So, nice decision to have to make.

I've got a couple of big deals at work pending and I'm thinking that the FF might go and I may treat myself to a sports / GT car for the next 18/24 months before my wife and I emigrate to Australia.

My absolute max budget is going to be around £60k, but ideally I'd like to spend £50-55k (or less).

I've got the shortlist down to two candidates I think (a gen 2 997 is still a possibility but I have had a 911 and would like something I've never had before) which are either a DB9 or a Jag XKR 5.0 Supercharged.

My heart says Aston, there's something about them, for me they're very special and I still see them in the supercar league - they still bring out the 12 year old in me. For my budget I'd be looking at a 2008/09 470bhp version. I've seen a few nice ones around the £53k mark.

My concerns are that this will be my daily driver, and I'd be a little worried about leaving it places. I'd question the reliability possibly too.

My head says Jag, as I could get a MY2011 version, the newest shape with the nicer new slimmer lights. Arguably it's the thinking man's Aston. Faster, cheaper to buy, run etc and probably attract a little less attention in car parks as well as being possibly a more sensible daily driver. I could get an 'all but new' one for around £45/46k.

However I can't shake the feeling that even though the Jag would be a more sensible choice, I may always be left thinking "I could've had an Aston..."

That's kind of what happened to me with the FF. I compromised and tried to save some money by buying a very high spec ML. It was a lovely car, but every time I saw a FF I was envious and thought I'd made a mistake. The ML lasted 5 months before I bought the Rangey!

Thoughts? Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

Are you planning to bring the car when you come to the lucky country? If so, the Aston would hold it's value better than the Jag, according to car sales sites here.If you can, why not buy both, bring them here, cash up one, and a tidy little profit is yours!!
Bob

Ha ha...I'll be stretching myself to get into either, let alone both!

If I can afford it at the time, I'll take it and sell it, but I've got a house full of stuff, a dog, two cats and wife that wants to fly business class to take already which ain't cheap! I have no desire to have a car like that in Oz, I'll get back into something a bit more regular.

By the time you've taken LCT and all the other import costs into account it's a fairly expensive exercise, but I think there's a profit to be made.

We'll see.

I do have a contact that owns a luxury car dealer in Melbourne (where we're going to live) so I guess if I could line up a trade sale and the maths works I might do it. However, my initial thought that I could make £40-50k was scuppered when I started to investigate the costs properly. Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

Oh - Bob, I've been using Carsales.au for my research on prices etc. Are there any other sites I should be checking out?

Thanks in advance!  Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

I'm pretty sure that when you have owned a car for more than 6 months (some countries 12 months), you import it tax free. I brought in my GMC and bikes into Perth without any duties (they only insisted on additional steamcleaning upon arrival and that didn't cost much).

As for which car, you obviously buy with your heart more than with your head (so do most of us on here I think) so go for the one that has your heart. I would also go for an Aston to be honest, just because it is an Aston (I researched it when I was supposed to move to the UAE for a year and half, pity it didn't go through).

As for Oz, I suggest to look at a Holden Commodore V8 or a Ford Falcon XR8 or the likes. They are awesome cars, cheap, fast, comfortable (not to FFRR/Jaguar/Aston level but still quite good) and I found them excellent driving cars (on New Zealands twisty roads that is !!). MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Go with your heart or don't bother at all....

jfb1977 wrote:

However I can't shake the feeling that even though the Jag would be a more sensible choice, I may always be left thinking "I could've had an Aston..."

Thoughts?

I think you've already answered your own question

believe me since i had already 4 new AMs an 12 new Jaguars - my heart still goes to the AM - you wont regret it  All my spelling errorz are belong to me!

2023 FFRR L460
2021 AM new Vantage

AM will hold money better but if your going to Oz and can stretch I'd take what cars you can with you, Especially if you want to have an FF out there as i believe they are a bit more costly down under but im sure you can do the maths  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

Car prices down under are horrendous. Take what you can with you, but you have to have owned them for a year and must be keeping them for a year (might be longer) when they arrive there. Also look into whether or not you would have to pay import duties as they will be high

Are you not considering the Maserati Gran Turismo then?  Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

Thanks for the replies gents.

