What To Buy… What To Buy?
Sat, Oct 31, 2009
One of my very good friends is in the enviable position of looking for a new car. The budget? Large. Like fifty-five thousand large. He doesn’t care whether it seats two or four, has two doors or four, or whether its FWD, RWD, or AWD. He just wants a car that’s classy and fast with a good amount of warranty left. Oh, and the purchase will be made in the spring, so we can count on a little more depreciation between now and then. And the car will be purchased used to avoid annoyances like GST.
So of course I took it upon myself to brainstorm suggestions. After thinking that a 2007/2008 335i coupe would be ideal, I decided to confer with my personal list of dream cars, just in case one of them popped out at me. Sure enough, the Audi RS4 was on the list, causing my neural synapses to fire exuberantly with eureka. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? A 2007 model with 30,000-40,000km is very doable with his price range. It has AWD for our Canadian winters, a 4.2L V8 that revs to over 8,000 rpm and makes 420 hp, and it has just a hair of sleeper appeal. Oh, and those flared wheel arches! Just glorious. So that’s my pick and I’m sticking to it.
What would you suggest? C’mon, help a brother out.
Tags: Audi RS4
I would be scouring eBay for a 2006 Maserati Quattroporte with less than 40,000 KM. You have to love a car that has a screaming Ferrari-derived V8, oozes Italian style from every orifice, and that has lost 55-70% of its value in three years. All-wheel-drive? Feh, sez I. It probably has traction control. Boing!
A Porsche Cayman would be doable at that price, which is a good thing. Awesome on a track, rock solid reliability, not as boring looking as other Porsches. Although I also think a BMW 135i with the Dinan flash and the camber plates would be high on the awesome list. 398hp and 421 ft-lbs of torque from the N54 is just so damn cool and their camber plates are supposed to help quite a bit with the 135's understeer problem. I love how Dinan's stuff doesn't void your warranty.
Hell, he might even be able to get a 2008 GTI and a 2005ish Lotus Elise, if he was so inclined.
An '09 Lancer Ralliart Sportback…and he'd have a little cash left over for "upgrades," depending on how he chose to outfit it from the factory. It's got fun, it's fast, it's certainly sleek and good looking—and would be excellent in winter.