Will a decent £25K Evora be realistic in the next 2 years?

[daveofedinburgh]

Hello all,

New to the forum, so please excuse any faux pas I make!

Im currently a trainee Optometrist, and will (hopefully) be fully qualified by September 2018.

I plan on treating myself to a 'proper' drivers' car that I can actually do 5-6000 spring/ summer miles in every year once qualified. Not looking at a true daily driver then, but not far off either...

I have set myself a budget of ~£25000.

Until recently, I was looking at 997 911s which are plentiful at ~£25K. I am however having a major rethink after seeing an Evora in the flesh, which rekindled my Lotus curiosity! Also wary of the bork issues that plagued many of the 996/997 generation 911s...

As far as values go, early 2009 cars seem to be available from ~£27500 at the moment. Im looking at buying in 18-24 months time- what do owners' believe Evora values will do (if anything) in this time?

I also understand that 09 launch cars had some build quality issues in the cabin- worth holding out for a 2010 onwards? Im aware for this budget I will be looking at a naturally aspirated car.

Any help you experts can provide will be greatly appreciated!

[CocoPops]

It's possible, there have already been cars sub £25k, but they do have 80/90/100k miles.

So, you pays your money and takes your chances

 

[Colin P]

It's not massively wide of the mark. £25K is trade in territory for nice cars. It's not really moved much in the last 3 years. So it is possible that £25K will get a decent car in a couple of years as a private buy, but I think more likely a better option would be to try and stretch the budget a little.

Buy on condition and care - not model year. Any build issues are likely to have been ironed out by previous owner. If not - probably best avoid anyway.

[daveofedinburgh]

Thanks CocoPops and Colin P,

Theres a ~£25K 2010 car for sale at the moment with around 60K miles;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-Lotus-Evora-3-5-V6-VVT-i-2-2-FSH-Sport-Tech-Premium-/322403347612?hash=item4b10bcac9c:g:NwsAAOSwUKxYilfU

No obvious 'walk aways', to my untrained eye at least...

Various cars available for not much more on AT with sensible miles too.

Im aware of how well these hold their prices, but havent been watching them for long so interested to see if experts feel they are close to 'bottoming out'.

Great to hear that model year isnt too much of a concern- I always look at condition/ history as first priority anyway.

Am I correct in saying the only really expensive common 'issue' is the clutch at £3K+? 

 

 

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Some of those early cars will be 10 years old by then. It would be amazing to think they still hold about 50% of their list price after such a long time. Most cars end up on a council estate after that much time.

[Stuno1]

23 minutes ago, daveofedinburgh said:

Thanks CocoPops and Colin P,

Theres a ~£25K 2010 car for sale at the moment with around 60K miles;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-Lotus-Evora-3-5-V6-VVT-i-2-2-FSH-Sport-Tech-Premium-/322403347612?hash=item4b10bcac9c:g:NwsAAOSwUKxYilfU

No obvious 'walk aways', to my untrained eye at least...

Various cars available for not much more on AT with sensible miles too.

Im aware of how well these hold their prices, but havent been watching them for long so interested to see if experts feel they are close to 'bottoming out'.

Great to hear that model year isnt too much of a concern- I always look at condition/ history as first priority anyway.

Am I correct in saying the only really expensive common 'issue' is the clutch at £3K+? 

 

 

That one has been discussed as well I think? Did it not have a lot of stone chip damage and pretty want interior? Nothing that can't be remedied. Buying at the bottom end will likely mean some work will be needed even if it is just a respray of some areas. Depends how picky you are and 2 years is a long time and you may have more money by then. 

[Bibs]

27 minutes ago, daveofedinburgh said:

havent been watching them for long so interested to see if experts feel they are close to 'bottoming out'

They pretty much bottomed out about 5 years ago and prices have been amazingly static since then, only dropping on higher mileage cars! 

[Gashead1105]

Allow me to explain how this works:

I have 25k budget for an Evora. Ah, bugger, I'm at the high mileage/TVRGlen end of the market, better up the budget to 30k. That should get me a reasonable NA, although top of the market (esp the rare NA SRs) are more. In any event, 30k sounds good. Mmm, it's a really nice thing to drive, but lacks a little power out of roundabouts. In any event, I'm now in touching distance of the supercharged version, I can get a good one of those for 35k. But I know the MY12 made a whole load of significant alterations, I should definitely get one of those. Better up the budget to 40k or so....

Hold on, Lotus will flog me a 400 for c35k down and 2yrs at 0% if I haggle hard.

Et voila. Buy a brand new 400 and save money!

[Cooper]

1 hour ago, daveofedinburgh said:

Thanks CocoPops and Colin P,

Theres a ~£25K 2010 car for sale at the moment with around 60K miles;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-Lotus-Evora-3-5-V6-VVT-i-2-2-FSH-Sport-Tech-Premium-/322403347612?hash=item4b10bcac9c:g:NwsAAOSwUKxYilfU

No obvious 'walk aways', to my untrained eye at least...

Various cars available for not much more on AT with sensible miles too.

Im aware of how well these hold their prices, but havent been watching them for long so interested to see if experts feel they are close to 'bottoming out'.

Great to hear that model year isnt too much of a concern- I always look at condition/ history as first priority anyway.

Am I correct in saying the only really expensive common 'issue' is the clutch at £3K+? 

