Your most expensive car?

[Bren]

The most I have ever paid for a car was £5k for my audi a6. It was a lot ( at the time) for an 11 year old audi with a petrol engine - but it only had 50K and two owners. It didn't really float my boat and I am glad I never paid any more.

I am not really comfortable with spending large sums on a car knowing it will depreciate and cost you a lot to keep on the road. I am mindful that my 545 is 17 years old and I cannot work on cars like I used to - age, lack of time and family being the main factors - at some point it will have to be replaced and I am mindful I will probably need to spend more than £5k on its replacement.

 

[HMC]

23k.

2004 Land Rover 90 Td5 Xs new. I’ve since learnt the error of my ways; although I still do buy vehicles that were badly assembled- just not new or expensive ones.

[Sham]

Although we have had a 2019 Suzuki Vitara from new, we don't own it. I could never spend that amount of money on a car, and would never buy one outright from new - we went to look at a 4 year old one when we traded in a 2007 Focus but the deal on the new one was simply too good to turn down.

The most I've ever spent was £3k on the car I currently own, which was slightly over the odds for it - but its in immaculate condition. Bought almost a year ago, the 2010 Octavia 1.6CR TDi estate. Fantastic car that does everything well.

[Floatylight]

10k on a 3yr old Passat in 2001, sold for 4k two years later and bought a 2yr old Gooner 2, both financial disasters, haven't spent more than 5k since

[Dr_Slow]

In real, inflation-adjusted, terms my first car. A three and a half year old Alfa 33 1.5ie Sportiva with alloys, sun roof, electric windows etc. Bought in 1996 for about £3500. I'd just returned to the UK from working in Italy, passed my driving test and felt very rich at the time (thank you EU Gravy Train!). The insurance for a new driver in Birmingham was catastrophic (the wife's Maestro was much cheaper to insure, but then again we got it back both times it was stolen - too shite even for the thieves 🤣.) 

I was really fond of K948LHY, drove it all over Europe, took it with me when I decamped for a couple more years on the continent. It was totally rust free when some incompetent low lives caused so much damage breaking into it that it was written off  - locks on both front doors punted out, doors damaged and when that didn't get the doors open a broken back window. All that effort for a stereo without the removable front, some of my shittiest mixtapes and 37p in loose change...

Although I'm still tempted when I see a 33 for sale, I don't want to spoil rose-tinted memories...

[D.E]

My first car was by far the most expensive, actually. 1250 euros, in 2009. All others were significantly cheaper (second Kadett 800 euros in 2011, Volvo 480 700 euros in 2016, Peugeot 205 140 euros in 2020). Only scenario in which I can see myself spending a much larger sum on a car if it's an older classic, the ones you simply can't find for bargain bin prices. Paying tens of thousands for a modern car? Certainly not.

[New POD]

In real terms?  As a percentage of income? 

£1850 In 1990 on a Metro Turbo

£2k in 1993 on a mk2 Cav 1.6 GL 

£5K in 2011 on a 2.2 Diesel Accord. 

I wish I'd kept the first 2.

And current car. 

£8k in 2021 on an Astra 1.4T Auto GTC 

[sierraman]

£1800. 

[Inspector Morose]

Expensive when I bought it? - a few.

Expensive just after I sold it? - bloody loads.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

The CX, by a long way.....and that's before you add on the cost of the repairs / rectification that were subsequently needed.

[Shite Ron]

The most I have paid for a  car for myself was £10,000 in 2001 for my TVR. This was an exception though as I had a  Cortina Ghia that cost me £180 which had been my daily for 3 years at that point, I had just finished refurbishing my house and realised I had spent more on unimportant things around the house than my car which is the most important item we purchase. This was a one off though as I always try to buy cars for less than a weeks wages. I have had to stretch to a bit more in the last ten years for the Cortina’s and Granada’s but not over £4,500 which seemed extravagant.  For the first Mondeo I bought for work I paid nearly £8,000 for a Ghia estate, partly as I was not sure of the rules for opting out and partly as I wanted to soften the blow of not driving a Cortina daily. Although it seemed a ridiculous amount the Company car allowance replenished me in full over the four years it lasted before major engine failure. For the replacement I went more downmarket and bought a Mondeo Zetec hatch from Blackbush auctions for £6,000 which was dull but faultless for over 4 years until I left the company so although expensive it more than paid for itself. I am a skinflint but also prefer driving older cars and not having to worry if they get scratched etc. also insurance and service parts are cheaper.

