Depreciation free, fun second car

tom_nieto

tom_nieto

tom_nieto

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Inspired by this thread and some pretty deluded man maths I started thinking that it might be possible to get a second car for fun purposes which wouldn't depreciate (unless crashed). I think with the sort of money that I'm thinking of it would be difficult to find something that would cover running and maintenance costs, but you never know.

The scenario - I give you any amount of money with which you must buy a car which is used as a second car/weekend toy, but use it you must (taxed, MOT and insured). For these purposes let's assume it is garaged and never crashed. I will require all of the original purchase price back at the end of two years and you keep any extra (or swallow the loss). The car must be maintained to the highest standards - for the purposes of the thread self maintenance is not allowed. I think these criteria would rule out multimillion pound rare exotics.

Much as I'd love to have something like a Ferrari 360, the running costs sound terrifying, but perhaps a 996 GT3 would be easier to stomach. I'm not sure if a BMW E30 M3 is very me, but it sounds like these are a pretty sound investment. E Type Jags and Austin Healey 3000's are only going up it seems. The latest Astons on the other hand seem to be depreciating fast. Somewhere in the middle lies TVR, but they're not getting more reliable - a Sagaris would be amazing.

What would you have?
 
Focus RS have gone up in price. Both mk1 and 2.... Infact if I had bought a mk2 focus 2 years ago, I would make a profit selling it now.

Classics:
Escort cossy
Sierra cossy
 
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Sagaris would be amazing. They are going up in value currently, they cost quite a lot more to buy now than they did new.
 
TVR's seem a good buy at the moment, Sagaris seems to be one of the better cars in terms of reliability as I understand it. Chimera and Cerberas are on the up, but are older so more need to find a good one.


An Elise is a pretty safe bet in terms of not losing much money + fun.
 
E30 M3 would be top of my list, always been one of my favourite cars since started driving, my first car was an e30 325i and I loved it. Always had a soft spot for the e30's since then and the M3 is just pure driving pleasure.

Caterham 7 Supersport would be amazing as well from what I hear.

Wish I could afford these cars :(
 
Scottland said:
TVR's seem a good buy at the moment, Sagaris seems to be one of the better cars in terms of reliability as I understand it. Chimera and Cerberas are on the up, but are older so more need to find a good one.


An Elise is a pretty safe bet in terms of not losing much money + fun.
Click to expand...

The Elise is also relatively cheap to maintain being based on mainstream car parts.
 
Early Toyota-engined Elise. Prices seem to be bottoming out and although it may lack some of the engine character of the Rover powerplant, the handling/ride/excitement is just as good and it should be pretty reliable. If you go NA it's even pretty cheap to fuel, easy on tyres, brakes (depending on how many track days). Just try not to ding it...

Caterham 7 also high on the fun factor as a weekend toy and residuals/costs are good.
 
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