I think you're right...I kind of knew the answer to my question...I guess I wanted to throw it out there in case anyone had any massively compelling reasons not to buy the Aston.

Ebajema, believe me, I've researched the life out of it, have spoken to numerous car importers, the Aussie customs service, my family in Oz - everyone. I've even created a spreadsheet that does all of the import cost calculations for you! (I know, I should get a life)!

You may not need to pay tax if you're not becoming a resident, so taking your car for a 'holiday', but if you are there are plenty of taxes to be paid, even under the PIS (personal import scheme). There's 5% duty on the customs value, transport and insurance, marine insurance, GST (10% of the landed value), Aussie port landing costs, cleaning, registration and then on top of all that you pay LCT (Luxury car tax) which is a percentage of the luxury car value (LCV) less the current threshold of $59,133.

And yes, you have to have owned it for a minimum of 12 months in the UK before you can import under the PIS.

On the Aston I'm at somewhere in the region of £20,000 all in. So with a purchase price of £55k, that means the car landed in Oz would owe me £75k (roughly $112.5 AU). Redbook (the Ozzie equivalent of Glass' guide) quotes trade values of anywhere from $132-146k and private sale values of $149-163k for a 2008 Aston DB9. However, you can knock about 5% off for it being an 'import' (I know all cars in Oz are techincally imports, but it's still the way it is), so suddenly I'm looking my sale price range is from $125k-$155k.

So yes, possibly a profit of between $12.5-$42.5k (£8k-£28k) which is interesting at the top end (private sale) but then I could end up sitting on the car for 6 / 12 months trying to sell it privately and it seems a lot of paperwork, hassle and worry for £8k profit via a trade sale. And that's before you add in the currency fluctuation factor.

Gone are the days of people making £50k+ profits out of importing cars to Oz...the government have caught up!

I suppose if I stand back from it however and think that I could own an Aston for 18 months and have it cost me nothing (or maybe even turn a small profit) then that's quite a result just for filling out some paperwork. Certainly better than the deprecitation I'd feel over here.

Hmmmm....

I hired both the 'hot' V8 versions of the Falcon and Commodore last year when I was out there - loved both of them! The Falcon has some of the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in in a car! Either of those would be perfect and much more suitable for our new lifestyle. I'd feel a bit of a plonker driving around Oz in an Aston, just doesn't seem right to me!

@RRUK - not for me the Mazzers, although they do provide my favourite soundtrack of any current car. They sound epic! Past (too many to list, but a few favs)...
2007 Porsche 997 C2S Coupe
2007 FFRR 4.2 S/C
2012 Jag XKR 5.0 S/C
2014 Merc SL500 AMG 4.7 V8 BiTurbo (remapped to 560BHP)
2011 FFRR 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE - Overfinch Conversion
2012 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
2018 AMG C63S Estate
2015 Mercedes GLE63S
2017 Maserati Levante Diesel
2017 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 Black Edition

Damn it has changed since I was there as I had hardly any cost for import of the car. Incidentally I exported it when I left back to Holland (again no duties) in my own container, but that is beside the point.

I see the point, depending on your new lifestyle and where you live, an Aston may not be ideal unless you have it as a "enthusiast" car but for a daily driver some people may think plonker (not me, of course).

It also depends on the other aspect of Aussie life, offroading. I would definitely get a FFRR or other 4x4 (if the FFRR was too expensive) as I would love to go of the beaten track and that is quite easy over there. I had an old stationwagon last time I lived there as I was mostly going to the beach or using my pushbike to go to work (only part of the way, 75 km was a bit much to do twice a day).

Anyway, it could still work if you keep the car as you have had it for 18 months, know exactly what is right and wrong with it so you know you have a good one if you decide to keep it. And as you said the depreciation is gone as well, so you are basically driving it for running cost.

And buying an XR8 or XR6 (I had a few rental XR6s, brilliant cars and indeed very comfy) for daily driving shouldn't be too expensive. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

jfb1977 wrote:

Oh - Bob, I've been using Carsales.au for my research on prices etc. Are there any other sites I should be checking out?

Thanks in advance!

Someone beat me to it........been watching our cricket team getting a flogging from the Indians.
Glasses guide is one of the better car valuation guides.
Bob