Prices! Whats going on?!

[Mikey G]

right, my beef is basically, why are these cars just not worth that much money anymore? for a car as amazing as this to drop from £15,00 in 5 years is pretty shocking, i think asking for £4000, £5000, or even £6000 when selling yours is rediculous. these cars are classic and a piece of history, an end of an era! you can still pay over £5000 for a williams or a 105 gti! then why wont these cars start selling at their true value?

what does anyone else think and what can be done about this? i know the country is in a recesion bla bla bla and people have no money but to sell a trophy for £4000 is shocking. think about how much fun this car is and how great to drive they are!

so come on people join the revelution lol and lets get these cars up in value again!

 

[Sir_Dave]

I bought an '03 M3 recently for under 9 grand. Its list price when new was just below £50k.

The Trophy is simply a 182 cup with fancy dampers, the general public have now realised this, & the prices are tumbling. Well, that & the fact that they are all 6 years old now lol!! Mines worth more in bits than as a whole car iirc.

 

[Gordon]

I think they will keep their value, relatively speaking, yet this will be over a long time period. Therefore they will need to be kept near standard, low mileage, well maintained etc. As there were only 500 imported the more crashed and molested will improve values.

A Williams is worth £5k as it's now old and rare in standard, well maintained and super condition. Look at the 205 GTi's selling for £8-10k with FPSH and between 10-25k miles. These are on D to N plates. That's a lot for a car that old, probably near the original asking price. But then there is the dreaded inflation to take into consideration. £10k in 1992 isn't £10k in today's money.

I think Trophy's are selling for £4-6k as the miles are high and they are becoming molested. Badly. How many to you see advertised now that are standard?

There are examples of 5k and 8k mile cars selling for between £8.5k and £9k, both recently. Both appeared completely standard, excellent condition and well maintained. Took a while to sell, but they did sell it seems.

I'm afraid if a seller has a 70k mile car that's beginning to show signs of wear and tear a prospective buyer is unlikely to offer much more than the going rate for a similar 182. Perhaps a slight premium given there were only 500 brought to the UK and they are rated so highly. There is still only about a pages worth on Piston Heads, it's not like you get to look through 40 pages.

Holding on to your T will be the key to its value. You get to enjoy it and eventually it will stop depreciating. I think this is the seven year dip that happens to many cars prices. The boy racer generation can begin to afford them, molest them, crash them and pimp them. Give it another four or five years and the prices will steady at current levels or maybe rise (unlikely unless exceptional).

I'm the second owner of a black S1 106 Rallye with 65k miles, FPSH, totally standard, even down to the cassette player. I've had it since 1997 and TBH it doesn't owe me a penny. It's now appreciating in value as a straight one is like hens teeth. Maybe one or two a year you might think about buying come up for sale. When it was having its cambelt done recently someone visiting the garage offered £2500 for it in cash. Nice offer, but no thanks.

Look at Hoolio's 5GT Turbo, you'd have to find one first in that good condition, before then thinking about price.

My advice is don't stress, unless you are looking to sell now. If that is the case you are on a bit of a sticky wicket as the world is doomed for a decade and everyone knows it. Now is the time to buy cheap assets. Then again, petrol might be £100 a litre in a decade and us keeping all these classics will seem a little stupid.

Enjoy the T and its rarity. Quality (of driving experience, a Rolls Royce it ain't) is remembered long after price is forgotten.

 

[eljeffo64]

As somebody more famous than me once said, there are those that know the price of everything and the value of nothing - agree with the above ^^ - keep/drive/enjoy!

 

[g40steve]

Thats the problem 'standard'.
On a flowing A or B road brakes are OK, I live in the 'sticks' as it were & back lanes & B roads are my usual haunts.
These show the weaknesses up straight away, hence everyone upgrades brakes :lol:
Anyone who takes a T on track soon finds the limits of a standard car, hence so many modified ones.
? do you buy standard or modified! #-o

If you buy right you can have free motoring

Dave, what trackdays you got booked for rest of yr??

 

[wigstar1]

Also there is another point to be made. A lot of the higher mileage examples selling at the moment have usually had 3+ owners. While i appreciate this is not the same in all cases, this will undoubtedly have an effect on the prices the Trophy can achieve. There really arent many T's left that have been owned by one person from new, and that number will only ever go down!

 

[j333evo]

Cars hold value, or gain value due to different reasons. Some due to motorsport heritage E30 M3, Lancia integrale's, Sierra RS500 Cosworth, some because of cult followings, some ground breaking Mini Cooper S, MK1 Golf GTi, some limited numbers Peogeot 106 Rallye, or a mixture of all of the above.

There is one reason often overlooked by the general public, and that's the effect age has. When cars reach approx 15-20 years old, the people, generally men who lusted after these cars as youths but were either too young, or could not afford them reach a time in their life when they have some spare money and want to buy into the memory they had of a particular car. This normally means provenance is put on it bring original. This has no real effect, apart from poorly chosen modifications to cars when younger. Would anyone not want there Trophy fitted with Brembo HC discs & Ferrodo DS2500 or Pagid blue pads over OEM, or a genuine leather trimmed steering wheel over the melting plastic fake leather OEM item etc I've always been of the opinion that well chosen mods do add value, not detract, and the last two cars I sold I sold for way more than I purchased them for due to this as they had everything that was considered must have items, or hard to get NLA OEM option parts etc

The Trophy is far to young to be that car yet, & therefore it's value is still in the freefall stage, but limited numbers, & very favorable press reports guarantee that it will become as sought after as some of it's predecessors, i.e. Williams, R5GTT, 205GTi, MK2 Golf GTi etc etc

There was a 2005 MK5 Golf GTi for sale at a car place I pass regularly & it was only £7750 on what must have been £20k new. We bought our 2006 Civic Type-R EP3 Premier for £7500 with 45k on it, when the original bill of sale is over £17k, it's all relative.

