Harry’s Garage

[Jimmy Choo]

I am hoping I can tick the box for 'deep gloom' option on my next car. Sounds cool.

Sound awful.

[nuttinnew]

Cd=0.17

With mirrors



More opining;

[nuttinnew]

[Matty]

This ones interesting as I've been keeping an eye on the R8 market for a bit.

I get the impression that finding a good one could be tricky - especially after hanging around the R8 Facebook groups for a while...some of them look ropey as fuck, and it seems (as per the buying guide by RE Performance) the earlier ones are frequently purchased by GolfGTi/GolfR/AudiS3 chavs because they hovver around the similar money...only they realise how much they cost to run, then ditch them once a big bill looms, skip servicing or just bodge them.

[mikeyb]

This ones interesting as I've been keeping an eye on the R8 market for a bit.

I get the impression that finding a good one could be tricky - especially after hanging around the R8 Facebook groups for a while...some of them look ropey as fuck, and it seems (as per the buying guide by RE Performance) the earlier ones are frequently purchased by GolfGTi/GolfR/AudiS3 chavs because they hovver around the similar money...only they realise how much they cost to run, then ditch them once a big bill looms, skip servicing or just bodge them.

Totally agree with everything you’ve said Matty. For my next purchase, I’d love an R8, Lotus Elise S2 with K20 (inspired partially by Duncs and his S1) or an Evora. Ricky’s buying guide videos highlighted potential pitfalls and ones to avoid, particularly in respect of the early ones. Harry’s enthusiasm does push it back up the order though…

[Matty]

Totally agree with everything you’ve said Matty. For my next purchase, I’d love an R8, Lotus Elise S2 with K20 (inspired partially by Duncs and his S1) or an Evora. Ricky’s buying guide videos highlighted potential pitfalls and ones to avoid, particularly in respect of the early ones. Harry’s enthusiasm does push it back up the order though…

The only way I'd buy one is getting Ricky to find one - otherwise it looks like too much of a minefield. They seem quite reliable, but there a few big bills that can easily catch you out. It's the V10 that appeals for me, as I've owned plenty of configs, but would love to tick that V10 box.

We'll be seeing values tumble as we head into Christmas I reckon.

[240PP]

I seem to recall they have issues with chassis cracking. Don’t know to what extent that’s overblown internet chatter.

[Marv]

Totally agree with everything you’ve said Matty. For my next purchase, I’d love an R8, Lotus Elise S2 with K20 (inspired partially by Duncs and his S1) or an Evora. Ricky’s buying guide videos highlighted potential pitfalls and ones to avoid, particularly in respect of the early ones. Harry’s enthusiasm does push it back up the order though…

The only way I'd buy one is getting Ricky to find one - otherwise it looks like too much of a minefield. They seem quite reliable, but there a few big bills that can easily catch you out. It's the V10 that appeals for me, as I've owned plenty of configs, but would love to tick that V10 box.

We'll be seeing values tumble as we head into Christmas I reckon.

I always thought an R8 would be a nice replacement for the CSL if I ever got bored of it...but I think the running costs would be too high compared to the M3 and predictably I haven't got bored of the CSL

[Jobbo]

I've been a bit of a fan of the manual V8 R8 for some time but I don't think I'd ever buy one. When you are talking about a 16yr old car, you're not going to want to rev it to 8000 all the time; you'll want to look after it a bit. I think I'd rather have something like a Merc SL which suits cruising about and feels just right doing that.

[Zonda_]

My mate has one, last MOT cost £6k to get through

[duncs500]

I'm in the camp of thinking about V8 Manuels in the past too, and came to the exact same conclusion as all of you. Look like decent value to buy, but expensive to run, and not necessarily bought by fastidious owners.

As is the answer to many car questions, you're better off with a 911 (albeit also don't always attract the best owners, but still a much safer bet).

