Mithras:
noone1:
Mithras:
noone1:

A good spec 12C was $275K IMO. After 4 years they are $160K. That's pretty normal IMO. What wasn't normal was that after one year they were $200K. As expected, depreciation slowed considerably from the $200K mark, which is just about where a nice 570S is starting from.

Common sense says the 570S can't depreciate anywhere near as quickly as the 12C.

You're all thinking in absolute terms. Depreciation is a percentage calculation and a percentage of current value at that. You get the largest depreciation in year one (and it's usually compounded by the fact that the vast majority of options you bought depreciate to zero in year one). So that $275k 12C was really $250k the second you drove it off the lot as your options depreciated to zero. After that it was a $250k car depreciating at 10% a year. So in year 4 it's a $160K can and in year 10 it's an ~$85-90k car.

Why would anyone care about percentage instead of dollars?

Because if a $60k Boxster depreciates by $50k in the first year it's a little more important than if your RR Phantom Drophead depreciates by $50k in year one!

In relative terms a 570S may depreciate just as fast as a 12C. But it's a cheaper car, so if you're loosing the same dollars then it's being devalued at a faster rate and that tells you a lot more than "They both lost $50k in year one." 

That's irrelevant if the cars of the same niche/category. It's only significant in the Boxster vs. exotic example because if cost of ownership were the same, you'd rather be driving an exotic than a Boxster. It becomes a legitimate question of value and experience, essentially a sort of opportunity cost. That is of course an unrealistic scenario though, and thus highly irrelevant.

Comparing percentage of depreciation of a 12C vs a 570S is not important because you'd still getting more or less the same experience. Exotic styling, exclusive doors that go up, insane performance, etc.

Huracan, Aventador, 12C, 650S, 570S, Speciale, R8, 488, F12 -- yeah, they run the gamut of $200K - $500K, but you're getting a similar package from all of them aside from performance taste in design. Losing $50K on a Huracan and $50K on an Aventador is a wash IMO. I'd probably think the Aventador is the better value because I think it's way cooler, but there are others who say the Aventador is a pig and would take a Huracan or Speciale over it anyday. Different strokes for different folks, but all still in the same niche.