# TT RS: higher than average number of previous owners?



## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

Prompted by _Danielvolt_'s comments in the "TTS??" thread, I had a browse of current UK TT RS prices on Autotrader. The prices for a nice 2018 model were roughly as expected (around £43k) but what caught my eye was the _number of previous owners_ some of the very low mileage cars had had. To look more closely, I filtered cars (2018-2019) that had done between 5,700 - 10,000 miles, which produced 13. For 3 of those, the number of previous owners wasn't stated, leaving 10. Of those 10, four had 1 previous owner, four had 2 previous owners, and two had 3 previous owners. And the two cars that had 3 previous owners had both done less than 6,000 miles  I am not too familiar with the RS market, but does this sound odd to you?

For comparison, I had a quick look at low mileage TTS's on AT and the vast majority had only one previous owner, with _none_ having three. This is hardly a scientific comparison, but it just seemed curious. 
Covid has probably got something to do with it (people losing their jobs, etc), but I don't think that alone would explain it. Btw, none of the RS cars had been tuned, as far as I could see.


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## CraigI (Dec 9, 2018)

Registered by the dealer / managers cars first??


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

Dealers would only account for 1 name regardless.

I'd wager many of who bought them were expecting "drivers cars" for that money and got bored quickly of a quick TT and moved them on. Huge generalisation, but thats my opinion.


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## leopard (May 1, 2015)

Mine too


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## macaddict111 (Jun 13, 2018)

Toshiba said:


> I'd wager many of who bought them were expecting "drivers cars" for that money and got bored quickly of a quick TT and moved them on. Huge generalisation, but thats my opinion.


I bought my TTS "second hand" and about $15000 less than it would have sold new with only 2700 miles because some rich guy bought it for his bratty 20 year old son, who then scraped three of the wheels, destroyed the windshield with some kind of chemical, and scratched the paint in one spot all in that time, all of which were less than $1000 to fix.

I think a lot of people buy sports cars on a whim and then realize they're expensive to maintain and insure and not very practical, and once the thrill of purchase wears off move on. In my limited experience that's why condition of cars like this factor so heavily into their resale value, because they're easy for someone to not care about and trash, but they're also pretty rare on the used market and there's an enthusiast population like us that actually loves them and will pay good money for used...


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## leopard (May 1, 2015)

macaddict111 said:


> Toshiba said:
> 
> 
> > I'd wager many of who bought them were expecting "drivers cars" for that money and got bored quickly of a quick TT and moved them on. Huge generalisation, but thats my opinion.
> ...


They do, but there are also people that buy a tt lol


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## CraigI (Dec 9, 2018)

The TT RS is an Haldex Audi, anyone going into it expecting it to be the pinnacle of driving nirvana hasn't done their research.
FWIW I'm really enjoying mine. Has so many plus points for me that it's easy to overlook the times when you could squeeze another 5% out of another car, that is more of a "drivers" car.
Just wish I could use it more than I am currently.

Out of interest, what would you class as the ingredients of a drivers car that leads to people keeping them for longer?
I feel it's very subjective - the best drivers car I've owned / driven is a FWD hatch back.


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## Alan Sl (Nov 11, 2009)

Toshiba said:


> Dealers would only account for 1 name regardless.
> 
> I'd wager many of who bought them were expecting "drivers cars" for that money and got bored quickly of a quick TT and moved them on. Huge generalisation, but thats my opinion.


I think this could be true also. I remember when Porsche swapped the 2.5l engine for the 2.0l in the Boxster. Within months there were loads of one owner low mileage ones for sale (more than normal) due to owner disappointment. One dealer even acknowledged that some of their regular customers weren't happy.


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## aeroflott (Feb 18, 2019)

I'd really like to upgrade to a TTRS, but I just can't get my head around owning a 40-50K car.

I'm fortunate enough to own my Ultra outright, so maybe it's my head telling me that throwing another 25-30K (which I guess would be the balance I need to find) at a lump of depreciating metal that goes quicker is a stupid thing to do.

Of course the answer would be finance, which I really should look at. I've never bought a car on PCP, but clearly that's the way to go to get my butt into one.

