I have always entertained the thought of buying a brand new car as I reached the end of my working life. The Mrs had the brand new Punto a few years ago so she agreed to me having my turn

I would clearly like to have to be something special but quickly became quite depressed at the prices. The cheapest Audi RS is north of £45K so I looked at the VW Scirocco. As you add items to the configurator the price quickly shoots beyond £30K and that got me thinking, does it have to be a new car.

A quick look on Pistonheads showed that an older Aston, often with quite low mileage, can be picked up for just a bit more than a well specified VW.

So, what would you do, new or old?

You could go for one that is 6-12 months old and save a chunk of cash that way.
My dad has just bought a 435d x-drive which was 2 months old and had 15 miles on it, for £9.5k less than list.

Old..your gain is someone else's pain, go for a nice Aston, few thousand miles a year would mean relatively small maintenance and consumables bills..that's what I would do.

2006 Vantage

Steve Webb the Pensions Minister suggests we all buy Lambos!

I don't want to be too silly....

Buy something special, even if it is older. The only proviso is running costs. Parts will be more expensive and servicing might be depending on whether you tinker yourself, use a reasonably priced indi or a main dealer. If anything major goes wrong, the bills will sadly be special too though.

I fancied something different and went for a used XKR which is not quite as expensive to run as a Maserati, Aston etc. where I'm located. It is said to be very soild and one can get all the usual parts outside of the dealer network. Less easy for some of the slightly more esoteric and even rarer competition.

Older, a VW will always be just that. An Aston will always love you back and probably not lose £1,000's in your first year of ownership.

Firstly - do it - buy something special. I don't think you ever regret it.

But I'd echo neil_r , investigate the running costs first rather than the purchase price.

I ran a Aston DB7 for 5 years or so. Servicing was twice a year, major and minor. The least I ever paid was about £800 a pop and most about £3000 when parts needed replacing, It was the earlier 6 cylinder version and parts were hard to find and expensive.

I than ran a Maserati Spyder 4200 V8 which was worse. The flappy paddle gearbox wears out very quickly and a new actuator and clutch cost me nearly £7000. While the car was in bits they warned me the cats were due replacing at £K per side !!!

Obviously these were 2nd had cars rather than new but running costs for these "special" cars are high.

Realistically I'm a few years away from taking the plunge. Just dreaming at the moment. I clearly want the mortgage gone before taking on such a huge money pit

But buying second hand does seem to make more sense. It looks like I'm never going to have that brand new car feeling The very thought of owning a low mileage Aston Vantage V8 does have me drooling far more than the thought of a VW I must confess

Three arguments for you to consider Bob....

1) How much will the brand new Scirocco be worth in 5 years time. How much will the Aston be worth?

2) If you go out in the Scirocco and park it up, will you turn round and look at it as you walk away?

3) When someone asks you "so what are you driving nowadays, Bob?.." - what would you like to tell them?

FWIW, my 355 cost me £7k in depreciation over the two years I owned it (If I'd foreseen the latest price rises and kept it, I'd now be looking at a profit). Even a three year old Mondeo would have depreciated more, never mind a brand new VW

Buy wisely, and it will be difficult to see how you could lose anywhere near as much money as you would on a new car

Funny! Last summer that car is actually the one that me thinking about buying something special. However, the ensuing research unearthed enough problem areas and no sensibly priced fixes. Even service parts are very expensive.

One really should look in detail at the overall costs and and problem areas, and balance that against the purchase price. These cars are cheap secondhand because they are quite expensive to very expensive to run. But do your homework and buy carefully and hopefully both you and your wallet will be happy.

I'm not expecting either to be experiencing that new car feeling or to be purchasing anything more exotic than our current car, but - as I said to neil_r about his Jag - I love that people are able to achieve these things and I'd be delighted to hear what you decide, Bob.

I can't imagine what it would feel like to look back at an Aston Martin, knowing it was mine, but I can imagine how it would feel for a VW. I think that sums up my advice: go for the exotic!

Brilliant sum up there Jim!

It seems that we all share similar dreams / fears.

When I do buy something it won't be getting used every day. It will be a bit of a garage ornament and will probably spend most of its life parked in a garage next to a Green Coupé. For every day use we'll have the Grande Punto or its replacement.

I fully accept that an exotic car will be more expensive to keep than to buy. I am also fairly sure this is a concept, albeit at a much lower level of pain, that most Fiat Coupé owners are well aware of.

On a more general note, whether I'm looking at buying something exotic or a bit more 'ordinary' (pardon the expression), I don't think I would ever buy something brand new unless I'd got serious money to burn.

You just get SO much better value for money on a nearly-new/3 year old car than you do on brand new, you can get a better spec for less money and still own it early enough into the life cycle for it to feel new-ish.

