Most petrolhead fun for £10k per year?

[Inspectorclueso]

After hitting 50 this year, I was contemplating a change of car. Currently using an M4 which I like, does most things, but did think about something more special. However, I'm increasingly not bothered about owning things, I'm more into enjoying experiences.

So this got me thinking, if you were to dedicate around £10k per year to car related experiences / fun, what would you go for ?

Some thoughts I have:
- Buy more of an occasion car, £10k set aside to run it (I can put in around £60k on top of the M4) E.g 570s looks viable. I love drives out across Wales / snowdonia, etc...It would get used. Or possibly 612 Scaglietti for road trips with my two lads.
- Track car, with funds to run it, book days, possibly get racing licence. E.g. Caterham / Exige type of things. This removes some of the frustration and risk of driving on public roads.
- Don't buy anything, just hire some decent cars, including track days with hire (The excesses though bother me)
- Not sure I can think of anything else, hence asking !

To be clear, I don't want to spend much time building a car or fixing one. If it was a classic, I'm not sure what I would actually do with it. I don't really want a brand new car, as I can't think of anything in the price range that appeals.

[robemcdonald]

Congratulations on being in that position.

If it were me I think I’d be ultimately happier with something like a cayman, alpine, emira or 4C over a McLaren.

If it was going to be something to hammer, but still be reliable it would be the Cayman / Boxster 4.0 GTS with a manual gearbox.

Edited by robemcdonald on Wednesday 12th June 16:32

[ChocolateFrog]

Not sure if that stretches to a 458 but that's what I'd do.

Peak sports car for me.

[Jon39]

Certainly an occasion, beautiful and well within your budget.

[PoorCarCollector]

Jon39 said:

Certainly an occasion, beautiful and well within your budget.

Really not much 'fun' though to own. I had a 2006 V8V from new, sounded great with fuse 22 removed, that was about it, far better (quicker and more fun) cars out there now for £10k a year. It did get lots of positive general public comments, if that's your thing.....

Edited by PoorCarCollector on Wednesday 12th June 16:40

[jimmytheone]

Inspectorclueso said:

After hitting 50 this year...[snipped for brevity]...
- Track car, with funds to run it, book days, possibly get racing licence. E.g. Caterham / Exige type of things. This removes some of the frustration and risk of driving on public roads.
- Don't buy anything, just hire some decent cars, including track days with hire (The excesses though bother me)
- Not sure I can think of anything else, hence asking !

To be clear, I don't want to spend much time building a car or fixing one. If it was a classic, I'm not sure what I would actually do with it. I don't really want a brand new car, as I can't think of anything in the price range that appeals.

Id' suggest track days or variations of, eg
- Caterham academy
- Palmersport days
- Trackday car hire (where they supply everything and you simply turn up and thrash it), including European tracks
- Phil Price rally school (i've not done it but wish i had)
- ALL OF THE ABOVE - £10k gets you loads of experiences, variety being the spice of life 'n'all

[Rob_F]

Interesting question because i've looked at it the same way in terms of bang for buck.

I don't, however, think buying a 570s is only going to cost you 10k/annum if you intend to use it properly, once you consider buy/sell spread, depreciation, warranty and maintenance, insurance, etc. If you then intend to track it that figure would go up again.

I've recently bought an MX5 with the express intention of using it in the Bristol MX5 championship which means doing 4 hillclimbs, 4 sprints and 4 autosolos over the course of the year. That is well within budget - probably cost 4k for the year?

So I have done that, and if I was spending another 6k why not:
- Nurburgring and hire a Rent4Ring swift for a day (say 8 laps - total cost for trip 2k?)
- Palmersport day (1k ish)
- Hire a caterham for the day (500 quid ish)
- RSR spa track day and hire a car (2.5kish?)

I reckon that would be a pretty fun year - covers off about 20 days spread throughout the day plus an mx5 track/fun car to use for the odd blast.

[Ken_Code]

Rob_F said:

Interesting question because i've looked at it the same way in terms of bang for buck.

I don't, however, think buying a 570s is only going to cost you 10k/annum if you intend to use it properly, once you consider buy/sell spread, depreciation, warranty and maintenance, insurance, etc. If you then intend to track it that figure would go up again.

I think that it could if he intends to own it for three or four years. My 650s Spider has cost me less than that over the five years I’ve owned it.

[soad]

Rent4Ring no longer offers Swift. Replaced by a Mini Cooper S: https://www.rent4ring.de/en/rentals-for-the-nordsc...

[Rob_F]

Ken_Code said:

Rob_F said:

Interesting question because i've looked at it the same way in terms of bang for buck.

I don't, however, think buying a 570s is only going to cost you 10k/annum if you intend to use it properly, once you consider buy/sell spread, depreciation, warranty and maintenance, insurance, etc. If you then intend to track it that figure would go up again.

