associate
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My mate had an old 996 Turbo, two years into ownership, he got an 11k bill, that was a specialist, not OPC.
Radiators, turbo rebuild and some other stuff, it quickly adds up.

You either get lucky, or you do not.

Never mind the Turbo, a friend of ours recently managed to generate a £25k bill on a not-very-old Carrera 4S.

I’m not sure exactly what happened other than “an engine problem” - I’ll have to quiz her in more detail when she’s calmed down a bit. Currently any mention of the car will cause her to grab the nearest object and throw it at you.
 
Soldato
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Never mind the Turbo, a friend of ours recently managed to generate a £25k bill on a not-very-old Carrera 4S.

I’m not sure exactly what happened other than “an engine problem” - I’ll have to quiz her in more detail when she’s calmed down a bit. Currently any mention of the car will cause her to grab the nearest object and throw it at you.
With any performance car i'd recommend a warranty so its not an issue. I couldn't get one on mine due to age (and possibly mileage) as mine was a 51 plate. Just for reference though, i remember my dad having an audi a3 2.0 tdi in early 2000's (he was a sales rep) and the turbo died on that and demolished the engine. It was a lease car so not his problem but the bill was 6k and thats for a normal car. I think supercars aren't that much more. Another example, one of my neighbours had a b class diesel and said the last service cost £1000 which is a lot for a mainstream car imo.
 
Man of Honour
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This is probably the best way to describe it.

There's a chap in Streatham who has a 911 Turbo, the generation with the IMS bearing issue?.

The turbo was never affected by IMS issues, the engine that does is the m96 which is in all 986 and 996 cars bar the turbo. The turbo runs a mezger engine which is basically indestructible.
 
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