Interesting question. And I have some time to share a couple of thoughts, so here it goes

Mine was € 48.000 when new according to the insurer, in October 2006.
I bought it used at € 27.000 when it was exactly 4 years old and had done 38.000km.

So in the first 4 years € 5.250 depreciation on average. I am assuming here that a) the list price was never paid and b) the discount when new corrects for the part exchange value and the price I bought it for.

At the moment comparable cars are on the market for around € 13.000 and soon the car will 5 years older than when I bought it. So I'm looking at (€ 27.000 - € 13.000)/5 = € 2.800 annual depreciation. Actually that will be more since part exchange value will be around € 9.500. (boils down to € 3.500 annually)

Had I bought it new my average depreciation would have been around € 4.300 annually, which is remarkably similar to yours.

In the Netherlands, the value of the TT Mk2 seems to suffer a bit from three factors
1) lot's of imports of cheaper low spec TT's from the German market drive the price down
2) it's not a Mk1 (can you hear them cheer at the other side and say we told you so?)
3) there was never a huge demand for the Mk2 here

My estimate is that well maintained TT Mk2 will find a bottom value between € 3.500 and € 5.000. And with well maintained I mean: good brand tyres, no dings and dents or scratches, a fresh interior and technically fully up to date. Those that are neglected will continue to drop in value until they reach scrap metal value. By the time that supply dries up (I guess we're talking 2015 + 15 years, so 2030) the TT may start to increase in value again, depending what kind of world we live in by then and what the tax regime will be with regards to older cars.

Comparing to the Boxter is interesting. It's a Porsche after all. However it's not a desired Porsche. It's the 'you couldn't afford a 911' model just like the 914 was back in the days. The tables have turned for the 914, but that took a long long time. And perhaps only because a nice air cooled 911 is becoming very expensive. Will the R8 do the same to the TT? Become very desirable and unaffordable so people take a TT instead as it being the nearest thing? I don't think so. The current Boxter/Caymen duo will beat the current TT hands down. Porsche managed to turn them in proper desirable sports cars that seem to have a career of their own, whereas the current TT... sorry but yawn.

The Z3/Z4... I think they're not rare enough and they don't seem to have enough predecessors that are in huge demand and are increasing in value. I reckon the Z3/Z4 and the TT will remain pretty comparable cars.

I can't make my mind up where the SLK will go. I never looked at it much. Obviously I'm no yard stick for the market, but if most of the market don't look at the SLK much, then we all know where it will end: in the history books.

The Corvette, yeah the American way. Raw v8 power, chest hair, sleeveless T shirts, cowboy boots, tattoos, beer and barbecue. Attractive for some, for others not so. Plays in a league of its own. But none of the later models will ever come close to the original. Same will apply for its value.

Alfa Romeo 4C.... where will that end up? Way too early to tell. But at the current state of play Alfa Romeo is barely alive. That's never a good thing. But mind you, I do like the design and I loved the way my 156 handled and looked. Still even the special 156s don't seem to attract very much TLC. Anyhow it won't become the new Delta Integrale or Stratos, but then made by Alfa.

Having said all of the above I can hear the RS owners think... he's wrong. Yes I was looking at the 1.8/2.0/3.2 TT/TTS versions. I believe the TTRS will be the one that really holds its value and will be the first one to gain value in the future. In fact perhaps the TTRS should have been the only TT version in the Mk2 range. I only own a humble old 2.0 and would even have settled for a 1.8. So I'm glad Audi made those too. But the RS... that's the one.

While I was writing this post, my TT depreciated another 50 cents. Hope my post was worth it :lol:

 

@ TT-driver: Great reply! Being from Texas myself, I really like the bit about beer and BBQ! Yeee haw! :lol:

Like you, I bought mine used. Although it was built in 2007 it sat in an Ingolstadt (Germany) showroom for nearly two years and wasn't registered for the first time until 2009. When I drove it away from a dealership here in Switzerland back in 2013 (I'm the second owner) it only had 18,000km on the clock and not a mark on it. I paid around €26,000 (I actually pain in Swiss Francs, so the exchange rate was a slightly different then) and the dealer even threw in a brand new set of OEM tires and winter (rubber) floor mats. So all in all I was very happy with the deal.

