AR911

Had a test drive and long chat with a dealer this weekend, looking at a UK Sti7. Bit shocked when he pointed out that the car would definitely loose 50% of value within 3 years, especially with the facelift coming - I'm used to classics so my cars have all appreciated (slightly) rather than depreciated - would be a bit of a shock loosing over 4k per year. So been looking at what the market is doing with 2nd hand ones.

Very few UK Sti7's up for second hand yet, as you'd expect with such a recent model. But what do you think the book prices are going to be like when they do start to come onto the market ?

If you work back from a 3 year, 30k miles being £13k then what about the early cars, 2 year, 20kmiles being 15k ?, 1 year 10kmiles being 18k, 6 months 21k ?

The only ones I've seen come up are around 25k which I think is probably just testing the water. May have to wait until some facelift Sti's hit the street (mid 2003 ?) but interested to see how the market is going. cheers

chrisp

Even new Ferraris depreciate, waiting for a RHD 355 to reach 30K

50% is not bad, seen MY00 imprezas going for 11K privately. There is always a few K between trade and dealer prices.

Josh L

It's still a hell of a lot better than the 'best sellers'. They seem to loose 50% as you drive them off the forecourt.

IMHO, very few cars retain any sort of value, and if you use that as your main criteria you may as well invest in a long bus pass. Rather like having kids I suppose. If you wait until you can afford them, you'll never have them.

Josh

AR911

Yep - I know it's going to loose some value - got to accept that in the real world - trade of is always there - buy a classic, pay high maintenance costs, but cheap insurance and no depreciation. Buy a modern and loose lots on depreciation and insurance but can use it on rainy day and long journeys without worrying about every engine noise being a blow up.

Really just wondered what sort of levels people expected the cars to go at when Sti7's come onto the 2nd hand market.

Not that I'm a vulture or anything ;-)

Anyway MY03 Sti may still be good enough to treat myself to a new one.

clubby

I have seen this sort of depreciation being predicted for the Sti 7. I wonder why? The Prodrive edition being a limited edition, should depreciate less quickly because of the exclusivity.

I have a Euro Sti7 (Litchfield modified), and the thought of it being worth less than £13k at 30k miles in three years is a bit scary. I can see the import ones like mine going for a bit less, but not the UK models and not £13k.

I traded my 97 Catalunya in Nov 2001 at £50k miles for a 01WRX, and got £10,500 for it. It had depreciated 51.4% from it's new price, but the miles were a little high. So i suppose that proves these claims might be correct.

To avoid the depreciation hurting too much, should we all have bought P1's, they still seem to get silly money?

Nup APR911 I still cant see it. I still think a 30k miles Sti7Uk will be worth between 17/20k in three years, but maybe thats wishful thinking. 30% depreciation would give you a value of £17,500, which I think is nearer the mark.

chrisp

P1 was 31.5K new you can get them for sub 20k now, 11.5K in 2/2.5 years depreciation.

clubby

I thought about buying a Jap import Sti3/4/5 or whatever you get for around £10k, just to get away from the depreciation. I didnt.

I didnt buy the car for the depreciation, I bought it to drive it. I have to remind myself of that, and next time I drive it I'll forget about it again. Grin factor = mega.

Jacey Boy

I bought a MY02 STi 7 Prodrive UK, 6500 miles, WR Blue, Private Seller, 18" Prodrive Wheels, Car cost the guy £29.5K, I gave him £24K for it, I will keep it for around 2 years and hope to keep mileage down and get back £20K

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

I have to agree with clubby I am thinking 16-17.5 k

Neil Smalley

Also Remember that only 750 STI type UK prodrives will have been made... So much can happen to affect residuals, its not worth worrying about. Enjoy the car while you can.

clubby

I paid £23.5k for a Euro Sti7 with the Litchfield conversion (320 bhp) with 2k miles. I expect to keep it for 2 years, miles will be less than 20k by then, and I have no idea what it will be worth.

What d'ya think?

