Whats It Worth?

[Nick]

I fear the time may have come to sell my RR, but now face the perennial question - what is it worth?

I make a distinction between what it's worth and what it will sell for - and what I really want to know is the latter.

The car is a 1993 'L' 3.9 Vogue SE, Ardennes green, all the usual Vogue SE spec. Mileage is 135k ish (will have a look later) service history til around 90k. MOT + tax til July '06, fully waxoyled every year.

Good bits;

Brand new lower tailgate last year

new suspension airbags all round over the last year

new Michelin A/T (225/75) tyres under 2000 miles ago

Janspeed stainless exhaust sytem (sounds grrreat)

RPI optimax ecu

magnecor leads

new injectors last year

aircon works

clifford immobiliser (Thatcham cat 2)

car never had a towbar before I fitted one - only to tow an inflatable boat (not a RIB)

Bad bits;

bits of surface corrosion here and there

heated seats inop

cruise works intermittently (never quite got to the bottom of that one)

I'm sure there are more good/bad points which will come back to me later.

My profile on the old LRE forum can be searched for a full and frank list of any problems I've had with the car.

Any ideas on what it'll shift for?

[Niall_CSK]

Oh! Get thee behind me Satan

Nick, did I buy a manual from you a bit over two years ago and never got around to collecting it?

[geoffbeaumont]

Well, I paid £3,500 for my '93 K Vogue SE a year ago. Bought from a local garage and advertised at £4000.

Slightly less mileage at the time (low 120s IIRC), same colour, air suspension bladders were shot but in my ignorance I didn't pick that up at the time. Reasonably tidy body work but definitely not mint, leather with memory seats (minor problems with the drivers seat switch). Excellent chassis, decent lower tailgate, upper's definitely been replaced. Driving lights were missing from spoiler and the stalk on the dichromatic rear view mirror was knackered. Tyres had plenty of tread but were eleven years old and starting to perish (didn't spot that either - it's amazing what a bit of tyre black will cover ) Aside from one that got a puncture they're still on the car, though. Same problem with the cruise (didn't know about that when I bought it either - it worked on the test drive). Has a tow hitch, dog guard, hi spec OEM stereo (the Clarion one with the seperate amp and sub) but no CD changer. Working air con. Standard OEM alarm (had to fit a Thatcham approved one to keep my insurers happy). Heated seats don't work but everything else does.

No service history but seemed to have been generally well looked after and ran well. ABS and EAS working fine. No sign of off roading/greenlaning - I suspect it spent most of it's life towing horse boxes.

Didn't have any of the aftermarket mods yours has, but did have a good quality venturi type LPG conversion, with under floor tanks in place of the original petrol tank, and a small underwing petrol tank to replace that.

It's not necessarily what I'd pay for the same car now, but I guess it gives some clue as to what it might shift for?

[Nick]

Oh! Get thee behind me Satan 

Nick, did I buy a manual from you a bit over two years ago and never got around to collecting it?

Errmm..... I don't think so.

I don't have a manual for it, except for the RAVE cd and a parts book.

Must have been someone else.

Honest

[Niall_CSK]

I believe you.

Just can't think who but Edinburgh sticks in my mind for some reason.

Looks pretty tidy Nick, 3-3.5 sounds reasonable. What are you going to buy next?

[Nick]

What are you going to buy next?

That's a difficult one.

Head says diesel estate car; passat, a4 or similar.

Heart says P38 DSE.

[Highway_Star]

Having seen it in the flesh I'll vouch for it being tidy! If I had any spare cash at the mo I'd likely have it off you to keep as a sunday one.

I reckon you'll struggle to get that kind of money I'm sorry to say, they just aren't shifting for what they are worth these days, except on Eblag it would seem.

Remember a few months ago GeoffG couldn't shift a nice LSE, with gas for anything like it's worth, he ended up breaking it to use as the basis for a hybrid. Probably got more for it as parts than he was being offered for a complete vehicle.

[Nick]

I fear that you're probably right Pete, thats what I was hinting at when making the distinction between what it would sell for and what it might be perceived as being worth.

If I had the space I would consider breaking it, as I'm pretty sure it would be worth more as parts - particularly as it's in good order.

Drove it yesterday for the first time in a week or so. That just made me wonder how I could survive without a RR. Maybe trading it at a 4x4 specialist for a p38 might be the way to go.......

I'd miss that v8 sound if I ended up with a diesel

[Niall_CSK]

You could always put a "sports" exhaust on it and open both windows then it might sound like a V8.

I don't think the sports systems do much for a diesel unless it has been seriously uprated.

[reggie]

Price on these things can be quite different depending on a lot of things. I've picked a few up in the past for as little as £500 in decent condition, some with MOT. Then seen some for ££££££s that were apparently mint condition, fsh & low mileage etc.

I would say an average price for a nice tidy one with service history, most stuff working, no major rot & good mileage would be around £1200-£1500 to the right person.