Watching how much luxury sports car depreciate is amazing! R8's and even the new Jag F-types seem to lose nearly half their value in less than a couple of years. Makes you wonder why anyone would toss €50,000 out the window as they drive off the lot. Surely, that new car smell can't be worth THAT much!?

 

Interesting thread.As you're probably aware the UK is Germany's biggest market for the TT and secondhand prices have always held strong here.Just looking around the market for say a 2012 TTS for 22K still has a retained value of ~60% which is good for a 3 yr old car.

There's a lot of talk about the mk3 devaluing the mk2 but because the mk3 is so stratospherically priced compared to a used mk2 then imo people are going for the cheaper alternative for what is essentially a nearly new car in some cases and this keeps the market buoyant at present,but for how long...who knows.

 

@SwissJetPilot

I was at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt last month, so I know where your car was attracting customers into the Audi world
Your deal was great. When I was shopping for a TT I didn't want to stretch my budget into Jahreswagen territory. (these are the cars between 0.5 and 1 year old that Audi pushes to the market in Germany at a very nice discount. They were driven by Audi staff or journalists, or indeed were just on display for a while)

The thing with any expensive car is that those who can afford them will buy them new and spec them to their own taste. They won't buy used unless there is a huge waiting list. So the 50k doesn't only buy the new smell, it buys the experience of speccing the car up to your own taste too. The next owner wants one, but doesn't have the money. So the price has to come down considerably. Usually the running costs are increasing considerably as the car ages, driving the value of the car further down.

The VW Pheaton is another great example. No-one is willing to buy what is perceived to be a large Passat at a premium price and then spend € 1000 every year for maintenance.

For the TT Mk2: we're past the point where Audi has to throw in extras for free in order to compete with the market. So we've had that hit on value already. The next hit is in three years or so time when the first Mk3's becomes readily available on the used market. By then there has to be a significant price difference between the older model and the younger one. When I bought mine a used 2006 Mk1 was thousands of euros cheaper than a used 2006 Mk2. And I was willing to pay that price because the Mk2, in my eyes, was more attractive than the old one. So the Mk1 had to compete on price (and still lost).

 

Hi SJP,
I reckon 99% of cars lose shed loads in the first 3 years and a deminishing rate after that.
IIRC the Elise when it first came out was being sold by new owners right away at a profit and I think Lotus put barriers in place to stop profiteering from the launch.

So a straight line calculation hides part of the problem, as you say with the 11% figure..

This crazy cost is why my own view is to buy a car atleast 3 years old, which conversely means for a similar budget I can go for higher spec car than a new(ish) one.

In UK there are tax breaks/capital allowances (accountants term for depreciation), so if your car is for work and you are self employed, you can offset the loss against income tax.

BUT... given your handle, I'd better explain what 'Tax' is ;-)
It is a concept where hard working people to hand over hard earned cash to MP's who live off expenses who then squander it with little thought for value for money.

Given that on average your car ownership age is (2015-2007/2) 4 years, you would perhaps be better off buying a 3 year old car and changing every 2. The average age would be the same but depreciation should be shed loads less.

In theory...

...oops - just spotted you are 2nd owner from 2013.

 

@ DR-Smith: In the US, we have a similar sort of system; you fork over a boat load of your hard earned cash to the government (under fear of them taking it all). They then turn around and give it to people you'd rather they wouldn't (countries that hate us and illegal immigrants on welfare).

Meanwhile, our kids who are trying to raise money with lemonade stands in order to pay for college tuition, get arrested and hauled off to jail while corporate Girl Scout cookie sales remain legit.

But who am I to say...I hear it's working out great for the Greeks! Maybe they're onto something!!

 

Hmmmm it seems we have the same organisation in the Netherlands. I tried cancelling my subscription but I got a letter in return that there is no exit procedure.... it became clear my parents gave me a lifetime subscription.

 

Ha ha, I wrote to HMRC a few years back and told them I thought I'd paid enough tax and as they were a monopoly I'd decided not to pay any more tax.

Never got a reply... :lol:

Was after a year when I paid more than £100k tax and they were hassling me for another £300. I was on a call and suggested if I was buying a £100k Porsche they dealer would let me off the extra £300, but they didn't see my point.

 

A decent rule of thumb that I have seen after researching a lot of leases in the US is:

50% loss in value @ 3 years after purchase. I think TTs are actually a bit below that (smaller loss).