[Datsuncog]

This heap of abysmal shit.

An Alfa Romeo 156 JTD Veloce. Eight years old, and £1,500 off a friend - still the most I've ever spunked on a car. I can't believe I let my bombproof Volvo 240 estate go for this be-spoilered twatmobile. I don't know what I was thinking.

Everything broke, including the door handle so I couldn't get into the bastard, and despite recent receipts for work to the turbo, it proved woefully gutless.

A jaunt to Dublin not long after picking it up resulted in the radiator blowing out all the coolant on the way down, and a brake line pissing out all the brake fluid on the way back. That pretty much set the tone.

The fuel tank half-fell out (again, on the motorway) when the straps rusted through, and the idiot climate control had a mind of its own, including constant binging ice warnings all through the summer.

I spent about nine months low-key hating this car, before the gearbox shat itself and then I discovered that not only was the underside massively corroded, but there was an oil slick coursing down the back of the block - so much so that I didn't even try to fix it or MOT it. Even the scrapman didn't fancy it, and WeBuyAnyCar offered me a desultory £181 - provided I delivered it over to Mallusk. After a year or so in disgrace down the side of the house, I swapped it for a bashed-up Phase 1 Laguna RN, which was everything a car should be.

Perhaps the most distressing part is that out of all the cars I've owned, this is the only one that still survives, somehow... last seen recently in a black wrap, on Facebook Marketplace...

My preference for buying old nails is about the £600 - 800 mark - if it turns out that it's a total shed, I can just about afford to swallow that kind of loss. The Alfa was my first stab at a newer, more expensive, proper grown-up kind of car, and it fucked me over.

[Bren]

14 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

The CX, by a long way.....and that's before you add on the cost of the repairs / rectification that was subsequently needed.

My 545 cost me £4350. I have spent over half that again on servicing / repairs and some paint that was not really necessary. If it was a four pot petrol or diesel I would have bailed out but the anonymous looks and the V8 lump make it ( to me anyway ) still something a bit " special."

[artdjones]

€6000 on a 4year old Mègane Estate in 2017, which I think was an ex Chubb UK service engineer's vehicle.It had 188k km on the clock and the EML on. The owner told me the light was caused by the glow plug relay not working, which I knew was unlikely to be true. However, it ran so well and was so cheap it was worth a punt . It turned out to have a faulty exhaust air flap. What's that?, you may ask. It's a throttle body in the exhaust which when closed still allows some gases through, but helps the cat to warm up. It stays fully open most of the time the car is running. I got the relevant exhaust part from a low mileage car for €120 and turned the light out. It's done over 80k Kms since and all that's been replaced, apart from routine items, is front shocks, one top mount and the rear number plate lights.It does 1000-1100 kms to a tank and has turned out a good buy, which is a relief,as it cost nearly twice the previous car, and four time the one before that.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I had a few years of impulsive car buying that messed things up a lot. And that led to the most expensive car purchase 2011 VW Caddy van bought when was 4 years old owned it for a year but had to sell since is modern VAG so there was always something and the car was far too unreliable. Will not talk about the money hurts too much. But it took 2 years to financially recover from it. But was an educational experience and is the reason why I have a Hyundai i10 now as I will never want to experience anything like it again. And that episode intensified my dislike for almost all modern cars.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

5 minutes ago, Bren said:

My 545 cost me £4350. I have spent over half that again on servicing / repairs and some paint that was not really necessary. ....

