Diesel

I’m asking your opinions since when it came to getting a ‘family’ car I couldn’t let go of my lovely Scoob – I’d also rather grow spuds in it than sell if for £8k or so! It’s VALUE is so much greater than £8k to me (300BHP StiV with only 26k on the clock) – handles and goes REALLY well you know

So its looking like I have it FOREVER now! Zero faults so far, but surely the cost to fix any problems (and replacing them with even better bits :-) ) will be a pittance compared to depreciation on a (rather less naturally handsome ) new Scoob (sorry!)?

I bought a 6yr old big V8 4x4 mother as the second car, sweet as a nut and cost 20% of its £60k new cost; I guess I’ll do the same with this!

Is anyone else taking this very long term approach to chopping and changing their motor, and saving on the cash & HP & loans? As long as I save a couple of hundred quid a month, every month, and get good interest on that, I’ll have a nice interest free wedge to buy another motor when either of these die…?

D

milo

probably a non-issue.. but you should get more like 12k+ than 8k for a low-mileage sti5

i do see your point.. ive had mine for around 6 years now (96 wrx).. and will only realise the (massive ) depreciation when i change/sell it. which is one of the many reasons ive kept it for so long. as long as you're happy with the car.. theres no reason to swap it for something else imho. if/when i do upgrade to something newer.. i will probably end up keeping that for circa 5 years plus too. a lot of it for me is avoiding the hassle of buying and selling too

a lot of people on here do change their cars a lot.. i guess they can afford to and/or dont mind the depreciation hit.. or keep their cars such a short amount of time that they hardly get any depreciation anyway.

incidently.. what 4x4 did u get?

ProperCharlie

i'm sure that hanging on to a car as long as possible is the cheapest way to run, but the problem is you tend to get bored of a motor after a few years. if you can ignore this, then i would say long term ownership is the way to go. the problems that used to afflict old cars are now mostly taken care of. rust isn't really a problem, (unless it's italian ), and engines tend to last well into 2 or 3 hundred k if they are serviced properly. about the worst thing that can happen is the electrics start going mental.

e.g i know someone who is running a 10 y.o mondeo - it looks like a shed, but it still drives ok. he's had it from new and the biggest bill he's had has been about £350. if you value it at £0 now, that's still only about £1000 a year depreciation. it'll probably keep on going for another couple of years which will reduce this figure further.

milo

oh and not only that.. but if you're planning on keeping it a long time and are out of warranty, you can do most (or all if you're good) of the work on it yourself and save a LOT on labour charges

David Lock

Had use of a brand new Peugeot 405 1.9i Estate when I worked for govt in 1989. Bought it when I left in 1992 for £6000 (60k on clock) and gave it away FOC to a pal in 2004 with 175k on clock and still running sweetly. No major problems, couple of clutches, an ECU and minor electrics stuff. Fantastic value-for-money. DL

Olly

You CAN avoid depreciation on motors, it just depends how you go about things.

Cars are my passion, yet I detest losing money on the bloody things. The thousands of pounds that you can lose takes some earning. Hence I have always tried to either stare into the crystal ball and speculate a bit, or try and buy something decent for a song and run it, until the point in time when the money you initially paid matches the market value at resale time.

Case in point: once bought a Mazda MX5 cheaply at auction in winter, got 18 months fantastic motoring, sold in height of summer privately at close to retail price, lost £300. Not bad for an initial outlay of £9k.

Case in point 2: Currently got a '91 Mercedes 500SL. Beautiful car in the right colour with the right history that has done virtually all of its depreciating. I will keep it immaculate and the miles down, for a year: it will be bought by its new owner based on condition and history, not age. Shouldn't lose a hapenny. Difference between a 12 year old car and a 13 year old car is nothing. What would you lose on a similar priced new Focus in this time?



I have done this since I was 17. Owned around 40 cars in 12 years. I am not a car trader. Only considering depreciation, I reckon I have broke even over this period.

Keeping a car from new to ruin is still a loss, just spread over more years.

paulr

I have a 93K Astra,130,000 miles,owned 7 years from nearly new.
Never broken down,minimal running costs,now just a second car for clocking up the miles.Change oil twice a year,thats it.

Diesel

Glad for those replies guys, and Milo I went for the daddy of 4X4’s a Range Rover. Reckoned if you going to buy a ecological disaster at 15mpg it might as well have class I could sell it for at least a grand more than I paid too – particularly as I did the 72k service myself for £150 saving at least £500! I think this IS the way forward, particularly as I have the same enthusiasm for the Scoob and its dynamic abilities as I did when it was new (particularly when jumping in to it straight from the behemoth – its scary!!!).

I just had the cambelt done on the Scoob at a garage, so from now on I’ll be servicing them both myself and keeping all components and fluids receipts as well as possibly snaps of the work being done (I also have a mate via the Rangeroverscoobynet that has all diagnostic software for the RR and plugs it in for a tenner!). I hope working it like that will be quite useful if I do sell them at 12 + yrs old each; mind you, you see ancient Mk1 Range Rovers every day still going strong!

D

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

I think I'll probably end up doing the same and keeping my MY00 for some years now. Its sort of a work in progress, still under warranty and less than 30k miles.

I've driven a lot of new cars but there hasn't been the spark to make me want to change yet. I can still keep up with most things so I don't feel I'm missing out. It's nice to have the latest spec car but I just can't justify the whacking great loan to buy one.

Lets face it what do you get by having the latest car? Will it be significantly faster than yours Diesel? I doubt it. Will it be faster on track? Probably nothing in it. It may only have a few more toys and be comfier but the biggest attraction for many buying the latest car, will be the kudos and interest it would buy from fellow enthusiasts - this doesn't last very long though...

F

Jza

I bought my scooby new in 2001 - spec'd it up nicely. Like you - its worth jack now. It's just to expensive to trade up now. Depreciation used to be minimal 5 years ago - you'd buy, drive under warrenty for three years - then chop it in for a new one.

Now its shocking how little scooby's are now valued second hand!!! Why ever trade up - costs a fortune, and the car will be worthless in 3 years again!!!

I'm keeping mine for another 2 years on the extended warrenty - then - depending on what its going to cost to keep running - i'll buy again (but not a feckin scooby thats for sure!!) or keep until it falls to bits.

Jza

ajm

My Dad does this..... he has just sold his E reg BMW 750il which he bought brand new and has run into the ground. He has now bought a Merc S500 which will probably be kept for another 15 years!

Personally I get bored after 2 or 3 years let alone 10+!

Franx

That was my logic when I bought a range rover the other week. When an 18 year-old car is still worth £2500, and it cost around £30k new, it's hardly going to lose much value. As long as I look after it, I should probably be able to sell it for around £2000 eventually, or just keep it until it dies....I got 18mpg out of mine though. It's on LPG as well, so should theoretically be cheaper to run than the scoob was - equivalent of around 36mpg, ocmpared to 31 for the impreza.
I think it's the way forward. Avoid depreciation at all costs. I very much doubt I'll ever buy a new car, even if I could afford it

Diesel

I think I'm here too, as there is no way I have the cash to buy an Elise or Caterham or something 'newer' or 'differenter' as a 'plaything' or track-car. I came to the Scoob via a rather rapid TVR and the buzz of driving it hasnt dimished one little bit since June 1999 (sorry jza!)!!!

Franx, what RR did you get, and clear off with your tales of 30+mpg!!!! Never thought I'd call the Scoob the 'economy' car