What's happening to the GTi's?

[r3k1355]

There's also a lot of people around who've got a bunch of money but don't know where to put it, it's much harder to put it into property now and there's no reason to leave it in the bank.
but the car market does shift around over time, some brands are a safe bet (Ford) while others are a more risky venture and need careful selection.

Here's a good example:

VW Golf Gti mk1 - safe bet, good strong value, plenty of demand
VW Golf Gti Mk2- safe bet, good value, less than the Mk1, but certain models pull big money
VW Golf Gti Mk3 - Totally f*cking worthless, some money in the VR6 but it's a f*cking hard sell

The problem with your argument is your looking at current values, its difficult to predict the future but for example look at the way peugeot 205's have rocketed in value over the last decade, same for 106 rallyes & gti's. its not hard to imagine the gti6 / rallye will go the same way as prices have already started to rise, availability has already decreased and tidy low mileage examples are few & far between.

mk3 golfs are worth nothing now, but in 20 years time who knows?

Obviously this kind of investment needs alot of research and knowledge behind it, and its incredibly model specific! for example a gti6 will always be worth more than an XSi.

but it's not just age that drives price, the car has to be something special in the first place to be able to really command a high value (and maintain it)

You can understand why the early hot hatches command good money, they were groundbreaking vehicles - especially in this country.
but you get a little bit later on, or 'not so hot' hatches, does anyone really care to collect them - did anyone really 'lust' after them like they did a 205 or a Golf Gti??

The Gti-6 will appreciate, but will the Xsi?
and will their values settle at something decent, or just get driven by people being silly?