I think I have spent at least double on repairs what I paid for the car in the first place. There was a period where, having had something fixed, I was in fact just waiting for the next thing to go wrong, followed by a big bill.....

[Bren]

1 minute ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I think I have spent at least double on repairs what I paid for the car in the first place. There was a period where, having had something fixed, I was in fact just waiting for the next thing to go wrong, followed by a big bill.....

No such thing as a cheap CX. I remember 40 years my mate's parents having a P reg one in a copper colour. I saw a majorette one the same colour and bought it. Sadly that is as close as I will come to owning a CX.

[dozeydustman]

£1800 for my first Scimitar. Most I’ve ever spent on a car.

[Stroller133]

£17750 for our Tourneo Custom, which we will have had for 3 years next month.  I've just had a quick look on Autotrader and it seems that's what the same year example are currently selling for! 

[myglaren]

£4000 for my first C5, an estate.  It was probably ten years old then.

[crad]

1250 quid honda aerodeck. kept for a month, only doing a couple journeys, one to heathrow. great fun with vtec but my 600 quid clio is cheaper to run and i dont need an estate, prohibitive 2 car insurance as well.

edit: saying that ive spent probably 2-3k on the clio

Edited September 25, 2021 by crad
have spent on the clio though

[Yoss]

Are we counting buses? 

If so this cost me £9k in 1989, bought jointly with a couple of friends. We sold it six years later at a considerable loss due to it needing an engine rebuild. I then bought it back again in 2006 for £12,500. Then sold it again in 2019 but this time I doubled my money. This far outweighed the loss we made first time round so I came out on top after 30 years. 

If we're not counting buses the car in front of it cost me £2100 in 2012 which was probably a bit too much at the time but I just loved the colour. Had it five years with very few problems so not actually a bad investment but double what I've paid for any other car before or since. 

[JJ0063]

Just shy of 10 grand for an 18 month old 1.7 CDTI Astra J. Shithouse of a car. Luckily the receptionist broke data protection and gave all my contact info out to the bloke who bought the Vectra  at auction that I’d part ex’d so to prevent me taking it further they took the Astra back and gave me a 3 year old BMW 320D. I did very well out of their blunder.

[PrinceRupert]

28k on the tvr. I justify it by saying it shouldnt depreciate and the other cars are dirt cheap...

[GMcD]

2015. £7500 on a 58 plate Mazda 3 MPS.

Lovely car but didn't have it long, it went back to the Mazda dealer 2 months later.

[Bren]

4 minutes ago, Gerrymcd said:

2015. £7500 on a 58 plate Mazda 3 MPS.

Lovely car but didn't have it long, it went back to the Mazda dealer 2 months later.

The 2.3 turbo?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

8 minutes ago, Gerrymcd said:

2015. £7500 on a 58 plate Mazda 3 MPS.

Lovely car but didn't have it long, it went back to the Mazda dealer 2 months later.

My brother-in-law had one for a few years. He liked it, but it was a bit thirsty...

[Bradders59]

June 1979 when I was 19. Bought a  6 month old Chevette HS for £5000. Then paid £636 to insure it third party only.

Put it in a ditch 6 months later and paid £1200 to have it repaired.

Had an insurance claim from a bike accident. Could have bought a house but spent over half of it on the above.

Youth - its wasted on the young. 

[hairnet]

The mx5 - actually no 800 for the panda of spinnage

Never spent more than a grand on a car in 30 years

I'm not that crazy

New motorcycles yes cars no

[GMcD]

13 minutes ago, Bren said:

The 2.3 turbo?

Yup. It was amazing for overtaking on A roads. Trips for work to Campbeltown were extremely enjoyable in the short time I had it. 

8 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

My brother-in-law had one for a few years. He liked it, but it was a bit thirsty...

Super unleaded only.  I was averaging 35mpg which compared to the 28 mpg of the V70 T5 that replaced it wasn't bad going.