 

 

This car is sold.  Nearly to me but I missed it (and bid too low in fairness).  That car had a clutch too so it was good to go, but did need £1k of paintwork (bumpers/bonnet/front clam stone chips).

Edited February 23, 2017 by andycooper

[LazyDonkey]

39 minutes ago, Bibs said:

They pretty much bottomed out about 5 years ago and prices have been amazingly static since then, only dropping on higher mileage cars! 

Indeed. 

I paid £32,750 for a high spec '10 NA with 30k miles on the clock from a lotus dealer.   In june 2014. 

A look at PH and autotrader would suggest if my car were available today it would be around the same money. 

.....clearly i've put 20k on it and if i traded it i'd lose some money but it's still amazingly static price wise. 

To the OP you might be lucky, but i think you'll have to up the budget a wee bit.  Or buy a 400

Edited February 23, 2017 by LazyDonkey

[PZE]

@daveofedinburgh from a few months of market watching and looking at past sales I'm not sure that the "base price" of good cars is really going down at all - it might do, but then again it could well increase given how few are around (something similar seems to have happened with early Vantage V8s for example). I guess the two things that are likely to happen is that the gap between early cars and SR and 400s will close rather more, giving you more choice for a modest budget increase; and logically there should be more cars that are cheaper due to high mileage but have nevertheless been looked after well. Personally I'm trying to buy in the next few months though because I think the chances of prices increasing are about the same as chances of them decreasing. 

[Bravo73]

1 hour ago, andycooper said:

This car is sold.  Nearly to me but I missed it (and bid too low in fairness).  That car had a clutch too so it was good to go, but did need £1k of paintwork (bumpers/bonnet/front clam stone chips).

Do you know what it went for?

[Cooper]

1 minute ago, Bravo73 said:

Do you know what it went for?

£25k.  Owner came across as a top bloke on the phone too.

[Bravo73]

Thanks. 

(Now, should I update the PH thread with that info. Hmmm...) 

[ephancock77]

1 hour ago, Gashead1105 said:

Allow me to explain how this works:

I have 25k budget for an Evora. Ah, bugger, I'm at the high mileage/TVRGlen end of the market, better up the budget to 30k. That should get me a reasonable NA, although top of the market (esp the rare NA SRs) are more. In any event, 30k sounds good. Mmm, it's a really nice thing to drive, but lacks a little power out of roundabouts. In any event, I'm now in touching distance of the supercharged version, I can get a good one of those for 35k. But I know the MY12 made a whole load of significant alterations, I should definitely get one of those. Better up the budget to 40k or so....

Hold on, Lotus will flog me a 400 for c35k down and 2yrs at 0% if I haggle hard.

Et voila. Buy a brand new 400 and save money!

This is exactly how it goes, brilliant post!

[Loose Cannon]

2 hours ago, Gashead1105 said:

 I'm at the high mileage/TVRGlen end of the market,

Another fan!

[DJW]

According to how long you intend to keep the car, I wouldn't get so hung up on price you pay.  Depreciation is usually the largest cost when selling a car, followed by repairs / maintenance. 

 I've learnt over the years to buy the best car you can find, even if costs a few more quid up front.  When you come to sell, it would probably have lost less money (more desirable to buyers) plus in theory less to maintain (as in good condition, serviced etc). 

Buying cheap can work out more expensive in the long run due to repairs, and possibly harder to sell back on for same reasons it was cheap in the long term. 

I've  also bought last few Lotus's from official Lotus dealer (Silverstone) , as much more comeback if anything goes wrong with the car.  My first Evora S went back for leaking rear clam, leaking front clam, passenger airbag cover clips broken, and replacement gear linkage cables.  Add that lot up if I had bought privately and it would have cost more than the delta to a dealer car.   That said if you have proof of works completed on an older private  car, you would hope they were pretty sorted by now. 

Great cars.  Hurry up and buy one  

Edited February 23, 2017 by DJW

[Taylor]

Your looking at buying in 2 years time? Wow thats huge forward planning.

To be honest, these early Evoras will be almost 10 years old and I definately think you'll you'll get one for 25k maybe with midway miles 40k-50k ish.

I know they have held their prices well and they are super reliable with very few major mechanical issues but I'd still expect to see 5% depreciation over each of the following years although because theres only ever around 20ish good examples on the used market, prices vary massively.

Mines just got 20k on, mint example, covered in PPF, FSH and if its still worth 25k in 2 years I'll be happy however I guarantee I'll have something else probably by Summer. I only ever own cars for 12 months max ?

[Bravo73]

That day is here already. £25k for an 'S': https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152467212707

It is a left hooker though and/or a scam ad. 

[Arregueti]

There is indeed something weird with the rear end of the car in the first picture...

[Colin P]

15 minutes ago, Arregueti said:

There is indeed something weird with the rear end of the car in the first picture...

No question - the tailgate has been removed.

[PaulCP]

Lotus press car until last year????

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Isn't that the one with the GTE style rear wing that was posted on here recently? It didn't get a lot of love...

[Bravo73]

Are you thinking of the black (with yellow 'stripes') that is/was an undeclared Cat C/D?

[blueg33]

I sold my Evora n/a with all 3 packs and 75k miles for £23,500. It was in excellent condition but I needed a quick sale, with a few weeks to sell it I reckon £25k would have been achievable.

It was a 2010 car, full history and well maintained.