True cost of maintaining a sports car? GTR, Z, Merc SLK

[didie]

They are all fantastic and have their own characteristics.
And I believe the cost of maintenance relatively higher than any daily driven cars such as Sentra, etc..etc..

 

[goldwave84]

Izso,
Spot on with yr points. Yes, I am not going to shout out "Im buying a sports car!" for the sake of it, but I do know that in the event of a bad purchase, bills run up fast. Had a chance to see an SLK this afternoon, sweet ride. I'm still months away from putting the money down, so I have time to do my research etc etc.

 

[kaninbu]

Don't get the brand new Audi TT, at that price you can get a good recond Audi TTS instead. That's what my cousin brother did.
He find that if I can get a better spec version TT, why waste on a brand new TT with lower performance than the TTS

but some ppl wants virgin mah..2nd got loose screw hole

 

[cvkit17]

Well I do believe that one does not has to be filthy rich to own a sports car. Owning one is a leisure and a commitment like owning a normal car. It's like a dude who has been riding motorcycle and now he has better income and wants to own a car and ask the price of buying and maintaining one. If we are to compare the cost of having a kapchai and a car, the phrase "if you have to ask, you cant afford one" does apply but in my opinion it doesnt really make a point. In the end, that dude still can buy a car and maintain it and still, make ends meet.

If you dont know anything at all, you wont do anything at all

So...yeah, TS's effort is good to avoid any uneccessary bang to the wall. So lets share more experience of owning a sports car coz i'm also very interested in knowing although i am pretty sure i cant afford one, now. ^^

 

[kaninbu]

yea..struggling to making meet end.i din know paying thru nose is a leisure.no 5 figure salary or rich dad behind better dun even think bout sports car...

gtr 20++
370 30++
slk 40++

aged thru car...man

 

[ColdPlay]

So from what I gather, the GTR will cost me 2.5k a month to maintain. How much does a full service cost? A new set of tires?

Is the 370z significantly cheaper?

A set of oem brake or turbo replacement is close to rm18k. The factory standard Bridgestone RFT cost around rm3,xxx /pc new. Full service is much depend on the engine oil, differential and transmission fluid. Cheapest package available is around rm1,xxx.
370Z are of NA engine so it has lesser headache on maintaining, as minus the turbo.
I don't think ETCM bring in the GTR. Mostly are grey imports but should be well taken care of by the owner.
Here is a catch : a year 2008 GTR cost about the same with new ETCM's 370Z. Just a matter of
how much power you need for your weekend ride. 370Z is of course still qualify as a daily ride while the R35 just keep grumbling in the traffic jam...lol.

Btw, Its a good idea to do a homework before purchasing one as we'll very much prepare to face an unexpected thing happens during the ownership. I've had a friend working in O&G industry. When he asked for an opinion on maintenance and ownership cost on a STi, he keep getting replies like "...if you asked, you can't afford it..." He hook up with few STi owner and had the last laugh.
Of course, questions like RX-8 on NGV or GTR on Ron95 is an exception .

 

[stupidcar]

A set of oem brake or turbo replacement is close to rm18k. The factory standard Bridgestone RFT cost around rm3,xxx /pc new. Full service is much depend on the engine oil, differential and transmission fluid. Cheapest package available is around rm1,xxx.
370Z are of NA engine so it has lesser headache on maintaining, as minus the turbo.
I don't think ETCM bring in the GTR. Mostly are grey imports but should be well taken care of by the owner.
Here is a catch : a year 2008 GTR cost about the same with new ETCM's 370Z. Just a matter of
how much power you need for your weekend ride. 370Z is of course still qualify as a daily ride while the R35 just keep grumbling in the traffic jam...lol.

Btw, Its a good idea to do a homework before purchasing one as we'll very much prepare to face an unexpected thing happens during the ownership. I've had a friend working in O&G industry. When he asked for an opinion on maintenance and ownership cost on a STi, he keep getting replies like "...if you asked, you can't afford it..." He hook up with few STi owner and had the last laugh.
Of course, questions like RX-8 on NGV or GTR on Ron95 is an exception .

GTR on 16 inch rims and 4pot rotors. :hahaha:

 

[goldwave84]

Thx Coldplay! Yes, I really feel that an educated purchase goes a long way. I am kinda removing GTR from the list, only because of the maintenance costs. From what you wrote, I can tour the whole of Asia for that price of brakes! lol! Tell me more about the STi owner? What positives and negatives did he face?

