Everyone dreams of owning a supercar someday. There’s just something about being in control of a powerful machine that’s so exhilarating. Unfortunately, something that's easily forgotten is how much time, energy, and money go into taking care of such vehicles.
Say you’ve just gotten the keys to your very own Lamborghini Huracán. As CarBuzz points out, insurance alone will set you back $45,000 for five years. In that same period, you’ll likely spend $20,000 on gas. The average five-year maintenance cost also adds up to $21,603. Add all these figures up, and you’ve almost spent half the cost of a new supercar.
The fact is that owning and caring for a performance car comes with a lot of caveats. In this article, we’ll look at a few essential factors that need to be understood before you start enjoying your supercar too recklessly.
#1. You Can No Longer Treat Servicing Like an Optionality
Owners of average or more affordable vehicles have the tendency to be a little lax in their attitudes toward servicing. Sure, they may have been relatively disciplined with maintenance in the first few years.
However, after a while, the motivation starts to slacken. Maybe instead of every 1,000 miles, they take it into the shop after every 1,200 miles. A few years later, that number has become 1,700, or the service is skipped entirely until something breaks.
This kind of approach is simply not feasible with performance cars. While you have the luxury of owning a fancy car, you lack the luxury of being lax with care. If you want it to function at its peak with no degradation, you'll want to be proactive with maintenance.
That’s right, many luxury car owners not only meet maintenance requirements, but they go over and beyond with extra care. If you own such a car, you likely have a passion for them and enjoy the process of keeping it in tip-top shape. The point is that regardless of meeting the expectations or exceeding them, slacking off is just not an option.
#2. Small Lapses in Maintenance Have Expensive Consequences
Just take a look at the recent Porsche Macan that crashed north of Sacramento. A tow company had to pull out the vehicle after it was stopped by a tree from rolling deeper down the embankment. The driver would have had to track down a
Porsche service in Sacramento, CA, and prepare themselves for the bill.
In this case, it appears the driver lost control of the wheels, causing the accident. In performance cars, this tends to be related to wheel alignment issues. As Stewart’s Automotive of Sacramento notes, this is something that needs to be checked annually.
For those who've never owned a performance car before, the whole idea of so much care seems a little strange. Why do these powerful cars need to be treated with such delicate fingers? After all, if you’re spending $100,000 or more, you’d hope that they don’t need to be treated so gently.
There is a good reason behind this, though. Performance cars, as the name suggests, are built for high performance. SupercarBlondie points out that some models, like the Bugatti Bolide, have maintenance that seems almost absurd. This model exerts such a strong downward force and energy that the tires need to be replaced every 36 miles!
While this is an extreme example, it just goes to show that performance cars are designed with highly specific standards and requirements. The cars have such high tolerances that normal use affects them considerably more than normal. This is just part and parcel of owning these machines.
#3. Preventive Fixes Are Much More Important
Like the old saying, “prevention is better than cure,” with performance cars, you never want to let things get to the level that fixes are needed. This is one of the biggest factors that differentiates them from consumer vehicles. You’re always in a perpetual battle to keep things from breaking down.
So, while the cars are powerful, they’re also sensitive, as we touched on earlier. This is why it’s far easier to keep them in good shape than wait for something to break. You have to remember that it’s not just the car that carries a hefty price tag. Every spare part, even ones that are usually priced nominally, ends up being super expensive as well.
The Autopian pointed out how one BMW owner wanted to replace a flap that covers part of the convertible mechanism. It was a small piece of plastic, and the owner expected to pay $50 at most. The bill, however, ended up being a ridiculous $889.41. The owner jokingly captioned that they’d need a payment plan for a piece of plastic.
As you can imagine, even the tiniest of repairs end up costing an arm and a leg. So, keep your performance cars as safe as you can!
Ultimately, if you’ve never owned a powerful car before, it’s normal to feel a little intimidated by the maintenance. It’s quite similar to taking care of a pampered and slightly spoiled child. If you’re the doting kind and find their quirks charming, even the “problems” feel enjoyable to solve.
Use code carsaddiction for 20% off!