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If there’s no business like show business, then there’s no depreciation quite like European luxury-car depreciation.
But for those with a penchant for performance cars with a double-digit cylinder count, read on before you sign for that new turbo four-cylinder.
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With a fictitious buying budget of between $15,000 and $150,000 for vehicles built within the last 15 years, here are our top V10 and V12 used car buys – for when a V8 just won’t do.
$15,000 – 2003 BMW 760Li
Bangle may have bungled BMW styling with AU Falcon-esque polarising designs, but time arguably has treated them very well. The E66 7 Series was first, and a 6.0-litre V12-engined 760Li can now be purchased for less (much less) than an E46 M3 or E39 M5 of the same era.
$30,000 – 2007 Audi S6
Remember when Audi first lowered a Lamborghini-derived 5.2-litre V10 engine into its R8 supercar? Well, a few years before that it was already in the demure S6 four-door sedan.
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Blame quattro all-wheel drive and a 4.9-metre-long body for the portly 1910kg kerb weight, but at least the styling holds up today. This slice of soaring, free-breathing V10 cost $200K new – but a decade later, it’s yours for $30K.
$45,000 – 2007 BMW M5
For a lesson in medium sedan versus large car depreciation, look at BMW’s E90 M3 and E60 M5. The former cost $150K, the latter $250K, yet if anything the epic 5.0-litre V10-powered model is now more affordable, at $40K-plus; though leave plenty of dough in the wallet to run it.
$60,000-plus – 2010 Mercedes-Benz S600 L
Enter the era of turbocharging. Times two. Of a 5.5-litre V12 engine to produce 380kW at 5000rpm and 800Nm between 1800rpm and 3500rpm. That is life in the driver’s seat of a seven-year-old long-wheelbase Merc S-Class that humbles its 2180kg mass with 4.6sec 0-100km/h performance.
$100,000-plus – 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo
Rarely can a Lamborghini be described as a bargain. Look to the classifieds, however, and a decade-old Gallardo is now trading for around the same price as its blood brother, an original Audi R8.