 

[RENESIS VIII]

Don't get the brand new Audi TT, at that price you can get a good recond Audi TTS instead. That's what my cousin brother did.
He find that if I can get a better spec version TT, why waste on a brand new TT with lower performance than the TTS

If possible, aim TTRS better. But even if you drive TTRS on outside, common people would thought or say something like 'Apalah, TT saje. Ape nak berlagak' or 'Look, here's another noob with cheap Audi sports car'. Same case for people who owns genuine AMG or BMW M cars. Not many recognizes their potential and power.

I once encountered a genuine BMW X6M and nobody gives a damn about the car at all. Every passerby just simply ignores it. In another case at another time, I saw a Z4 before passing by and parked at a nearby parking lot It somehow managed to grab the attention of many people who are sitting in a nearby restaurant.

 

[ColdPlay]

GTR on 16 inch rims and 4pot rotors. :hahaha:

Yeah! I remember even the cheap Achilles ATR Sports comes into consideration...lol.
Perhaps, that is what happened when people doesn't do enough homework. End up with a lot of unnecessary idea along the ownership like tyres and brake downgrade, turbo downgrade, NGV and Ron95 question which really kill the purpose of owning a supercar...lol.

Thx Coldplay! Yes, I really feel that an educated purchase goes a long way. I am kinda removing GTR from the list, only because of the maintenance costs. From what you wrote, I can tour the whole of Asia for that price of brakes! lol! Tell me more about the STi owner? What positives and negatives did he face?

Don't give up yet as I am not a GTR owner. Just sharing based on experience while hanging around with those lucky people who own 'em. Cost may cheaper now as you've got much more option on spares to choose from!
Well, he did share a couple of feedback with the best advice he got was from a guy who owned 2 Scooby. "buy new as most of the scooby out there are quite in abused condition...".
In fact, we went to few dealer to check out the car and true enough, we managed to get a round in the premises (he drove an IS250 to work, so, I guess its easier to get a test drive) but most are not in good state. One had a cylinder dead, another had a badly worn out brake and jam caliper. Not to mentioned other wear and tear parts.
He end up with spanking new one from Motorimage...almost at the price of the softer BRZ or FT86!
The non-hatchback 2.5T STi with huge spoiler may not be a chick magnet, but at a little over rm260k, the boxer grunt from the 6 speed manual plus AWD configuration is just too hard to resist.

 

[sagaevo]

Well said Izso and ColdPlay....

To goldwave84....choose wisely and hope your dream sports car will be your pride and right selection...

 

[viperxs]

You need to select the model that you in love with then it won't be so hard. When you start to be calculative on things that is when things would go sour in the end. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be calculative but it should come from the heart.
Example, if you own a sports car that you love, changing a front brake set might cost you around 20K but because of love then you wouldn't mind. If you were to do it on a car that you don't love, even small things like loose screws gonna make you scream your heart out.
Let me put it in a different perspective. How many of us had their wives or girlfriends scolding them and swearing at other halves and yet at the end of the day we still love them to bits? How many of us had the opportunity for a hot girl to ridicule, scream and yell at us just for us to yell and scream back to them? Or maybe we won't do much until we get the juicy bits taste then dump them by the roadside?
Most of us doesn't have the luxury of buying the car that we fancies at the blink of our eyes. If you fall under the same category as that then my advice to you is to see all the car and see what you love about them. Once you fell in love with one of model that you fancy then the right next step IMHO is to check out other same model elsewhere and see which one would be in the best condition and won't require much maintenance. If you are doing it for love then you would try your very best to source cheaper parts and cheaper skilled labor as well. If you are buying for the sake of owning any sports car for other reasons then you would be changing it soon enough to a different sports car if you have the dough or start to regret your purchase. Those that I know of owning one since nearly 8 years back, most of them still have the same one. Some have the money to get a different sports car but they are either buy a different one without letting go of the existing or just simply keep the existing one.
Those that I know of that had to sell theirs would be for valid reason like getting married, buying a house, getting bigger car due to expanded family etc. It's tough love but when you got something bigger then you would have to choose sometimes.
I would love to have for example RX7 FD because of curvaceous body shape that no other RX8 can beat. It's an old car yes, but the design makes me drool at times. People choose cars due to love can be various reasons.
My point is fell in love with the car first. Everything else should come naturally. I've fitted my Kancil with a Japan Falken simply cos I love the car so much. It's a stock normal Kancil, no bling-bling and no hello kitty stuff yet I love her to bits. I even came to a point of having a Volk rims specially imported from Japan to be fitted but thank god my better half advised me of doing such. It's slow and underpowered car but yet my heart filled with joy whenever I drove her out. See with love you can really go the extra mile.
Mainly those that advised you above are not merely car owners but car enthusiast. With car owners you might get a normal one page report on normal maintenance but with car enthusiast, god knows how long they can go on and on. Some might change rims every time they change tires and that's part of their maintenance regime.
If you insist on having a rule of thumb then maybe something along the line, if you can pay the monthly (with min d/p calculation e.g RM2K monthly) and you can afford the maintenance (monthly times 2 e.g RM4K) and you can afford to have major issues (monthly times 10 since god know what would break next e.g RM20K) then you are all set. Those numbers are my ceiling ballpark figure so it might be way lower or higher.