[mikeyb]

Totally agree with everything you’ve said Matty. For my next purchase, I’d love an R8, Lotus Elise S2 with K20 (inspired partially by Duncs and his S1) or an Evora. Ricky’s buying guide videos highlighted potential pitfalls and ones to avoid, particularly in respect of the early ones. Harry’s enthusiasm does push it back up the order though…

The only way I'd buy one is getting Ricky to find one - otherwise it looks like too much of a minefield. They seem quite reliable, but there a few big bills that can easily catch you out. It's the V10 that appeals for me, as I've owned plenty of configs, but would love to tick that V10 box.

We'll be seeing values tumble as we head into Christmas I reckon.

Agreed. I can’t remember if he said on his video that he sells cars too, or whether he was considering it. A pre-sale inspection from him would be invaluable.

There’s currently a unicorn V10 for sale- a V10 plus manual. One of eight I believe….

[V8Granite]

From memory when I looked there are a lot of suspension parts which are no longer available.

There are more but the main one was bottom ball joints. The arm gets damaged when they are removed or something and you need to upgrade to the V10 ones, which require other bits to be bought aswell.

Dave!

[Matty]

I seem to recall they have issues with chassis cracking. Don’t know to what extent that’s overblown internet chatter.

According to REP, it's not an issue; only seen in the States and feels it's accident damage at root cause.

My mate has one, last MOT cost £6k to get through

Mag ride?

REP buying guide said he had someone come in for a basic service, had just sold his Golf GTi to fund it and after putting it on the ramp, needed £15k's worth of work doing. Large chunk of that was damper replacements.

From memory when I looked there are a lot of suspension parts which are no longer available.

There are more but the main one was bottom ball joints. The arm gets damaged when they are removed or something and you need to upgrade to the V10 ones, which require other bits to be bought aswell.

Yeah, can't remember the full details but it is something like you can't buy the ball joints seperately, only the whole arm - of which you can't the V8 ones any more. It's another thing that seems minor but can cost serious £££ to fix.

Edit - Audi charge £5k to replace the rear pair with V10 ones

[Mito Man]

Surely there’s aftermarket stuff for all this. Whack on a set of Bilsteins and some adjustable wishbones with funky rose joints and get on with enjoying it.

[Beany]

A decent set of Bilsteins and presumably low volume custom suspension components probably aren't going to be massively cheaper, especially not considering the loads they're expected to take at speed.

Dan might have a better idea seeing as he seems to works a fair few low volume custom components.

[Zonda_]

I seem to recall they have issues with chassis cracking. Don’t know to what extent that’s overblown internet chatter.

According to REP, it's not an issue; only seen in the States and feels it's accident damage at root cause.

My mate has one, last MOT cost £6k to get through

Mag ride?

REP buying guide said he had someone come in for a basic service, had just sold his Golf GTi to fund it and after putting it on the ramp, needed £15k's worth of work doing. Large chunk of that was damper replacements.

From memory when I looked there are a lot of suspension parts which are no longer available.

There are more but the main one was bottom ball joints. The arm gets damaged when they are removed or something and you need to upgrade to the V10 ones, which require other bits to be bought aswell.

Yeah, can't remember the full details but it is something like you can't buy the ball joints seperately, only the whole arm - of which you can't the V8 ones any more. It's another thing that seems minor but can cost serious £££ to fix.

Edit - Audi charge £5k to replace the rear pair with V10 ones

Yep, Mag ride.

[nuttinnew]

Ricky?

[Mito Man]

Tbf I usually look to rebuild first, and if that costs more than decent aftermarket parts I'd go for the latter. But this doesn't seem unreasonable vs the prices being thrown about for new OEM bits
https://www.vps-eu.com/product-page/aud ... ms-rebuild

I think it's a non issue. The R8 is about as mass produced a supercar as you can get, there should be plenty of alternatives at reasonable prices.

[Carlos]

Nothing good came from magnaride/edc. I wouldn't buy a used car with it!