Wow

Baring in mind at its death the S was nearly 30k there are bargains out there

 

It was £30k when I bought my first in November 1999 Jason.

Nowt changes

 

There are some serious bargains out there, I was having a look on PH the other day and for less than £10k you can get a Audi S4 with the 4.2Ltr V8 and the good side of 400hp I think. Seriously quick and a bargain to buy to boot.

I imagine running costs are just as expensive though!

 

i saw an s6 estate when we were buying the golf... i think it was 450bhp and about 10k
here it is bargain

spose you have a point Rog. i think used cars are a bargain these days!

 

The problem with this type of car is that the running costs are astronimical. And that generally, the people who can afford the running costs like to have a brand new or nearly new car.

From my point of view, I don't understand these 400-500bhp monsters that do 8mpg, cost 000s every year to run, and provide little driving satisfaction. I was out in a mate's SL55 a few years ago and didn't get it at all. The straight line speed thing gets pretty dull after a while, and the car was too large, heavy and powerful to really enjoy on a country back road.

I'd rather be driving a decent lightweight hot hatch TBH

 

Whilst I do agree i like the idea of something that did not make sense to buy a few years back.

Given the bullet proof build of the SL it would sit comfortably in the garage.

A real track weapon remains an Elise or Exige which means lightweight and good balance.

 

very much in the same vein as the Top Gear £7k bargain idea

May was right, something will go expensively pop on one of those cars

it's then a choice of swallowing a four figure bill or running the car with an increasing number of things that don't work

that's why you see so many of those types of cars with a long list of 'minor' things that need to be fixed, running on nankangski tyres

tbf the Merc looked nice (you'd ruin the value of the 850 by driving it daily) but at 120,000 miles reliability isn't going to improve

one of those experiments many petrolheads undertake - once

 

A 53 plate SL55 is anything but bulletproof. Even at 3 years old and 30k miles it was having new dampers - £1.5k a corner and roof problems.

 

See this is what would nark me off. Not that things go wrong but the stupid money needed to fix them.

£1.5k a corner? For some springs and a bit of metal piping?


All depends where you are going to do most of your driving and what you enjoy I guess. I got the 'S as most of my fun driving is done down B roads which its perfect for hooning around in, provides a lot of satisfaction. In one of those beasts you'd never go over 3000rpm without being in tripple figures and other than the Porshe I'd be dubious of their handling compared to a nicely set up S

 

They are cheap because the other elements of ownership are not