The '5% club' - do you own a car that qualifies?

[tdk]

I love depreciation. It means I can pick up something interesting that I could not have afforded new for a fraction of the original windscreen price. The almost-cool classic, the not-that-quick sportscar and the ignore-the-bills beauty. I call these pocketmoney exotics - cars that you can buy for 5% (or less) of their original price.



I'm thinking Jaguar XJ6, Range Rover P38, tatty old Maseratis, Renault Safranes, Bentley Eights,... I'm sure I've missed loads. What others qualify?



Anyone here own one that qualifies for this theoretical club? I'm interested in real world experiences from like minded motoring masochists...

[fad]

No but I very VERY nearly bought myself a lovely Jag Daimler a while back for peanuts.

Surely the Mighty Audi S4, S6 etc would qualify here too? They are pocket money these days (again tried to buy an S6 estate complete with towbar from Aberdeen but the seller was a complete bellend so left it).

[b3nson]

1st Gen Audi S8 would be my pick, frigging love those things but running costs scare me off!

[Curtis]

I think adam73bgt takes the award for this one. Touching on a hundred grands worth of 750i for £700

[SmokeEm]

Surely my 70k when new CL500 qualifies too? Bought for just £2500 IIRC

God I miss that car!

[mylittletony]

My Astra TDS was 2% of initial purchase price, do I qualify?

[tdk]

Mar 13, 2017 13:30:47 GMT mylittletony said:

My Astra TDS was 2% of initial purchase price, do I qualify?

It doesn't meet the "interesting' criteria.

Love your username though!

[Dez]

It's hardly an exclusive club. Even a sub 750 quid mx5 falls into the 5%. the majority if cars between 15 and 25 years old is likely to qualify.

[colnerov]

Hi, Yes that's what we used to call their banger period, just cheap cars to punt about in and when they went wrong they were not worth fixing so were either bangered or scrapped. After that period values started to creep up as the realisation dawned their numbers were getting low and they started being recognised as classics or collectable. The trick is to recognise the point to pick up the bargains before they take off.

Colin

[tdk]

Mar 13, 2017 14:34:17 GMT Dez said:

It's hardly an exclusive club. Even a sub 750 quid mx5 falls into the 5%. the majority if cars between 15 and 25 years old is likely to qualify.

Membership isn't calculated on price alone - they should be "interesting". Define that how you will

[chris y]

One of my Carlton GSi 24V's cost £300 a few years ago and I think they were £24k new.

I've had a couple of Jags too but my XJ40 cost £1800 many years ago, I don't know the new price so it might not count. My S Type cost £1K but was the most boring and troublesome car I've ever owned so I wouldnt include it.

I like the idea of 5% cars being a thing, its a good target for enjoying a huge amount of car for pocket money.


As an alternative I used to measure cars with workmates on £ per horsepower when I bought a different Carlton GSi for £300 or less than £1.50/horse.

[adam73bgt]

As Curtis mentions, I bought this grand lump of E38 750i for the princely sum of £700. I'm not sure what the original price would have been, maybe over £70k?, 1% club?








It had all of the options I could ever think of for a car of its age and a part of me really wishes I'd kept it as its going to take me a very long time to buy that much car for that little money ever again!

For a 200k mile V12 luxo barge, it was really in good nick and was totally reliable for the time I had it, there were a couple of things that would have needed some attention had I kept it longer but I think it was far from a money pit

I've also had a 4.0 XJ40 Sovereign which cost me £1300, again not sure what they would have cost new but that had a lot of optional extras on it as well


I think in general big barges are best for this (I made a bargain barges thread aaages ago before getting the Jag) If you buy them cheap enough and buy carefully so you don't end up with a dog, you can have some proper class motoring for little outlay

[Paul Y]

Bentley Mulsanne Turbo.

Purchased for £10K - Sold for £10K 12 months later.

Running costs were horrendous - mileage was single digit, spent about another £5K on maintenance and loved every single second I owned it. A proper hooligan in a tweed jacket. Not quite the bangernomics you were referring too but was very interesting.

What about going the other way, Cars that you spent 95% of the value on and then sold for less than the original purchase price....

GUILTY!!!!

I think Adam wins.

P.

[PandaSelecta]

My 5% car, or in my case - about 2% of the cost when new....

Alfa GTV Lusso 2.0 Twin Spark 16V

[welshpug]

my 205 would have been about £10k in 1989, I paid £500 for it.

my Citroen ZX was £15k in 1992, paid £250 for it.

525 TDS, I'd imagine the £650 I paid is well under 5%!!

[xbl]

My 9-5 Aero Hirsch was in the 5% club when I bought it, the original invoice is in the history file for just over £37000, I paid £1800 for it last year. It has cost me a few quid to get it back to any sort of mechanical standard though and it still needs the turbo replacing due to weeping turbine seals.

[The Jackeria]

not quite there yet but older phaetons are getting close. Special mention for the w12, and v10 tdi

[georgeb]

Had I been in the UK, then yes.

But here? No.

[tdk]

Mar 13, 2017 21:36:54 GMT The Jackeria said:

not quite there yet but older phaetons are getting close. Special mention for the w12, and v10 tdi

Great examples! Complete madness, VW designing and building those, wasn't it? Not particularly exotic, but they do share the platform with the Bentley Continental, IIRC.

[waveman1500]

I sold a car for under 5% of it's original value, which my Dad bought brand new! So we owned the entire 95% depreciation.

The family car was a 1990 Nissan Pintara TR.X, original price $24,000. I sold it in about 2013 for $800, after it was basically beyond economical repair. Ideally needed a new cylinder head.



Not my car, but a reasonably modern contender:

2003 Mercedes S500L for $12,900. Original list price in 2003 was $260,900, which puts it at an almost perfect 5%.



www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Mercedes-Benz-S500-2003/SSE-AD-4528706/?Cr=2