5 Amazing Used Cars We Wish Weren't So Damn Expensive To Run

Depreciation: so long as you’re not the poor sod on the receiving end, it’s a wonderful thing. It means we can get cars that were pushing £100,000 new for a tenth of the cost, or potentially less. The problem is, while the value of these barges, sports cars and gran tourers drop, the maintenance costs do not. In fact for the most part they’ll go up as various age-related issues rear their ugly heads.

So, while we’d dearly love to own any one of these cars, the reality is they each need a massive financial commitment to keep in good working order, and can often spring unexpected and expensive bills.

The silver lining is that some of these have stopped depreciating and a few are even increasing in value, which will offset the financial pain. And also, we reckon some of these might just be worth it…

1. BMW E39 M5

It’s hard not to be tempted by the old E39 M5. The earliest ones are 17 years old now, but you certainly won’t be wanting for pace: the car’s ‘S62’ 4.9-litre V8 is good for 394bhp. And they’re becoming very affordable to buy: I saw one the other day for under £5500, albeit with astronomical mileage.

Ones with reasonable mileage aren’t a whole lot more, costing around what you’d pay for a good E36 M3 or fair E46 M3. However, you’re probably better off going for one of those six-pot machines; while they still require a hefty amount of money to run, they’re generally not nearly as painful to your wallet as an E39 M5 can be.

It’s fairly typical to spend £2000-£3000 a year to keep one of these old ‘5s going. The ‘inspection 2’ service is rather pricey - particularly if the brake discs and pads need replacing - you’ll chew through tyres and fuel very quickly, and then there are the things which can go wrong. A leaking rear differential seal - for example - will cost around £1000 to fix. Sounds pretty awful, but it’s not the worst bill you could possibly get. If you’re unlucky to have a Vanos issue, you can kiss goodbye to a cool £3000 to get it sorted.

For an idea of some of the bills you can expect, it’s worth watching this video from Vehicle Virgins looking back on four years of M5 ownership.

2. Mercedes S500 (W220)

Believe it or not, you can pick up one of these old Mercs for under £1000. Even the V8-powered S500 cost as little as £1500. That’s a serious amount of wafty metal for the money, particularly when you consider we’re talking about a car that was priced at £70,000+ new. Predictably, however, a car like this will demand a lot of money to keep going strongly.

Servicing isn’t cheap, and the factory-fitted air suspension can be shockingly expensive to sort. Then you have to consider that this particular version of the S500 came in the midst of Mercedes-Benz’s infamous poorer quality era: they’re prone to rust (particularly around the wheel arches), as well as scarily pricey electrical failures. And given that this is an S-Class, there’s a lot of electric parts to go wrong.

Of course, given just how cheap these are now, it is still tempting to buy one and take the risk; some owners are luckier than others in the reliability stakes.

3. Porsche 911 (996 3.4)

Not so long ago, a pre-1989 911 ‘Classic’ was the cheapest version of Porsche’s legendary sports car that money could buy. However, since prices of those - and all other air-cooled 911s - have launched into the stratosphere, the unloved 996 has become the least expensive version of the car. It was the first 911 to switch to water cooling, had that much-maligned ‘fried egg’ headlight look, and was a less hand-built, more mass-produced car than its predecessors.

As a result, they’re not as sought after as other 911s. Early tiptronic 996 cabriolets start at as little as £8000, and manual coupes only a couple grand more. A 300bhp 911 for the price of a VW Up? That’s seriously tempting, but as you’ve probably gathered by the 996’s inclusion in this list, there are a few downsides.

The two acronyms you’ll almost always hear after the words ‘used’ and ‘996’ are RMS and IMS. That’s the rear motor seal and immediate shaft bearing (in case you’re wondering), but while sorting a leaking RMS requires an engine removal, it’s not a huge concern.

IMS is more of a concern, as in some cases it can lead to engine failure. The cost of such a failure? Over £10,000, unless you can source a used engine from a crashed 996. Then there are cracked cylinder heads to worry about, as well as bore liner scoring. In summary, the early 3.4-litre engines have a lot of known faults that could cost you dearly.

It’s not all bad news, as the doom-mongering perception that almost all early 996s are ticking time bombs is false: the failure rate for the earlier engines is thought to be around 5-10 per cent. Still, that’s enough to make you seriously consider getting a warranty, and there are plenty of other costs to think about given the sort of car this is.

We’re not saying don’t buy one under any circumstances, but do your research (some cars have a more robust ‘dual-row’ IMS rather than single, for instance), go in with your eyes open and be prepared to spend £2000 or more a year on keep it going, before you think about insurance and tax. It’s also a good idea to put a little extra away every now and then, lest any other big bills arise.

4. Range Rover (L322)

If I could buy any luxury car, it’d be a Range Rover; they really do offer unparalleled levels of waftage. Since I don’t have the best part of £75,000 stashed away to buy a new one, I could just buy a used one, couldn’t I? Probably not.

It’s hard to find a Range Rover Classic that isn’t badly rotten (and clean ones are getting hilariously expensive), P38s are known for iffy reliability and sky-high running costs, and the L322s are known for…well, iffy reliability and sky-high running costs.

As rather successfully illustrated by this recent video from Doug DeMuro, there are a preposterous amount of complicated things that have a habit of going wrong on this generation of Range Rover, most of which cost a shocking amount to put right. In fact, the warranty he took out on his own L322 paid for itself. Very quickly.

5. Porsche 928

To finish off this list, we have another Porsche: this time, the front-engined 928. I cannot convey just how much I’ve wanted one of these cars over the years. And with prices dipping as low as £2000 for the rattiest example not so long ago, I could have quite easily bought one. But keeping one going? I’d have struggled without surviving on nothing but budget brand baked beans for the next few years.

Yes, they’re predictably expensive to run - 928s have severe drinking problems, parts are expensive and so is servicing - but the issue is compounded by the fact the prices dropped so low. This meant many dropped into the hands of people who were either unwilling or unable to make the financial commitment needed to keep the car maintained properly, resulting in big bills for whoever owned the car next. Oh, and there are a lot of complicated electrical items that can go expensively wrong.

You can still buy a 928 for under £10,000 and values have been steadily increasing, so these remain tempting buys. But whatever you do, don’t buy a cheap one, and be ready to spend what’s needed to keep a 928 in tip-top condition.

What other cars would you love to own if they weren’t so damn pricey to run?