I think that it could if he intends to own it for three or four years. My 650s Spider has cost me less than that over the five years I’ve owned it.

That's good going, and an awesome car! I was trying to work out costs of having something in that sort of league (100k-ish) and worked out:
- Cost of capital, either finance or missed interest in the bank: 5k p/a (roughly 5%)
- Maintenance and warranty - estimate 5k p/a all in including consumables
- Insurance - 1.5k p/a?
- Depreciation and buy/sell spread over 3 years estimated 30k so 10k p/a.

So I was thinking it'd be more in the 20k p/a ballpark to run a 100k supercar (or specifically GT3 I was thinking). I think most people might miss either the financing costs or cost to change? Don't want to cause a thread de-rail so early on but if you've made another thread on your car ownership i'd be interested!

Rob

[Ken_Code]

Rob_F said:

That's good going, and an awesome car! I was trying to work out costs of having something in that sort of league (100k-ish) and worked out:
- Cost of capital, either finance or missed interest in the bank: 5k p/a (roughly 5%)
- Maintenance and warranty - estimate 5k p/a all in including consumables
- Insurance - 1.5k p/a?
- Depreciation and buy/sell spread over 3 years estimated 30k so 10k p/a.

So I was thinking it'd be more in the 20k p/a ballpark to run a 100k supercar (or specifically GT3 I was thinking). I think most people might miss either the financing costs or cost to change? Don't want to cause a thread de-rail so early on but if you've made another thread on your car ownership i'd be interested!

Rob

I may have been fortunate, but depreciation for me has been zero.

[plenty]

Inspectorclueso said:

I'm increasingly not bothered about owning things, I'm more into enjoying experiences.

I'm with you on that one. And I find that diminishing returns kick in very quickly if you subscribe to this philosophy. None of my toy cars cost me more than £10k to buy. All three of them combined cost considerably less than £10k to run per year, including depreciation. I could comfortably own a £100k car, but don't feel a need to. I'd rather have that capital earning me money.

As long as I'm driving a car of a minimum standard (for which me is adequately covered at the £10k level), my enjoyment doesn't come from the car - it comes from how I use it. In my case that means meticulously-planned road trips: solo, with the wife, and in convoy with friends.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Jon39 said:

Certainly an occasion, beautiful and well within your budget.

Is it just me but when I see one of these I immediately think slight over weight middle aged man, balding with a James Bond Fetish. Probably wears red trousers at the weekend, probably wears an Omega watch and takes pictures of it on his wrist in the car with the Aston Badge showing for the Watches thread.

[Ken_Code]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Is it just me but when I see one of these I immediately think slight over weight middle aged man, balding with a James Bond Fetish. Probably wears red trousers at the weekend, probably wears an Omega watch and takes pictures of it on his wrist in the car with the Aston Badge showing for the Watches thread.

Yes, it’s just you. Reacting like that to a nice car, on a car forum, suggests that you have some issues to work through.

Given your disdain for Aston Martins, what do you drive instead?

[ZX10R NIN]

Sell the M4 & buy yourself an Emira, they'll do track work with ease & they're more than special enough.
They drive so well & are really worth a test drive I like the A110 but the V6 trumps the inline 4.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202403137...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405229...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406060...

Now as an alternative to the above the Mclaren 12C is something really special:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405260...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405290...

Another overlooked car is the C8 Corvette, as long as it has the Z51 pack it'll beast track days & long journeys.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406080...

[Resolutionary]

F-Type R. An early facelift with the naughtier exhaust from factory.

[CABC]

I'd certainly endorse putting experiences and variety into the mix. Palmer, Rally, Karting, Thruxton Experience, Porsche Experience, Hire cars (Bespokes et al), Caterham Drift, CAT. Track days with your own or a hire car should be considered. I did a hill climb course recently, a thoroughly petrolhead experience and quite different to a track day.

spending all funds on one car is rarely the best petrolhead decision, it rather panders to the materialist / consumerist in us. OP clearly sees this too. spending several '000 per year on experiences is good value I think and provides more context to the cars you own and enjoy.

[Inspectorclueso]

Thanks so much for the replies and food for thought, just browsing over the morning cuppa - some great suggestions !

I should have been more clear about options if I did change the car, I wouldn't expect depreciation to be part of that £10k, I'd just have to buy as wisely as I can and then take it on the chin if I did move it on in a few years... The £10k is more 'in year' to enjoy it or experiences

Some great shouts re the RSR days, I have often looked at these, and the Palmersport. Seems like two of the best hassle free experiences out there.

To get things rolling, I'm off on a 3 day road trip to North Wales and Anglesey with mates and my 17 year old son this weekend in my current M4. A great mix of cars, from relatively new mainly German stuff, to 90's Jap stuff and an MGB. Which we'll have to stop and wait for a few times ! Like a few people say, it's not about what you drive, more about what you do, where you go and with who.