alfa 159 owners, what will your next car be?

[Garibaldi]

Yes indeed, and how many of todays current cars will be collectable classics in 30 to 40 years time? Not many I think. 

[kaleuclint]

Some will have classic status I think.  The last of the Aussie V8s should be collectable of course.  Suspect quite a few Commodores and Falcons will be put away for that purpose so they might not be rare.  If you want to know what Australia will look like in ten years time go to Moscow where the old school Russian cars are still around but in a minority, almost becoming an oddity.  But you are right; look at Porsche, BMW and Mercedes even -- their older stuff even now will be more collectable than the current offerings.

As a motorcyclist I never thought the day would come when I'd covet a Volvo!  And regarding bikes, it's even worse.  The post-1985 bikes I'd consider buying I can count on one finger.

[poohbah]

I agree - some "modern" cars will become collectible, including some solely because they have little current desirability and most will end up in the crusher. Crikey, I gave a couple of guys the thumbs up the other day because one had a slightly modded mid 80s Mitsubishi Sigma and the other had a "warm" series 1 Mazda 626 sedan. I haven't seen any other examples of either on the road for years, so it made me smile to see them. I never would have thought back in 1985 that either would be worth a brass razoo 30 years later. That said, I doubt that anything from Korea or China will qualify, at least not for another 40+ years.)

I definitely agree the final Aussie V8s will be worth hanging on to, as well as the Monaro coupes that came out in mid noughties, given they really had a pretty limited production run. I'd even guess that questionable products like those Commodore Adventra 4WD wagon will end up having specialist appeal 20 years from now. So if you spot a fully optioned one in good nick, I reckon its worth snaffling and storing in a shed somewhere.

[Thijsvr]

I like the F11 BMWs a lot, which is currently the only car I would consider a successor to the 159.