Cost of ownership update - £8,000 and 17,000 miles

[Reev]

my 200 in the 9 months i kept it cost me £1400 a month when factoring in depreciation.

That's actually mental.

 

[Matthew]

I thought I'd start doing this. So the spreadsheet was created in my dinner and i began input the necessary info.

Got to morrisons to fill up and all was going well. I drove away with the passenger window down and out flew the receipt!

Ffs.

Brilliant! Ha.

 

[RDH]

my 200 in the 9 months i kept it cost me £1400 a month when factoring in depreciation.

FLOL.

 

[lucky13]

Interesting stuff! Think some people need to read into it more before thinking the cost of driving is so high for these cars. I agree it certainly isn't cheap but to be honest the cars a lot of us have on here are likely to not cost much more than an average car in my opinion.

This guy is spending £320 a month on fuel which is probably double the vast majority i would guess? Plus the fact its obviously going to add more to your monthly bill if you do more miles which obviously he does a lot of! Secondly in the poll i read the other day i think it was the 172 and 182 that the vast majority of people had on here which obviously suffers a lot less from depreciation and possibly has lower repair, tyre cost and slightly better average MPG? Anyone that can tell me im right or wrong there? mainly assuming to be honest!

Basically my point is that although this is great and very useful account of keeping a car and your true spendings i dont think its right to say that so much money or whatnot goes towards the car each month because its very subjective. So to be clear im not saying what this guy has done is wrong because its not its very true and correct, just that i dont think its right that others can then assume it also costs them a lot and that these are expensive cars to run!

ps please dont think im writing this to be a pratt, just trying to defend our cars lol

 

[_WILL_]

I really like this and I don't think 9k in almost a year is so bad if your considering depreciation as well. I am going to look for a similar app for iPhone. What I think would be really interesting is to get the same info for a new BMW 320d / similar Audi / similar merc ( assuming you bought your car new). Cars that people buy to be fuel efficient and save money.

 

[Matthew]

German premium cars tend to hold their value more IMO.

Less depreciation..

 

[J.B.]

German premium cars tend to hold their value more IMO.

Less depreciation..

Another one of those German car myths I think. Such as the one that says they are all reliable because of 'German Engineering'. Marketing...

 

[Matthew]

Another one of those German car myths I think. Such as the one that says they are all reliable because of 'German Engineering'. Marketing...

Not really. An A3 that is 7 or 8 years old still fetches top dollar.

My 182 is worth peanuts. Sure the A3 cost more initially but they do hold their money better.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Not really. An A3 that is 7 or 8 years old still fetches top dollar.

My 182 is worth peanuts. Sure the A3 cost more initially but they do hold their money better.

Ok, here's some examples for you.

My Trophy was £13k new in 2005. It then did 186k miles and i got £3k or so for it. £10k depreciation. £1.4k per year/ 5.3p per mile.
My R32 was £31k brand new in 2006. Its done 98k miles and is worth circa £8k. £20k depreciation. £3.3k per year / £20.4p per mile
My M3 was circa £40k in 2003. Did 100k miles and was worth £8k. £32k depreciation. £3.5k per year / £32p per mile

Generally, the more a car costs new, the more money it loses, irrespective of the badge on the front. The best thing to do is buy cars at the bottom of their depreciation curve, ie a £3k 182, £6-8k M3, £3-4k 330i etc, etc, then you limit the money losses from that aspect of the cars running costs - allowing you to spend a little more on fuel/repairs, etc.

For example, i bought the Trophy for £2.6k and sold it in bits for more 2 years and 16k miles later. I then bought/sold the M3 for roughly what i paid for it 6 months and 12k miles later. The 330i touring was bought sold for the same price within 4 months/8k miles. In addition, the Golf is still worth easily more than i paid for it.

You see the point im trying to make? Cut depreciation, cut costs massively.

 

[leeds_182]

Depreciation used to be the killer for me. I used to but new cars as they had warranty etc but now I happily buy five year old audis etc.

It may cost £300 for a clutch or cambelt or something but that's still better than the £3000 it lost the moment the new owner sat in it!

 

[Chip-mk1]

Dave, here is a good sensible car for you to avoid depreciation with:

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26460
Cost new: 19,950
Cost now: 65,000
Current Mileage: 23,900

Appreciation = 1.89 per mile


LOL

 

[Sir_Dave]

Ha ha, saw that the other day!! <3 old Fords.

 

[Chip-mk1]

Ha ha, saw that the other day!! <3 old Fords.

Shame all the modern ones are so soul less (think its a FWD trait, well other than the original mini)

 

[Bobby.]

Im always trying to work out the cost of driving, living etc. But couldn't do it that well.

This is why I don't agree with buying new cars as well as the depreciation is just a killer.

 

[philmots]

Interesting figures...

I think they'd look a lot nicer without trackdays, though... Excess fuel useage, knackard ball joints from kerb hopping, hammering tyres and brakes etc etc.

I'd be interested to see what it'd be if you could discount the above.

 

[MarkCup]

Interesting figures...

I think they'd look a lot nicer without trackdays, though... Excess fuel useage, knackard ball joints from kerb hopping, hammering tyres and brakes etc etc.

I'd be interested to see what it'd be if you could discount the above.

Funny you should say that but I've been playing about with the data to work this ^^^ out.

Hopefully will update thread with revised data/graphs tonight. From what I've seen so far though, it makes a difference...but it's not as huge as most hope it will be.