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Supercar prices are going up and up, but you don’t have to look too hard to find some real bargains in the classifieds, either in terms of their performance per pound, or relative to their descendants or contemporary rivals. From the more common Ferraris and Lamborghinis to the likes of Bugatti, there’s fabulous value out there if you’re prepared to think in relative terms.
By that, we mean that none of these are what you’d call cheap, and let’s be honest, a few of them are still hellishly expensive. We’ll take you through them in ascending order of price, so expect the later ones to seem less like bargains, but bear with us and remember: it’s all relative…
Nissan GT-R
The definitive supercar-that-isn’t could also be the definitive performance bargain of the century, at least in achievable price brackets. With this 2009 car you get 478bhp from an R35 that’s only done 58,000 miles with a full service history. It’s an absolute weapon, with three-second 0-62mph times easily yours along with breakneck overtaking pace. It’s a supercar with a Nissan badge on it, and it’s yours for less than £35,000 before haggling, as opposed to £80,000 for a new one.
There’s another that’s even cheaper by almost £3000, but it’s a repaired category C write-off. It isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker but it’s a reason not to. It’s from a dealer, so you’d just want to make sure that you had comprehensive warranty cover with it, and it’d be worth driving a few non-crashed ones to enable you to tell whether anything’s out of spec on the former write-off.
Audi R8 V8
The manual V8 is arguably the sweetest R8 that Audi ever built, involving the driver fully and adding bundles of character. The loss of power versus the V10 that eventually killed it off is more than made up for by the glorious 4.2-litre V8’s song, and you just know you want one if only for the polished gate on the gearbox.
We found this one with a leggy but manageable 103,000 miles for £5 under £36,000. Compare that to over £120,000 plus options for a new V10. The 414bhp engine is the same as the one in the B7 RS4, and for that reason alone it’s worth a look. Distinctive looks are undeniably supercar, and it’s one that you can use a lot if you want to. Judging by the presence of plenty of high-milers in the classifieds, it seems owners are proving it.
Ferrari 360 Modena
It may be a category D write-off, but that’s not too much to worry about. This 360 has covered just 16,000 miles and is cheaper than a new BMW M4 – before options. A pound under £55,000 is astonishing value for what was once the Prancing Horse’s flagship motor, and the seller has had it for eight years – a very good sign. Next to the current 488 GTB’s near-£183,000 price tag, this is outstanding value.
It’s in excellent condition with no faults, the owner says, and Ferrari does actually offer a decent care package for its older models. The damage sustained in 2008 was restricted to the panels only, according to the listing, and overall this is a mighty fine way to get your hands on a screaming flat-plane V8 for fast saloon money.
Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
Even as a used buy, the Gallardo can be expensive. You can pay anything up to £165,000 or even more for one of the special editions. But we found this yellow Spyder with the vicious but entertaining E-Gear automated manual gearbox for a shade under £73,000. It’s a 2009 model with the power upgrade, so 513bhp is spread between its four wheels. For no more than the price of a new top-end 5 Series, after you splash it with options, you genuinely could land a convertible Lamborghini with a big V10 and bags of character.
Gallardos five years older than this are around the same price, which potentially makes this a depreciation-busting steal, if it’s mechanically and physically sound. Instead of a new F-Type, get one of these! You know you would, if you had the cash.
McLaren-Mercedes SLR
The car that starred in one of Top Gear’s first cross-continental races is an automotive legend, and proof of what McLaren and Mercedes can do when they work together (half an eye on the F1 situation, there). It’s a 5.5-litre supercharged brute, kicking out 616bhp from a package costing upwards of £314,000 when it was launched in 2003.
Considering inflation, that makes £205,000 an eye-opening price for one that’s done just 21,000 miles. It’s fitted with carbon ceramic brakes, ‘large-sized carbonfibre racing seats’ according to the listing, and a carbonfibre interior package. Surely these can only go up in value?
Ford GT
With Ford tight-lipped on the actual price of the new GT, but strong rumours suggesting a minimum of $450,000 before options and customisation, the old, charming, fast and thirsty one looks like great value. There are plenty available with varying degrees of specialness but none with more than a few thousand miles on the clock, and while delivery-mileage cars are priced close to £400,000, we found one with 13,000 miles for a comparatively cheap £249,990.
We think we could live with the oh-so-high mileage in exchange for a £150,000 saving, so here it is. It’s a 2006 car in beautiful black with silver stripes and red brake calipers. Boy, is it stunning. Prices seem to be dependant on mileage for this generation of GT, so if you use it like Ford intended it might lose a lot of cash, but could you really resist?
Jaguar XJ220
When you look at the prices of most 1990s supercar exotica, it makes you want to cry. McLaren F1s are far beyond the reach of all but the richest car enthusiasts, Porsche 911 GT1s go for millions and the same could be said for Mercedes CLK AMG GTRs. The Jag was once the world’s fastest car, so why doesn’t it cost more?
Okay, so at £420,000 this one, a ‘competition-spec’ upgrade, is hardly going for pocket change, but compared to its contemporaries it seems pretty unloved. On the other hand, values aren’t likely to drop. Ever. This is one of just six cars like it. For your outlay you have a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 legend with a claimed 680bhp, 526lb ft and all the poster car recognisability you could wish for. Plus, this one will hit 60mph in a Tesla P100D-chasing 2.7 seconds…
Bugatti EB110
Okay, we understand that the thick end of £900,000 shouldn’t really be used in the same sentence as ‘bargain’, but that’s cheap for a Bugatti. People selling them now have made hundreds of thousands on them over the last few years, and with available Chirons costing more like £4 million this is a much, much cheaper way to buy some proper quad-turbocharged Bugatti heritage.
This £895,000 one is left-hand drive, of course, but that’s an advantage because you’ll want to keep it at your secure garage next to your villa in Monaco. Shamefully it’s covered just 1050 miles from new. That’s just 70 miles per year, and we don’t want to know what that works out as in annual servicing costs per mile. Someone please buy this, watch it go up in value, and tell us what it’s like to drive. Another 1000 miles won’t hurt…
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