 

[stupidcar]

If possible, aim TTRS better. But even if you drive TTRS on outside, common people would thought or say something like 'Apalah, TT saje. Ape nak berlagak' or 'Look, here's another noob with cheap Audi sports car'. Same case for people who owns genuine AMG or BMW M cars. Not many recognizes their potential and power.

I once encountered a genuine BMW X6M and nobody gives a damn about the car at all. Every passerby just simply ignores it. In another case at another time, I saw a Z4 before passing by and parked at a nearby parking lot It somehow managed to grab the attention of many people who are sitting in a nearby restaurant.

Typical people.
Only a real man can really appreciate what a car is all about.
Take Evo for example, everyone think its just a 4 door car that is lousily tuned on the road.
They wont know its a track car.
And also its a japanese, even GTR or LFA many girls/typical person won't appreciate it.
They only know VW, Benz, BMW, Ferrari, Lambo. Damn branding.

 

[pwhyze]

If possible, aim TTRS better. But even if you drive TTRS on outside, common people would thought or say something like 'Apalah, TT saje. Ape nak berlagak' or 'Look, here's another noob with cheap Audi sports car'. Same case for people who owns genuine AMG or BMW M cars. Not many recognizes their potential and power.

I once encountered a genuine BMW X6M and nobody gives a damn about the car at all. Every passerby just simply ignores it. In another case at another time, I saw a Z4 before passing by and parked at a nearby parking lot It somehow managed to grab the attention of many people who are sitting in a nearby restaurant.

Which is not really a bad thing. Some go for an AMG or an M car precisely because they don't attract as much attention as traditional sports cars. Not everybody wants to be the center of attention rockstar.

 

[RENESIS VIII]

Typical people.
Only a real man can really appreciate what a car is all about.
Take Evo for example, everyone think its just a 4 door car that is lousily tuned on the road.
They wont know its a track car.
And also its a japanese, even GTR or LFA many girls/typical person won't appreciate it.
They only know VW, Benz, BMW, Ferrari, Lambo. Damn branding.

True, many people thought that Evo or Impreza WRX STI is just some sort of souped up car. My mother once told me that Evo (CT9A chassis) looked like some modified Waja, LOL .

LFA does look very good. But if you tell them that the price is more expensive than a 458 Italia or Aventador, for sure people would say that the Ferrari and Lambo is a better choice.

I once showed some girls a picture of Subaru Impreza WRX STI Sedan (GVB). And they replied to me "What ugly car is this with that ugly looking wing behind. Mini Cooper looks a lot better" =__=
It feels kinda like if you drive a new Impreza WRX STI and fetch a girl, the girl most probably won't be impressed by you. Instead, if you arrive inside a Mini Cooper, the girl is probably very impressed with you. Imagine, Impreza WRX STI is more expensive than a Mini Cooper and yet most people are not impressed with you.

