Up to half a million crowns, you can buy interesting used cars that will make you look richer than you really are
9 hours ago | Petr Prokopec
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
This is probably not our approach to choosing a car, but a lot of people rely on the car as a co-creator of their image. Such people might be interested in the fact that for significantly less money than what Škoda charges for the new Octavia, you can buy five cars from quite different spheres, but for four you have to pay attention to the service.
According to the current exchange rate of the CNB, twenty thousand euros corresponds to less than half a million crowns. On the one hand, this is not such an enormous amount, but on the other hand, it is no longer a small amount. For us, however, the key fact is that you won’t buy even the cheapest new Škoda Octavia for it. A liftback in the basic Active equipment equipped with a supercharged one-five with 150 horses and a six-speed manual starts at 619,900 CZK. At the same time, it is more or less a revamped third generation that came to the market in 2013 with a price tag almost 300,000 lower. So it’s not a miracle, and there are more interesting alternatives in the second-hand market.
Today we will discuss five of them in a little more detail. In the three cases, don’t count on much practicality, that’s not what we’re talking about today. They are simply more interesting, more dazzling to drive, more luxurious, more stylish or larger cars that you can still get for such nice money, even if they may only be a few years old. Their usually rapid decline in the value of cars will not make you the owner of a rusty used car either, because even the oldest piece of this five rolled off the production lines 11 years ago. But enough general talk, let’s look at those cars one by one.
Audi A7 4G8
The liftback from Neckarsulm, in alphabetical order, is the first to hit. And it proves that nothing is free. The drop in value is compensated by a wider range of complaints than the rest of the four – the multimedia screen may crash, the higher weight has a negative effect on the suspension and, surprisingly, unwanted rattling can also be heard inside. In addition, the parking brake or keyless entry also fail. Everything is then amplified by higher amounts on invoices from services. So if you want to join the premium club, expect higher regular payments for membership, in the case of acquisition it is a pretty cheap joke.
For half a million, you can already choose from nice six-cylinder units with runs well under 100,000 km, the huge drop in the value of this model will cost you half the cheapest units. And you won’t get a little of it, it’s basically a traditional highway hauler named A6 in a stylish design. Its style will not be to everyone’s taste, but the pieces after the facelift in the S-line package can still deliver the right punch visually. And you can safely buy them for up to half a million.
Photo: Audi
BMW Z4 E89
Of the three used cars that allow you to drive with the wind in your hair, the Munich representative is the hardest. However, the owners are more concerned about the prices of spare parts and repairs as such, something like this should be expected automatically with premium brands. The services are not interested in whether you are the first or the tenth owner in a row. Attention should be paid to power steering failure, as well as problems associated with the engine control unit – it switches to emergency mode relatively often. But electronics are under fire in general, because the warning icon often lights up the instrument panel.
After all, except for the next candidate, you will pay a similar tax every time to make yourself look richer than you really are with these cars. But the Z4 E89 also comes out cheap in bazaars, the prices of the cheapest pieces start around 300 thousand CZK, and you can already buy nice specimens for 500 thousand. Buying a twice-turbocharged six-cylinder version of the 35is with up to 367 horses is not a problem either, you could also buy a purist, naturally aspirated R6 with a 30is with a manual, at that time it was still possible to choose such things at BMW.
Photo: BMW
Mazda MX-5 ND
The cult roadster is one of the most reliable cars that you can come across in bazaars. And since it continues to sell very well, you can even choose which piece to go for. In general, however, avoid cars with an automatic transmission, which can occasionally downshift due to faulty software. Problems with the start-stop system can then lead to its overheating and, in extreme cases, even to a fire. On the other hand, you have to realize that the luggage space of this roadster is not exactly enormous. And what’s worse, taller people get a lot of wind on their foreheads when driving with the roof down.
The truth is that with this car you will look “in cotton wool” only in the eyes of those who have no idea what a Mazda MX-5 is (but that’s about 90 percent of Czechs, we dare to say…), because you can only buy units that are years old cars start at about 330,000 CZK, and for half a million you can buy really promising pieces. These are nice sums for such a young open sports car.
Photo: Mazda
Mercedes-Benz S-Class W221
What is true in the case of Audi and BMW, with the flagship three-pointed star should be reckoned with in a double measure. The S-Class is always crammed with a lot of technology, many of which appear for the first time for the brand. In addition, this car is not sold in significant quantities, so not every repair shop will repair it for you. So you have to prepare for expensive repairs to the air suspension and many assistance systems. In addition, if you choose a non-diesel engine, expect that the combination of high power and even more weight can eat you alive.
But you will be rewarded with the biggest “imagemaker” from this list, i.e. together with the following tip. The Esko W221 still looks “cool” and you can easily buy it for under 150,000, it can be quite an old car. So it will be better to reach for parts after the facelift produced after 2010, even in that case you can have a kind of ideal six-cylinder S350 diesel with 258 horses and mileage between 100 and 150 thousand km. This will not be a bad choice in terms of long-term operation either.
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Porsche Boxster 987
The small roadster from Zuffenhausen was previously rumored to be aimed at women. This was especially true of the first generation, where you have to pay attention to the power units, as well as oil leaks. The second one is already qualitatively better, however, in both cases, check mainly the chassis – not only for corrosion, but with regard to its ground clearance, thanks to which the car could come into contact with the road. As with the entire top five, with the exception of Mazda, it is of course true that you pay a lot of money just for opening the door to the official service.
But the prices of the second generation are surprisingly low, you can buy the first cars that have not been demolished for around 350,000 crowns and they are never too used – a person who drove a Boxster more than 10,000 km per year will be an absolute rarity. For under 500,000 you can also have cars with mileage under 100,000 km in very nice condition, even if only in a weaker version with a six-cylinder 2.7 engine with 239 horsepower. For the more powerful, 280- to 295-horsepower version of the S with a 3.2 H6 engine, it already wants to accept a run of around 150,000 km with such a budget restriction.
Photo: Porsche
Source: Focus
Petr Prokopec
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2024-01-07 17:15:33
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