d215yq
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2008
- Messages
- 2,664
- Reaction score
- 702
- Age
- 39
- Location
- Valencia, Spain
- Your Mercedes
- 1987 W124 300D 280k miles
I've been looking into buying a second car...only stipulation is must be a biggish auto convertible and old. Always loved the XK8 since it came out but looking here a ropey 1997 one is 13k€ - most are 18k+...
Which seems to me bizarre as a 1997 ropey R129 500SL is under half that - and I would guess be more reliable. Now I know that's an oldish model and is certainly nowhere near as beautiful as the Jaguar but then I see the ropey 2002 R230 500SLs are about 8k€. Now I know these are the least reliable and most costly things you can buy, but I don't think an XK8 is exactly cheap to run/troublefree either.
So why are the XK8s holding their value so much better? Is it because they're just seen as much better looking cars inside and out? To me this is the case, but I'm a bit old school and I'd imagine to many the R230 is more modern and nicer looking.
I mean a W124 320 convertible of the same age as a R129 is about 18k+ so that keeps up with the Jaguar even though it's originally a cheaper car than the 129. Is this because there are so few made and they would be cheaper to run and more reliable being a W124 and not a modified/specialised W124 platform the R129 uses and they look better? I know they have bigger rear seats but I can't see that being important enough to most buyers of 25 yr old cars like this to justify the doubling of the R129 prices.
Even an early model 380SEC seems to cost more than the SL and that's not even a convertible. In fact SECs have crept up in value a lot since I looked 5 years ago - I remember bidding 1500 for a poor cosmetic condition but MOT'd late model 560SEC that worked and losing out to a 1700 bid. Now a car like that would go for 10k+ and could easily be 15k if tidied up...
Which seems to me bizarre as a 1997 ropey R129 500SL is under half that - and I would guess be more reliable. Now I know that's an oldish model and is certainly nowhere near as beautiful as the Jaguar but then I see the ropey 2002 R230 500SLs are about 8k€. Now I know these are the least reliable and most costly things you can buy, but I don't think an XK8 is exactly cheap to run/troublefree either.
So why are the XK8s holding their value so much better? Is it because they're just seen as much better looking cars inside and out? To me this is the case, but I'm a bit old school and I'd imagine to many the R230 is more modern and nicer looking.
I mean a W124 320 convertible of the same age as a R129 is about 18k+ so that keeps up with the Jaguar even though it's originally a cheaper car than the 129. Is this because there are so few made and they would be cheaper to run and more reliable being a W124 and not a modified/specialised W124 platform the R129 uses and they look better? I know they have bigger rear seats but I can't see that being important enough to most buyers of 25 yr old cars like this to justify the doubling of the R129 prices.
Even an early model 380SEC seems to cost more than the SL and that's not even a convertible. In fact SECs have crept up in value a lot since I looked 5 years ago - I remember bidding 1500 for a poor cosmetic condition but MOT'd late model 560SEC that worked and losing out to a 1700 bid. Now a car like that would go for 10k+ and could easily be 15k if tidied up...