A debate that seems to come up more and more, are cars too expensive now? They’ve certainly increased if you were looking to buy one outright, but with so many PCP, lease and Hire Purchase deals around at the moment on almost every model of car, is the idea of actually owning a car that important anymore?
Of course, some cars were cheap to begin with, and if you were one of the lucky ones to have bought them from new and you’re now rubbing your hands together, congratulations! In this article, we wanted to take a look at some of the cars that had you bought them brand new, or when they were at their cheapest, how much of a percentage increase there’s been from then to now. Trust us, some of the findings are eye opening!
Peugeot 205 GTI
Price new – £6,250 // Value now – £29,995 // % Increase – 379.92%
Released in April 1984, this plucky little French machine is often regarded as one of the icons of the hot hatch world. With a high-revving 1.6, and then later a 1.9 litre engine on offer, the 205 GTI was an instant hit, and was launched in the UK at a cost of £6,245.
Add in an average inflation rate of the pound at 3.28% per year between 1984 and today, that would make the 205 GTI quite a hefty sum of £20,590.94 in 2021. Finding one for around £20,000 today is quite a challenge, as the admiration for these nippy cars has really increased. We found this immaculate example that’s just shy of £30,000, quite an increase from that original price tag!
Nissan Skyline R34 GTR
Price new – £33,160 // Value now – £149,995 // % Increase – 352.337%
Next we head to the Playstation generation’s favourite, the Nissan Skyline. For many car enthusiasts, the R34 GTR is the best Nissan ever made, symbolising exactly what makes owning a sports car fun. The sleek looks, the powerful engine, and the endless possibilities when it comes to modification.
If you were lucky enough to have bought one new back in January 1999, it would have cost you 4,998,000 Yen, or a measly £33,160. Of course, we’ll play fair as we did with the Peugeot and add in some inflation to that, making the 2021 figure to be £59,857.02. A figure that is still significantly less than the current price of the latest GT-R!
Now, this is where it gets interesting. If you owned one, and took good care of it, these Japanese icons are now fetching well over £130,000 here in the U.K, and with import laws now allowing JDM vehicles from this era to be legally shipped to the US, prices of the R34 are rocketing – one recently sold for over $300,000! Here’s an immaculate one we found here in the U.K, priced at £149,995.
Maybach 57
Price new – £227,000 // Value now – £57,000 // % Increase – -74.8899%
Let’s now take you to something a little more luxurious. You may not have heard of Maybach, but it’s likely you would have seen one at some point parked outside London’s finest hotels or restaurants. Maybach originally dates back to the early 1900s, but is probably most well known for being part of the Mercedes Group, and producing some truly incredible cars.
When the Maybach 57 was first introduced back in 2003, celebrities, dictators, and wealthy business people all wanted to place an order. Of course, they were the only people who could afford them, as they started from an eye-watering £277,000, which works out at a staggering £449,253.19 in 2021.
Finding a Maybach 57 for sale in 2021 is actually quite difficult, as due to their ridiculous price tag, not many were sold, and even fewer were sold in the UK. We tracked out this very clean 2005 example that is an absolute bargain at just £57,000! You could buy yourself a brand new BMW 5 Series, or waft around in your very own dictator-mobile for the same price!
Ferrari 250 GT Lusso
Price new – £10,209 // Value now – £1,449,990 // % Increase – 14,103.1%
A car that needs no introduction, a car that is often regarded as the most beautiful vehicle ever created. The Ferrari 250 GT Lusso was a masterclass in design, power and drivability. Only 350 examples were ever produced, before it was replaced in 1964 by the arguably more impressive 275 GTB, having four wheel independent suspension and a more complex space frame chassis. Despite this, the Lusso wasn’t exactly cheap, starting at £10,209 back in 1964, £212,241 in today’s money. To put that into perspective, the equally as beautiful Jaguar E-Type was a bargain at just £2,160 when it was released three years prior to the Lusso.
Had you splashed out on the 250 Lusso back in the day, and kept it until now, you can sit pretty comfortably – we found one through the brilliant Simon Furlonger finished in a stunning colour combination for just shy of £1,450,000, a seriously impressive figure, and one that is never, ever going to decrease!
So before we fire up the Delorean and buy up all of the future classics, what’s the best way to summarise our findings? In truth, there are many cars out there that are rocketing in price and are showing no signs of slowing down, meaning the used car market, particularly for performance cars, is in a very good state. During the late 90s and mid 2000s, sports cars were seen as terrible investments, but nowadays it’s those cars that are fetching the money. Finding a completely original Golf GTI or Subaru Impreza might be a little challenging, but the search might just pay off when the values are continuing to shoot up!
Elliot is our resident tech-lover and petrolhead, who is in charge of spreading AdFeeder to the masses! Having previously worked with brands such as Porsche and BMW, Elliot specialises in content creation and social media.