Jacey Boy

Neil I agree, with only 750 been made I think I will be safe, for someone like me who wanted the Prodrive Edition will pay more, as for the imports, they will drop alot more, its all down to volume in the country and extra insurance costs :@(

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

If the exclusive P1's were hit badly then what hope is there for the mainstream STi7's?

Lets face it, scoob residuals bit the dust when people started EU importing them and IM increased the import quota along Govmnt guide lines.

No Scoob is safe now.

I prefered it when there was a waiting list and secondhand cars were reaching near list price as well. Grey imports weren't hurting this plan as they were not brought in in numbers and couldn't be bought here. The dealers were better back then as well as they didn't have to sell volume, just all their allocation, which was easy. They were excellent with warrenty stuff too. A dealer would sell you a car and you could order the next one knowing you'd need next to nothing to change. You could have your cake and eat it.

The people who killed it were the parrallel importers who couldn't afford the UK list prices or wanted to wait.

Now I'd buy as cheap as I could from any source, to reduce the loss at sale time.

F

Neil Smalley

Floyd.

All cars residuals have fallen over the past few years, but then again so have the price you can buy them at; so it kinda balances out. The P1 has taken a dive, but then the view of the market in general was that it was too expensive to start off with.

Parallel importers have done a lot to make the impreza accessible to those who might not have been able to stretch to the 22K asking price, and so have expanded the community in a positive way.

We'd all like 'the good old days' back, but the world is'nt like it anymore. IM wanted to sell cars, not pander to the owners pockets, so its no surprise they wanted to increase the quota.

In any case, if supply was restricted today people would just go off and buy a Civic type R, Evo etc etc. There's more choice for impreza alternatives today so restricting demand is counterproductive.

AR911

Sorry to twist the thread a bit but I've just been talking to some mates who would once have jumped at a Scooby but now would have some second thoughts for the following 3 reasons...

i) There didn't used to be ANYTHING for £20k that had a all the bits (turbo,4wd) and anything like the performance handling of an Impreza - but other manufacturers have caught up now with recent releases.
ii) The whole Gran Tourismo thing has got a bit old. Image matters.
iii) The early (imported) cars are now coming into the hands of the Nova crowd. Not just exotic and extreme looking, starting to get all a bit Max Power.

As far as I'm concerned for the money/equipment there's very little else I'd consider (hence being here) and the guys I was talking to would all still love to have an Sti7. I think those three points are valid though and that may drag prices down a little more compared to previous models ?

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Neil

Fair point mate but the cars may have come down in price but the cost to change is now greater, coupled to the fact that selling seems to be a pain.

I'm not particularly polically correct enough to care whether scoobs are now more accessible to the masses, in fact I preferred it that way. I don't care if people want to drive Hondas or Datsuns either, they can **** off AFAIC

I think IM were greedy and now some of the dealers who were good are suffering.

Yes, I can't get the good 'ol days back but I believe I can see where it all started to go down hill.

2 years ago I posted this http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?ThreadID=5162
Not exactly a hard prediction today but then it wasn't so clear. Seems I was right sadly.

F

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Hey I've just realised that P1 WR is in that thread

F

Ian E

iTrader: (1)

Consider getting a price on an EU import. After three years the difference in price between that and a UK supplied car will be minimal.

I bought my MY00 new in March 2000 for £15.5k and would guess its worth approx £12k ish now with 20k miles on it. You'd lose more than that driving a new Focus out of the showroom...

Motorpoint have the STis at 21k but I'm not sure if they're EU imports?

Cheers,

Ian.

KenG

The STI UK, Prodrive and standard versions, will keep their value percentage wise more than a straight WRX because of the rarity value alone. Remember though, you get nothing for the mods you add and more often than not it can aid depreciation, giving the impression you thrash the car (which of course you dont ).

My STI UK (I refuse to call it an STI 7, which it is not, there is no such a thing) will do around 50K miles in the 2 years I intend to keep it. I am prepared for the depreciation as I have been through similar mileages over two year periods with my last two Scoobs.

I bought this car to drive and enjoy, not to wash it every Sunday and put it back in the garage for the rest of the week. If you are worried about losing money on a car - use the bus!

Ken