Audi A5 Forum & Audi S5 Forum banner

Shall I trade in S5 for younger one or hang on?

1.9K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  leSHARKYtect  
#1 ·
Question guys, loving the S5 big time, what a machine:)

Doing regular 800 mile round trip / commute to UK and back from mainland europe every other week. Putting lots of miles on the clock at just passed 43,000, but good miles as S5 is doing good 8hr journey each way but motorway. I hardly ever use it for short drives and never around town.

My S5 is a july 07 in great condition. Had the clutch replaced last year, throw out bearing...so replaced pads at same time at my cost. No prob's on last service.

I heard that my car will loose 'more than the norm' value when it goes over 50,000 miles. What do you reckon?

Warranty runs out July 2010, and will depreciation over this next year justify the extra 5/8k to upgrade to an 09 S5?

Will have approx 40/50k miles on car by July 10.

cheers in advance for comments


hang on 8 hrs, 800 miles, hmmm hang on (maths problem probably///:thumbsup:) will check the milage
 
#2 ·
Yeah, I'd have to say I'd be checking my math if I made such a public claim, but heck - EVERYBODY here if given the chance and road would/could/should try to average that - and besides, it's not like these cars aren't capable - au contraire...
I once admitted (the truth) of a trip from Santiago (de Chile) to Pichidangui (a small beach town) about 320 km, in just over(minutes) 2 hours, in my B7 3.0 TDI - and at 6.9 l/100 km (about 34mp(us)g) - ooh, and that torque - had a nice chip from the fatherland that let me have 296 hp at 590 Nm)
 
#4 ·
#7 ·
No, we don't need them texting, phoning, reading, putting on makeup, or anything other than driving - at even 30 mph !!!! And if more of us took the time (and school - NOT Driver's Ed) paid the money it costs to learn and get a driver's license like it does in Germany for example (8-10 months, $2500-$3500), - then driving at 110 mph can be both responsible and safe. But since most folks in the US barely need to know more than "the left one stops, and the right one goes" to get a driver's license and keep it - we'll NEVER get anything more than we deserve - and 60-70 mph is already way more ... too bad indeed.
 
#8 ·
I have long wished we had German-style driver training requirements here in the U.S. Even if they a a real driver's exam instead of the joke of a road test they have now we'd have better drivers.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Okay - back on point. All residual values for used cars follow an inverse power curve to nearly an asymptote (or ultimate flat point). The roots of the power curve that make significant bends downward depend on location, use and competing market opportunity (like other cars of a similar design/performance/price or depreciation themselves). You need to first find these 'roots' - and it seems that at least one is 50K miles. The other may be 4 or 5 model years too. Once you're past these points, your depreciation curve will begin to flatten - loose less per year. Usually, these curves have steeper slopes of depreciation earlier in the overall curve - meaning that however close your current car is to a root or step-change, if you trade it for a younger model (all the way to new), you will find yourself trading into a steeper depreciation curve than you have now. While it may be true that you'd be at a step-change, it will STILL be less steep than the younger car's curve - that is ALMOST ALWAYS true.

But it all depends on how much of a "market" position you are in too - sometimes, a generation (2 or more model years) brings a different perspective, including your own perceived 'value' of your money vs the car's depreciation at any moment. This is the subjective component of your rationalization query to begin with. All we can do is be objective (check the math above) OR - join in your subjective rationalization - "Go for the newer one" and YOU still need to decide. There you go ...
:moped: