Been thinking! :/

[Ed Doe]

The way I look at it is as follows;

Sensible car such as an audi A4 diesel or similar:

Cost to buy: Starting @ £4,500
Annual Servicing: ~£300
Tyres: ~ £150 a corner for contis (?)
Depreciation over 5 years of ownership: ~£1,500ish??????


My Gti6:

Cost to buy £2k
ALL mods to date: ~£1500
Servicing: £50
Tyres: £120 a corner for PS3s in 17"
Depreciation: n/a!! (if anything, give it a few years and I reckon the value of these will start to go up...!)

You're gonna lose money hand over fist whatever car you buy, be it in the upfront cost of the car and the consequent depreciation, finance associated costs if it's an expensive car, maintenance, fuel, tax, tyres etc, but I'd far rather piss my money up the wall making my car a hoot to drive than on paying finance on some hideous, soulless rep-mobile.....


Basically, the way I look at it, I could've bought a 'nicer' car (as everyone keeps saying), but EVEN factoring in fuel economy I've still saved money over buying a newer "better" car. Thats not even factoring in that I enjoy mine way more partially as a result of the bits that I've done to it, and partly cause no stock sensible car will handle like mine does now! It puts a smile on my face every time I glance out at it from my house, or get in it to drive it that no ordinary car would do.

I appreciate there is a point at which the constant maintenance can get to be a pain in the arse with these cars, but the parts are SO much cheaper than for other cars (have you seen how much suspension components for Audis are?!?!), and they're actually very easy to work on, apart from stuff being siezed from age. I regularly catch myself trying to figure out what I'd have if I didn't have a 306, and I genuinely can't think of many cars under 20k I would take over a it...