Cars have to reach the point were demand outstrips supply to first stabilise & then push prices up. I remember you could buy MK2 Escorts with tax & MOT for £50, now a rolling shell is £5k.

 

[eljeffo64]

Not to mention Lotus Cortinas, now £40k + for a good one, I remember the time when they could be had for peanuts..... An original spec but restored concours condition Morris Minor fetches over £10k now!

As an example - I have a mint, original 1955 Excelsior 150, 2 owners - worth maybe a grand?? Its rare but not valuable, but I love owning it. One day the T will be collectable/ more valuable but, like the Excelsior, never massive money. I say buy to enjoy - it's an emotional not a financial investment.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Dave, what trackdays you got booked for rest of yr??

None planned at the moment, will be spending all my money on fueling an M3 for 2k miles a month no doubt

Plan is to put the Trophy back to standard(ish), then put it into hibernation in my parents barn. Hopefully, in a few years time i will rediscover it, & my 2 owner, FSH, minter will be worth slightly more than the 20p it is now :lol:

 

[BoroGTI]

Prices on nearly every car has dropped atm, it also doesent help when knobheads put Trophies on PH and wherever else for peanuts and knackers everyone else up selling at the RIGHT price!

 

[Jamie]

Prices have fallen significantly recently imo. Wasn't too long ago they were worth £7k for one with all the bits done, now it's more like mid 5's for a like for like. As such, the car is worth far more to me than anyone else, as such I can't see myself selling it for a long time esp with my new steering wheel and seats which will sort the stupid driving position out. I also think my Williams is going to be worth more than the Trophy very shortly.

 

[Gordon]

I remember you could buy MK2 Escorts with tax & MOT for £50, now a rolling shell is £5k.

Amazing isn't it. A friend of mine killed at least three between 17 and 20. One was his Grandmothers if I recall.

An original spec but restored concours condition Morris Minor fetches over £10k now!

Another sad story, a friend was given his mothers Morris Traveller, they were like a timber framed house, at 17, we put it in a ditch and twisted the chassis; shameful.

Thats the problem 'standard'. On a flowing A or B road brakes are OK, I live in the 'sticks' as it were & back lanes & B roads are my usual haunts.

Yes, I hear you. First time I used the brakes in anger it was a slight WTF moment. I don't blame you for 'upgrading', but I think some people are still put off by certain modifications as it can be a tell tale sign the car has been driven harder. They are to be used and made for it and all that, yet factory standard does say a lot. Discs, pads, lines and fluid isn't huge change, but may stress other areas of the car long-term.

As for molesting interiors, no thanks. Everyone's taste is so individual that keeping the factory finish is key in my view. Renault designed it like that, at a fixed cost, in a 'neutral' style, to fit as many tastes as possible. You can't argue with standard. Someones red engine cover and 'carbon effect' dash inserts may make their girlfriends knickers drop, but just aren't to others taste.

Can't go wrong with the wiper stalk upgrade though. Seat position also v poor and takes getting used to, but chop the seats about? Hmm, might be too much, unless it is a simple washer removal job. Presumably the dropped seat hight is more than made up for by any change in comfort caused by removing the rubber bushes.

It is a great pity steering wheels melt and brakes weak. Best plan is to change if you like and keep all the original bits; if change and personalisation important to you.

wigstar1 - I totally agree.

eljeffo64 - Yep, drive and enjoy. You should invite everyone out to France to enjoy that pool, wine and have the country lanes full of Trophy's. Pre wine of course.

 

[eljeffo64]

Not forgetting the super track at Pau Arnos; there are some superb BnB's up the road too ;-)

 

[Gordon]

Don't shout too loud, they'll be a red coloured barmy army swarming around you in an instant... ; )

I'd get back to the pool and another bottle of Ormes.

 

[Luke335]

The more you use it the better value it is in my opinion. I guess mines depreciated £10k in 100,000 miles but if I'd only done 20,000 it will have still lost £5k. I haven't had to pay for services and belts without doing the miles either. At the end of the day it's relatively cheap and fun to drive and probably wouldn't appreciate much more than inflation. Drive it, modify it, enjoy it ( just don't sell it).

 

[eljeffo64]

There you have it in a nutshell ^^; spot on.

 

[Gazza]

I'm with Luke on this one too. But I have to admit I have wondered before why a car like the mini which are everywhere seem to hold there value better

 

[Sir_Dave]

The more you use it the better value it is in my opinion. I guess mines depreciated £10k in 100,000 miles but if I'd only done 20,000 it will have still lost £5k.

1st owner paid £14,235 for mine in September 2005, 5 years (& 170k later lol) i paid £2675, so £11,560 in depreciation. Now, i've spent a good 2 grand on making it perfect mechanically, but its worth what i paid for it all day long.

As such, i could never sell the thing, what else could i get for the money that is as much fun!!

<3 my little shed

 

[aucky]

Trophys have tumbled in price since I bought mine

 

[Sir_Dave]

Trophys have tumbled in price since I bought mine

To be fair, thats exactly why i got rid of my 1st one when i did!!

Paid 7 grand in May 2010 for a 50k miler, sold it in October 2010 for £6500 with 63k miles.

If id put another 30k on it, it would have been worth about 4 grand now!!