It's not the actual cost of a TTRS per-se, but I do like owning something that isn't costing me in terms of monthly finance payments - which is probably a good attitude to have in the long run, but it does mean I lust after things like the RS!


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

PCP doesn't change the loss, the loss is the loss. 
You are simply paying for that loss monthly with a management charge added on top.


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## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

aeroflott said:


> I'd really like to upgrade to a TTRS, but I just can't get my head around owning a 40-50K car.
> 
> I'm fortunate enough to own my Ultra outright, so maybe it's my head telling me that throwing another 25-30K (which I guess would be the balance I need to find) at a lump of depreciating metal that goes quicker is a stupid thing to do.
> 
> ...


In a way, you sort of answered your own dilemma. The key is to abandon the idea of actually _owning_ the car, which is a rapidly depreciating asset anyway. As often said, PCP is just a way of "running around" in car (like the RS!) that you can't really afford". Well, not in the old-fashioned sense anyway. But you _can_ afford £xxx per month, so just think of it as a rental. Ok, a rental with an option to buy at the end, but relatively few seem to actually do that. If it's a 3 year deal, you will have extended warranty to consider, plus an imminent service, plus an MOT, so most just 'bail out' at that point (i.e. jump into another new car), and you can understand why. You can debate the financial wisdom of this approach, but all methods of purchase/finance have their pros and cons. And none of them represent what you would call a 'sound financial investment'. :roll:

As for 3 owners of a car having only done 6k miles, I would be suspicious. There may be 'innocent reasons', but this 'background history' stuff is no longer easy to find out. I would just go for one with a 1-owner history; it's not as if there's a particular shortage of low-mileage RS's out there..


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## 90TJM (Sep 30, 2013)

Maybe all banned within a few months of owning a TTRS!


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## ChesterUK (Dec 22, 2019)

90TJM said:


> Maybe all banned within a few months of owning a TTRS!


This, or maybe it's just the type of car on a lot of ownership check lists. Been there, move on to something else.


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## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

ChesterUK said:


> 90TJM said:
> 
> 
> > Maybe all banned within a few months of owning a TTRS!
> ...


Maybe that's it, or at least a significant factor. To test the theory, I had a quick look at used Cayman 718 S / GTS models for sale on Autotrader - and found a similar thing. Couldn't see any sub-6000 mile cars that had 3 previous owners (!), but there were a few that had only done between 10k-20k. And plenty of 2-owner cars with around 10,000 miles. Even the cheaper 'S' is a cracking car, so it's difficult to imagine that the folk who bought these cars from new got rid simply due to "disappointment", but you never know. The _relative_ lack of engine noise has been very well documented with the 718, so that surely wouldn't be a surprise? Guess it depends what you are coming from and what your expectations are. Maybe same is true of the TT RS, and other £55k+ sports cars. Would be interesting to know what the people getting rid of these sports cars bought next? Probably a 'performance SUV' if recent trends are anything to go by :roll:


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## leopard (May 1, 2015)

Another thought could be the economy + Covid. Usually the car goes first.


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## Barmybob (Nov 4, 2015)

The situation and the economy are starting to bite 

Car wow have reported that January has seen the lowest new car sales figures since 1970 :!: 
https://www.carwow.co.uk/news/4647/new-car-sales


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## tt3600 (Apr 8, 2006)

No previous owners here 

I've had mine for 3.3 years and done 6800 miles. Because of lack of travel for work and Covid I'm not piling on the miles.

Recent valuation is £36,500 which l though wasn't too bad.


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## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

tt3600 said:


> I've had mine for 3.3 years and done 6800 miles. Because of lack of travel for work and Covid I'm not piling on the miles.
> Recent valuation is £36,500 which l though wasn't too bad.


It depends how you look at it. Assuming you paid around £50k, that's about £2/mile just in depreciation - quite apart from all the other costs of ownership (insurance, tax, fuel, servicing, etc). We all have to accept depreciation, of course, but with doing so few miles there is little fun to sweeten the pill. A mate of mine has a 2 year old 718 Cayman S, which he currently refers to as "a very expensive drive ornament". Been hardly used in the last year. Hopefully, all that will change in the next couple of months, but (referring back to the thread title) I think quite a few have bailed out (i.e. cashed in) already.


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