Also, and I know this isn't new or clever advice and you know this already, but if the top end of your budget is £45k and you end up buying something exotic second hand where the cheapest are £45k, then you're probably walking into a world of trouble! I don't think I'd ever buy anything again where I'm getting the cheapest of what's available, if I can't afford to get the best of what's on offer with a decent slush fund in reserve then I'd definitely turn my attention to alternatives..

There are cars that are not money pits..my coupe has not drained me of funds but then neither I nor the previous owner drove it like a [cloud9]. The thrill of purchasing a second hand performance car is immense choose one wisely, read and acknowledge all the 'warning signs': both the car and owner...and from my experience the risk substantially diminish.

VW Scirocco as a retirement car...for real.....c mon man! ;-)

http://www.evo.co.uk/features/15358/best-cars-to-buy-for-35000-evo-garage

For £35k+ off the top of my head I'd be thinking

Porsche 997 C4S wide body with factory aero kit
C63 AMG Coupe
CL63 AMG
Lotus Evora
Maserati Grantourismo 4.7 S
Audi R8

996 turbo circa £25k, loads of specialists and plenty of info out there.
Plus it will probably increase in value.

How about a TVR ?

You can get a lot of TVR for your money and semi British too.

http://www.evo.co.uk/buying/buyingguide/289408/tvr_sagaris_buying_checkpoints.html

I've always fancied the richer mans Coupe.......



GranTurismo's are getting around the £30k though you need £10k+ more for the 4.7 Get a £20-£25k Gransport and keep the change for the servicing. They make a Vantage look common

I like Nello's advice. My taste would be for an old fibreglass body 308, circa 1978, but I think they've shot out of the price range now.

Practically all Fezza's are £30k+ now - Gone bonkers if you ask me. Mate of mine bought a 308GT4 for £12k four years ago. The Ferrari OC almost shunned them not that long ago and they are now double if not triple that for a good one. Madness. This one took the biscuit for me
The Fibreglass 308's always fetched more anyway which used to make me laugh as being 'plastic' was always the usual Journo's comment whenever they road-tested 308/328/348 against Esprits.

Bob - even my sisters' old Cygnet is gaining value !

Neil - I hope he knows someone who's good with an English Wheel to get those little holes fixed!

The rear wheel arch looks ok though.

Thinking sensibly - Most new cars come with a years insurance, 4 years servicing and a 5 year warranty. If you add what it would cost to have that on an older Aston or similar, does it narrow the price gap between the new and old?

I'm incredibly fortunate to own an Audi RS and a Scirocco R, you wouldn't regret either, the Scirocco, especially in R form is a great replacement for the Coupe and yes you do still look at at it as you walk away, just like you turn to look at a 16 year old Fiat.
The Audi is an amazing machine, you can pick up a low mileage used RS4 for similar money to a used Aston, it has the practicality of an estate car, great looks, great fun to drive and it will come with some warranty and servicing package.

Me and Adam took a trip around a few dealerships today.

VW - I do like the Scirocco a mate has one and it looks great. So I viewed White one and a Blue one today.

Audi next. Only cars that really caught my eye were an R8 which was fantastic and an S4. I was hoping to see a (5cyl) TTRS but they didn't have one.

Next stop was Jaguar and the F type. The R8 had looked good but the F type was the first to really look and feel special to me. Sadly the chap selling, despite being generally helpful was a bit too pushy and sales driven. He continued even after I had explained I wouldn't be buying straight away

The Porsche dealership was next. We looked at several models but again none shouted "PICK ME"

We then went to the Aston dealership. I explained my situation to the salesman and he was fantastic. Not a hint of push and he fully explained what to expect at what budget. Sub £30K very early cars but buy with caution - could be some really big bills looming. For £30 - £40 I should be able to get a good early car and Sub £50K should get a good late 2000's car possibly with a dealer warranty too.

Adam and I then drooled over an N430, what a car So tempted to draw down the full tax free amount and buy it now...

Conclusion from today.

We saw some great cars today but there was one model that really stood out. Adam has been mad about the F type after seeing my mates Orange convertible. When we were at Jaguar Adam really fell for a fantastic looking black V8, which was stunning. But I was the Vantage that blew us both away.

Stay part of the congregation my friend.
Bangle designed the perfect driving machine for you and Mrs Barmybob.
Fixed roof or open top, IMHO they both look stunning.
@new-used: used for me. Especially as the cars you're looking at depreciate very fast.

For me a 5 year old F-Type would take some resisting.
Hopefully still fresh, but with the worst of the depreciation out the way....
My brother has a XK(S) which is immaculate and whilst not my cup of tea, its a lot of car.
The F-Type has that sense of occasion and are pretty rare here in the West Country.

Sir, If you had taken notice of a previous post you would have noticed that I plan to keep the Coupé