Is it me or....

[coupegt]

[QUOTE=MidnightBlueS2]But on the other hand, I've noticed that the wanted price for a "low mileaged", well kept after S2's has actually raised which shows that the enthusiast market is there just waiting to pounce on a clean one that pops up from time to time...

QUOTE]

my experience exactly, been monitoring mobile.de regulary since i picked mine up a year ago, and havent seen anything yet with the same or lower milage than mine (96000 km) for less than what i paid, all of them, and that´s not that many, has been higher priced than mine

[MidnightBlueS2]

I think everyone is taking what Midnight said personally. All he meant was that the lower mileage examples will sell first or at a higher premium, naturally.

Just to straighten out the record, and with no intention of offensing "high mileage" S2 owners, we are all car enthusiasts and we all are fully aware of the extraordinary potential of the S2 in terms of power for money, reliability and road handling. But when it comes to capitalizing hard earned cash in buying an at least 11 year old car, the mainstream market rates an S2 for what it's worth, regardless of how well maintained it is.
It's a hard fact that can't be disputed even though I wish we lived in a car world that would take into account what the real car experts ( aka the enthusiasts ) have to say instead of what the majority of any country's population has been led to believe from those that sell cars to largely "car" ignorant people who just want to drive their car for professional and private reasons and who basically are more interested in looks, costs and depreciation.
Ask any professional car salesman what he thinks of a mint, 150000 miles, superbly maintained and equipped S2 coupe and/or avant and watch your jaw drop after he'll tell you that the market value of your car is about half of what you'd expected because of it's age and mileage...
Invariably, he'll just tell you that you're the one who should take care of selling it since you're an enthusiast and that if you want good $$$ for it, you have to sell it to another enthusiast because Mr. John Doe certainly won't buy it for what you think it's worth... It's all down to the basic rule of offer and demand no matter how you look at it.

Car salesman sell cars for a living and even though most know **** all about cars, they're accutely aware of what the mainstream market will pay for your car and that's what I was saying in my first post, the mainstream market undervalues the S2 because of it's age and relatively high mileage average but having a low mileaged S2 for sale makes it more appealing to the general enthusiast market. (cfr. Mark - rotoryboy ) but we here at S2 Forum value how well a car has been cared for and maintained over the mileage factor and that's how it should be in a perfect world but hey !, Reality Check, we don't live in such a world...

I've had this conversation over and over again with close friends of mine who believe that as soon as a car hits 5 years of age and/or 150000km, it's more than time to sell it because it's market value will start collapsing.

I myself believe they're wrong and that the best German cars that were ever built were those between 1980 and 1995.

But most people won't agree with such a statement as it conflicts with the car choices they've made and they won't back down and just say "Yeah , you must be right..."

You can explain to them that your car, even though it's from the early 90's has a 6 speed gearbox ( no offense 3B owners, we're all a big family of 3B, ABY, ADU owners ), heated seats, rally proven AWD with central Torsen, electric heated mirrors, AirCon, electric sunroof, etc, etc and that with mods, you can kick a Porsche's *****, they'll just smile sympathetically and wish you all the best but you won't convince them that you've made a sensible choice in their point of view.

Pfeww, that was a long piece of written slab !

OK, now you may fire at will !!!

David

[MidnightBlueS2]

Mine has 198k ish and would give urs a good run for its money Midnight

Not after I get MRC'd !!!

[Fat Audi 80]

Mine is on 155k and is mint as many on here will testify. You are right though, I paid over £7.5k for mine just over two years ago and would like to think that with the money I have spent on it and the way I have looked after it, it would still be worth that now! I suspect however that I would be lucky to £6 for it probably less. However, on the other hand as Andy pointed out, it is a hell of a lot of car for £6k that is not really depreciating may £500 a year, and if any of us had spent £10k on a nearly new car 2 years ago would probably have taken a £4k hit!

I have no intention of selling mine, so the value of it is immatieral in a way.

All that said, it is a buyers market, and I feel sorry for anyone that A.) has to part with their S2 and B.) gets a much lower price than they paid for it or were expecting.

I reckon in 5 years time they will be classics and start going up in value anyway....