I've once made a joke about FD2R Civic Type R. If you have a FD2R and you fetch people who don't know about cars, they would probably tell you "Eh, why your Civic manual one? So troublesome la. Why your Civic exhaust so bising and noisy one? Why your Civic don't feel comfortable (stiff suspension)? Why your Civic had these weird seats instead of leather seats? And you pay RM200k for all this nonsense? Buy standard 2.0 Civic better la. Got auto and more comfortable."
This is what I expect many people (especially girls) would say if you give them a ride in FD2R.

Which is not really a bad thing. Some go for an AMG or an M car precisely because they don't attract as much attention as traditional sports cars. Not everybody wants to be the center of attention rockstar.

AMG, M car and Audi RS cars are having supercar performance. Seriously if you ask me, I feel more excited if I met these cars on the road compared to Ferrari or Lambo. For example, S65 AMG had more power inside it's hood than a SLS AMG but most people out there can't even recognize a real S65 AMG even if it is in front of them. But if an SLS appears, for sure everyone will be looking.

 

[stupidcar]

True, many people thought that Evo or Impreza WRX STI is just some sort of souped up car. My mother once told me that Evo (CT9A chassis) looked like some modified Waja, LOL .

LFA does look very good. But if you tell them that the price is more expensive than a 458 Italia or Aventador, for sure people would say that the Ferrari and Lambo is a better choice.

I once showed some girls a picture of Subaru Impreza WRX STI Sedan (GVB). And they replied to me "What ugly car is this with that ugly looking wing behind. Mini Cooper looks a lot better" =__=
It feels kinda like if you drive a new Impreza WRX STI and fetch a girl, the girl most probably won't be impressed by you. Instead, if you arrive inside a Mini Cooper, the girl is probably very impressed with you. Imagine, Impreza WRX STI is more expensive than a Mini Cooper and yet most people are not impressed with you.

I've once made a joke about FD2R Civic Type R. If you have a FD2R and you fetch people who don't know about cars, they would probably tell you "Eh, why your Civic manual one? So troublesome la. Why your Civic exhaust so bising and noisy one? Why your Civic don't feel comfortable (stiff suspension)? Why your Civic had these weird seats instead of leather seats? And you pay RM200k for all this nonsense? Buy standard 2.0 Civic better la. Got auto and more comfortable."
This is what I expect many people (especially girls) would say if you give them a ride in FD2R.



AMG, M car and Audi RS cars are having supercar performance. Seriously if you ask me, I feel more excited if I met these cars on the road compared to Ferrari or Lambo. For example, S65 AMG had more power inside it's hood than a SLS AMG but most people out there can't even recognize a real S65 AMG even if it is in front of them. But if an SLS appears, for sure everyone will be looking.

Luckily my girlfriend believed in me.
But she has a set of taste too, especially Beetle.
Although I gotta admit it looked pretty awesome.
We crave for spec, they crave for styling.
That's all.

 

[pwhyze]

If I saw an M5 and 458 side by side, my eye would definitely be drawn to the stallion.

Noise wise, few can get close to a supercar given the full beans, German uberwagens included. Hearing a Ferrari's scream would definitely make my day.

 

[RENESIS VIII]

If I saw an M5 and 458 side by side, my eye would definitely be drawn to the stallion.

Noise wise, few can get close to a supercar given the full beans, German uberwagens included. Hearing a Ferrari's scream would definitely make my day.

Italian cars are famous for being loud. But being loud doesn't guarantee performance against the Germans.

 

[pwhyze]

Of course, never said it did.

 

[ColdPlay]

Italian cars are famous for being loud. But being loud doesn't guarantee performance against the Germans.

Exactly! But traditionally, the Italians are famous for being exotic. The badge alone is a head turner. Even when some people decide to stick the badge on Proton, people will take a pic of it an post around .
I hate to say this but by being cheap and still managed to stay ahead of those exotics offering, the GTR aka R35 actually set the benchmark and awakened the traditional giant like Ferrari and Porsche.

Btw, buying any car is more of an individual preference. Some prefer the exotic badge of Lambos, Zondas or Ferraris or the Porsches. Some other prefer the prestige in Ms, AMGs, Bentley or Rs. Other prefer the brutality of GTR and Venoms. Some other emphasize on handling against raw power and decided to have fun in MRs, Elise or MXs and the rest settled for loud turbo spooling in Scooby and Evos .
Choose one which suit your driving style, then, budget . I was choosing driving style over budget as you could have few car with different badges and driving configuration within budget range.