Porsche Guildford hosted the new Boxster (981) preview on the 27th April. Among the line up was the Carrera GT and Spyder for which are said to have influenced the design of the 981. A spokes person from Porsche GB noted that the new Boxster S with PDK could hit 62mph in 4.8 seconds and lap the Nurburgring in a faster time than the 996 GT3.
We have collected some excellent car reviews over the last few months, which provide a real world experience of ownership from real people. The reviews detail the best and worst elements from performance to insurance and repair bills to provide our visitors.
The E36 vs E46 M3 and 930 vs Cayman type reviews are becoming more popular to help our visitors make informed decisions on what aspects of cars will suit their requirements.
This site is aimed to help those buyers who are not necessarily interested in buying new but still want something exciting, well built with reasonable running costs and minimal depreciation. These are the type of buyers that research the most whether your budget is cash or finance and £5k or £50k.
Please continue the good work and send your reviews to ns@fastgerman.com
Audi:
Wanted
BMW:
M3 Evo II (88), 318 is (96), 328i Sport (98), Hartge Z3 Coupe 5.0l (98), 330i (00), M3 Convertible (99 and 01), M3 Coupe (02), X5 3.0d (06), 335i SE Coupe (07),
Mercedes:
SLS AMG (10),
Porsche:
911T (68), 911 Turbo LE (89), 968 Coupe (92), Porsche Carrera S (05), Porsche Cayman R (11) & 911 SC, Porsche Panamera (11),
Volkswagen:
MK1 Golf GTI (85), Scirroco Scala (91), Corrado 2.0 (94), Corrado VR6 (94),
Firstly, what does Cat D mean – It means the car has been written off in an accident.
Category D write off infers that the insurance company consider it uneconomical to repair but one that could be repaired and returned to the road given cost, time and technical ability.
Category A and B should never be returned to the road. Category B write off is one that is so badly damaged it can only be used for the salvaging of spare parts. Category A is one that is sent to the crusher.
It is worth noting that a Cat D write off isn’t always a big issue. I would be more inclined to walk away if the Cat D was recorded while the car was relatively new e.g. a £50k car new that is a few months old and has been declared as written off by the insurance company will most likely have hefty repair work.
If, however the £50k car is now only worth £5k 10 years on and is a BMW (for example) then labour at £150+ per hour, a new front bumper, paint and some lights could nearly equal the value of the car. It’s then written off as not economical for the insurance company. Cat D can also apply to stolen recovered cars that have not been damaged.
Example of a worthy review given today’s Porsche 993 prices is a 78k miler 993 C2 in silver for just under £13k on Pistonheads. No paperwork but worth some digging.
Start with an HPI check. Investigate further by phoning dealerships and head office to get some history. Try calling MOT stations if you can find some clues of previous owners addresses on the V5. Have a specialist inspect the car.
An interesting topic and a more exciting investment than shares/art/property for the petrol head.
Unfortunately, there are running costs to take into consideration unless you really want to dry store, which can result in perished rubber, belts, seals, tyres and so on.
Therefore the most useful option is to find a car, which you can enjoy on weekends/special occasions and sell for the same or more than the purchase price.
A good example is the Porsche 964 RS. Value’s have tripled since they were £20k only a few years ago. I’ve even seen one on the market at over £100k and these are still usable cars.
Going up quite a few levels, it wasn’t that long ago that a Ferrari F40 could be had for £150k, now they are closer to half a million. The 250 GTO that sold for circa £20 million this year… well, you wouldn’t want to drive that would you.
Back to usable classics and my thoughts on cars that can be used with minimal depreciation and could possibly appreciate in time:
<£5k - Porsche 944 Turbo, VW Corrado VR6
<£10k - Audi RS2, Audi Quattro but not the UR unfortunately at this price
<£15k - BMW E30 M3, Lancia Delta HF Integrale, Porsche 968 Club Sport
<£20k - Honda NSX, Mercedes SL55 AMG R230, Porsche 964 C2
<£25k - BMW M3 CSL, Porsche 993 C2
<£30k - Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Porsche 993 C2S
<£40k - Ferrari 355, Porsche 930 Turbo
Big Money Car – Ferrari F40, Mercedes-Benz 300SL, Porsche 959
Some of my favourite videos are shown under the Video page opposite.
