Sports cars are usually the vehicle of daydreams, only acquirable by the wealthy among motoring enthusiasts. While there are used car options on the market, many of them are older and more likely to be expensive to maintain and repair in the long run.
Compared to normal cars – designed to last for a long time – sports cars have higher performance and wear through their parts quicker due to the heavier stresses and higher rates of speed. This not only results in a higher initial cost of the vehicle itself but also higher costs for the following years. According to CarEdge – a popular vehicle evaluation website – the most expensive sports car to keep running over five years is the Porsche 911, which also happens to be the best-performing car in its class. While maintenance is inevitable, repair costs can quickly skyrocket due to the exclusive nature of the sports car. These repairs can be something as small as a simple bump or scrape in the paintwork, or as big as a whole subframe replacement after a major accident.
While sports cars are fun machines that easily put smiles on the faces of their occupants, they can just as easily take those smiles away when the time for servicing rolls around. Here are 10 of the most expensive sports cars to maintain and repair over five years.
10 Infiniti Q60 ($2,477)
The Infiniti Q60 is a pretty great sports coupe with good styling, practicality, and engines. The base model starts with a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 borrowed from Mercedes-Benz, rising to a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 – the same engine used for the new Nissan Z.
The Q60 may be Japanese, but it has quite a high maintenance cost to keep it in perfect working order. The average price range is around $2,500, with any repairs and fuel bills added on top. The Q60 may be a great daily driver, but it’ll cost quite a bit to run.
9 Audi S5 ($2,562)
The Audi S5 is in its second generation and has unfortunately done away with the fantastic 4.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 and supercharged 3.0-liter V6s. In its place is a new Porsche-designed 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged unit, greatly increasing torque and fuel economy.
Being a VW Group product, the S5 isn’t without issues. According to CarEdge, a cost of around $2,562 can be expected in the first five years, with a good chance of a major repair occurring in this time as well – increasing the original estimate. The S5’s depreciation is also quite bad.
8 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class ($3,633)
The Mercedes-Benz SL-Class is a great and luxurious 2-door convertible built by one of the best German brands in the industry. The SL comes with a range of engines, but all of them have around the same reliability, mostly thanks to German over-engineering.
The SL-Class is a pretty robust model throughout its generations, but can still be costly when regular maintenance needs to be done. An average of $3,633 can be expected, and this figure excludes any free warranty work conducted by Mercedes-Benz.
7 BMW 4-Series ($3,711)
The BMW 4-Series is a relatively new addition to the motoring world after the Bavarians changed the 3-Series Coupe into the 4-Series in 2013. The engines mostly include 4- and 6-cylinder turbo and twin-turbocharged engines – all of which are pretty durable.
The first generation had some random issues which cost quite a bit to fix – like the rusting on the seat frames and the engine sensor errors – but the second generation is looking good so far. The average maintenance cost is near the $4,000 mark, but this excludes any major repairs which often occur.
6 Jaguar F-Type ($3,732)
The Jaguar F-Type is a brilliant sports car from the British company, but many had their doubts as it was a Jaguar-Land Rover product. Luckily, their suspicions were unfounded as the F-Type is pretty reliable – even with the complicated all-wheel-drive and supercharged engines.
The F-Type is now nearly 10 years old and Jaguar had ample time to sort things out. The nearly $4,000 maintenance cost for the first five years is about the type of car, but it can easily reach much higher than that – as various Range Rovers have proven over and over again.
5 BMW M5 ($4,163)
The BMW M5 is the king of the sports sedan and the current generation is better than ever. The 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 didn’t have the best of starts but fixed the issues and the version currently on sale is one of the most reliable V8s out there.
While dependable, the cost of keeping it so is quite high. The reasoning behind this is mostly to do with the complicated throttle system which requires regular attention. This results in an average maintenance bill of $4,200 over the first five years.
4 Porsche 718 Boxster ($4,180)
The Porsche 718 Boxster is the smallest car in the engineering firm’s line-up, but it is still a brilliant car in its own right. Powered by either a 2.0-liter turbo flat-4 or a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-6, the 718 is a driver’s car through and through.
Unfortunately, the 911 mini-me cost almost as much as its bigger sibling to keep running. Interestingly, the nearly $4,200 average cost is for the lower-trim turbocharged model as the larger engine is less complicated and more reliable. Who would have thought?
3 Porsche Panamera ($4,731)
Another Porsche model which is quite expensive to keep going is the Panamera. It uses the same platform as the Audi A6, but has more technology and features a complicated hybrid system in the e-Hybrid and Turbo S e-Hybrid trims.
The average cost to keep these luxurious and sporty 4-door sedans going is around $4,700. This cost excludes any repairs to the hybrid system. Even more damaging to the wallet is the $65,000 depreciation in the first five years. Ouch!
2 BMW X6 M ($5,164)
The BMW X6 M is a big super SUV that can compete with the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S e-Hybrid, Audi RSQ8, and Lamborghini Urus in terms of acceleration, speed, and luxury. It is powered by the same twin-turbo V8 as the M5 but in a larger and more practical package.
With the added weight, luxury, and speed comes a higher servicing bill with will set back the owner almost $5,200 over the first five years – excluding any major repairs and the inevitable fuel bill.
1 Porsche 911 ($5,380)
The Porsche 911 is the king of the sports car segment, and of that, there is no doubt. It handles like a dream, has enough power to keep things interesting, and can be daily driven, thanks to the pretty good fuel economy.
Sadly, there is a price for all this greatness, and that is a maintenance cost of around $5,400 on average. The reason behind this is due to the flat-6 engines, which are highly strung machines and need TLC more often.