Sports Sedans Are Plush, Powerful, and Underappreciated in the Market
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In the sports sedan market, someone’s loss can be your gain. In other words, you can take advantage of massive depreciation first owners must eat by scooping up a used high-performance four-door, mostly guilt-free. If it seems too good to be true, it…well…it’s not that straightforward.
Sports sedans depreciate like 4,500 pound rocks and the main driver is a fear of steep repair and upkeep costs. Yes, it’s a strong point. Don the veil of ignorance, however, and the many positives start to make sense. For one, huge power—in many cases, supercar-beating power. Second, luxury—plush seats, high-end amenities. And finally, the combination of the two. It’s the best of both worlds, a synthesis of oppositional qualities wrapped up a generally refined and unassuming package.
BMW effectively created the category 40 years ago with the E28 M5, a sedan with subtle stylings that packed a serious punch with its race-derived inline-six. Since then, other manufacturers have followed suit, creating their own versions of the ultimate performance sedan: Mercedes with its AMG E-Class, Maserati with its Quattroporte, Porsche with its Panamera, and even Aston Martin with the Rapide. The list goes on, but one thing is true: this category of vehicle goes from hot to not rapidly (and monetarily).
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2011 Aston Martin Rapide
Image Credit: Bring A Trailer In 2010, Aston Martin launched the Rapide, the brand’s first sedan since the futuristic angular Lagonda, a low-production car that had ceased production more than twenty years earlier. With classically styled proportions and distinctly Aston Martin design language, the Rapide also went as well as it looked. A 5.9-liter naturally aspirated V12 provided serious motivation, as well as a soundtrack to die for; early Rapides made do with 470 horsepower while the Rapide S, effectively a facelifted Rapide that came out three years later, gained 80 horsepower. Both Rapide and Rapide S models transmitted that power through a six-speed automatic transmission, then through a carbon fiber prop shaft, and finally to a limited-slip differential before getting to the rear wheels—many trick bits for high performance.
This particular Rapide, a 2011 model painted Jet Black, recently hit the popular auction site Bring a Trailer where it brought in $42,500, or less than the average transaction price for a new vehicle in the United States. For this price, the lucky new owner not only gets a symphony under his foot but four legitimately supportive bolstered seats, a sumptuous Obsidian Black leather from Bridge of Weir, a sound system by Bang & Olufsen, and dual LCD screens for the rear passengers. Sure, it’s 14-years-old, but with only 28k miles on the odometer, there is plenty of life left in this English bulldog.
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2016 Audi RS7 Performance
Image Credit: Bring A Trailer Not long after Audi debuted the A7, a sedan whose styling was an acquired taste, the German automaker gave it the full RS treatment, turning the otherwise languid people hauler into a bona fide autobahn bruiser. To wit, Audi bestowed the RS7 with an uprated 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that generated more than 550 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque that, combined with an eight-speed automatic transmission and Audi Quattro all-wheel-drive, helped propel the 4,500 pound barge to 60 mph in under four seconds. Audi limited the top speed to 155 mph in standard form, but that number rose to 174 mph with the Dynamic Package and 190 mph with the Dynamic Package Plus. A few years after the RS7 launched, Audi announced the RS7 Performance, a trim level that upped the power to 600 horsepower, included carbon ceramic brakes, a sports exhaust, Dynamic Ride Control Suspension, and a sprinkling of carbon fiber throughout the exterior and interior to complement the added oomph.
Finished in the striking shade of Goodwood Green Pearl Effect, this particular 2016 Audi RS7 Performance has only 16k miles on the clock and is chock-full of both comfort and performance features. For when you can’t be bothered, there are power closing doors; for when you need to blast your eardrums out, there’s a Bose surround sound system; for when you need to see in the dark, there’s Night Vision Assist; and for when you need to look racy, there’s a carbon fiber spoiler, rear diffuser, mirror housings, and engine cover. With an original MSRP of $140,075, this RS7 Performance sold for a final price of $65,500, or about 47% of its original value. Not bad.
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2015 Maserati Quattroporte
Image Credit: Bring A Trailer The most salient example of sports sedan depreciation is arguably—and sadly—the Maserati Quattroporte. Even with its sleek Italian styling, sonorous engine note, and luxuriously appointed interior, it’s not enough to prevent the Quattroporte from absolutely plummeting, nay, nosediving in value. Let’s take the final generation Quattroporte to demonstrate the point, a generation that was in production for more than a decade. Known as the Quattroporte VI, two engine choices were available in the US: a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 making 404 horsepower and a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 with 523 horsepower. Both engine options were mated to the ubiquitous ZF eight-speed automatic, which allowed for both nearly imperceptible shifts and snappy cog swapping depending on driving mode. While the previous generation Quattroporte was widely known for its symphonic masterpiece of an engine, the Quattroporte VI is a bit of a sonic letdown, mostly due to the snails hanging off the engine that muffle its pure exhaust note. Inside, the cabin is quintessentially Italian, with high-end leather throughout with the exception of a few switches and buttons raided from the Stellantis parts bin.
This 2015 Quattroporte GTS recently sold on Bring a Trailer for $25,250, a number that would frankly be offensive to its first owner. With a relatively low 28k miles, this Quattroporte finished in Nero—or, as we Americans say, black—over a brown leather interior is a nice-looking example that has a few decent options as well. These include baller-size 21” alloys, an interior wood trim that screams geriatric, and red painted brake calipers to show how truly sporty this two-ton brick is. MSRP on the 2015 Quattroporte GTS when new was around $140,000, making this example a veritable steal.
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2020 BMW M5 Competition
Image Credit: Bring A Trailer As arguably the creator of the sports sedan, it would be a crime to not mention BMW —specifically, the F90 generation M5. Produced between 2017 and 2023, the F90 BMW M5 followed and improved upon the formula set by the previous F10 M5 generation, meaning it featured a nuclear bomb under the hood in the form of a twin-turbocharged V8 and supercar-beating performance, all wrapped up in a relatively unassuming design. In the standard M5 model, that V8 generates 591 horsepower; opt for the M5 Competition and that number increases to 617; and the most powerful, the M5 CS, develops 627 horsepower. An eight-speed ZF automatic transmission shuffles that power to all four wheels by default, but there’s a rear-wheel drive mode that allows for big smoky drifts at the touch of a button—given it’s a BMW, it’s more like a labyrinth of menus and buttons, but you get the point. Despite its weight—a hair under 4,400 pounds—the F90 M5 gets to 60 mph in the low-three second range and up to a top speed limited to 155 mph. With the M Drivers Pack, top speed increases to 190 mph.
This particular 2019 M5 Competition is finished in a daring combination of Marina Bay Blue Metallic over a Silverstone Merino leather interior and has only 2,800 miles on the odometer. Even with super low mileage and decent options—Executive and M Driver’s packages, plus an M Sport exhaust and carbon fiber roof—this M5 only managed to draw in a final bid of $76,000, or about 38% less than its MSRP of $122,220.