Cheers,

Steve

[Coxy]

Interesting read, especially as I'm looking out for a good S2 after having a clear out at the weekend (1981 BMW 323i and 1964 Squareback!).
It's defiantely a buyers market at the moment and there are several good examples to be had, including 2 very nices ones off here, but it's all down to what anyone is prepared to pay. I sold my BMW 323i at a price unfathomable for that car but it came with 46 1st places in concours, complete service history and every MOT and original bill of sale, and you could eat your dinner off any part of the car. To most people, it was a 2nd hand E21, but to the guy who bought it, it was a collectors piece which he wanted to add to his own collection thus was prepared to pay that "little bit extra".
I "persuaded" my wife to trade in her Golf TDi for an RS2 and I paid the difference. My philosophy is that the depreciation value of the RS2 would be a lot better that the goof. Although, it has to be said, the depreciation value is counterbalanced by the vast difference in fuel economy!!!
Anyway, back to the topic, there are a few decent S2's out there, but are struggling to reach even a realistic price of what other forums users would see as current value based on condition/miles/service history/mods etc etc.

I've still got my eyes peeled for that special one, and I know I'll find it, but if I don't find one soon, I'll end up spending my money on more Air Cooled Volkswagens!!

[T2Andy]

I think S2 ownership does frighten people ,fuel insurance ect and you do realy need a fair bit of surplus cash to own one especialy if you want to mod it ,everything is 500qiud atleast and in my experiance people who have the money play safe and buy newer cars
you do have to be an enthuisast at the end of the day, i had 13k tied up in two S2s and for that money icould have had a very nice motor but i wouldnt swap mine for a 20k porsche my car gets more respect than cars costing 4times more and that does make you smile.So they are value for money and if you do loose 4k in 4 years you have done pretty well in todays car market.
Absolute bloody bargain if you ask me.

[S4 Miss]

There's a simple solution to the market price problem......

Never sell your S2...especially not to a numptie who doesn't know what it is or what it can do....My S4's going nowhere...I may buy another car eventually...but the S4 stays until it can continue no more...which at 111K is a long while yet

[curlyks2]

Never sell your S2...

Kinda my plan! Until there's an RS3 or S5 - "sensible" S2 replacements (Audi will wake up eventually and do one or the other - or both) - which I can afford to buy (i.e. many years after originally released), I'm going to do my level best to stick with the S2.

Ck.

[pastures16]

when i paid 3.5k for my mine i was worried a 94 185k on the clock 1 lady owner fsh mmm theres got to be probs with it
but no only had a failed fuel pump after a week but i put that down to it hadnt been driven as it should have been im well happy with it i dont think there that expensive to run/maintain only because of the helpful people on this forum imagine the costs going to a dealer everytime you get a fault

[Ross]

I guess the problem is, that something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it... to be honest, I see that depreciation (or lack of) is countered by the high running costs. But, think of the fun I get spunking my hard-earned on my baby, whilst some poor ****** loses another £2k on his ****** <insert cheap econo-car here>. At least I'm getting something for my money...

Personally, I'll never buy a new car unless I become so filthy rich I don't care! There's so many nice cars out there about 3-5 years old that are just immaculate, and about 1/3 their new cost. But that's not a concern for me coz the S2 is staying - 15 years ago somebody paid over £30k for my car; it cost me a fraction of that and she goes better and stops better too.

cheers
Ross

[jubjub]

I reckon the S2 is already a classic car. Its definately a cult car with a cult following.
Trouble is with being a rare car with not many about, you have to know what the car is to be wanting one.
Thats what probably makes them harder to shift/take longer to sell.
Generally speking £4-8 k buys pretty much any S2 thats for sale ( OK there a couple of exceptions) That was the case about 3 years ago ( when I first really got into them) and its still the same now............

[MidnightBlueS2]

The way I see it, a 10000 £ S2 with mods included is the cheapest, fastest, rally bred, most reliable, "wolf in sheeps skin", close to 400 bhp car on the market and to me that's DAMN cheap and it's money very well spent !

Actually, I'm glad I'm not a "mainstream buyer", because if everyone realized such a great deal an S2 is, everyone would want one !!!

Take care guyz !

David

[quattroTurbo]

You have to admire the enthusiasm of everyone here. Totally agree. Why would you buy a 10K pox-box when you can have a superb S2. In fact for a little bit more you can buy an RS2. The reason the general public prefer new cars is because they are car illiterate and vacuous.