akewlguy Posted August 29, 2006 Posted August 29, 2006 Spending a lot of time looking for the stylish midsize with 60k miles for less then 7k. Noticed some 92-96 3 series BMWs. Some are convertable. Anyone have an opinion on these cars. Are they bad in the winter? Are the convertable tops strong and solid? Or just a bunch of noise and problems? Seems to me the SAAB and VW's dont get the best ratings. I might go with an XLS Camery, but there are so many. Also heated seats and the other little extras would be nice! Thanks for any information.
Rx330driver Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 If you plan on purchasing a car prior to 1995, you can safely go with a mercedes...because they didnt start cutting back yet. i must through out those cars are anything proof. I have a 1984 500 SEC and it wont die, but im too sad to get rid of it. everything in the car works, except for a few electrical problems.:whistles: just checked autrotrader...its pretty hard to find something in that price range with that low miles... this is pushing it, but its an S500 for 7K in your area http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_...&cardist=43
SW03ES Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 That S500 is going to cost a fortune just to maintain provided nothing goes wrong...
Threadcutter Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 Spending a lot of time looking for the stylish midsize with 60k miles for less then 7k. Noticed some 92-96 3 series BMWs. Some are convertable. Anyone have an opinion on these cars. Are they bad in the winter? Are the convertable tops strong and solid? Or just a bunch of noise and problems? Seems to me the SAAB and VW's dont get the best ratings. I might go with an XLS Camery, but there are so many. Also heated seats and the other little extras would be nice! Thanks for any information. Chris: We've had 2) '96 ES300's, both Coach Editions. We just gave the higher mileage (330K) of the two to the son. He's going to put a few bucks into it, mostly cosmetic. I'd be willing to bet that car will go another 150K, maybe more. We got 29/26 for mileage and it goes like hell on the freeway. Nice ride, good handling, quiet, economical........what more could you ask for?
nc211 Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 That S500 is going to cost a fortune just to maintain provided nothing goes wrong... I agree.... one of my coworkers in the newport beach office has one of those. plenty of repairs, plenty.... By the way... I SPY a 95'+ black LS400 on that dude's car lot..... Hint, picture #5. PPS: I checked his inventory... you might take a look at that 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R. It might have high mileage, but the price is low....and as a previous owner of the Sentra SE-R model, I can vouch that they are no slouch car! A TON OF FUN, and fiercely fast! Damn near bullet proof too. The most fun car I've ever owned.. Apparently there is quite a cult following for the SER models too..
SW03ES Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 Man you have a better eye than I do! That S500 is a beauty, but just keeping that thing in normal wear and tear parts is going to put you in the poor house. You think an old LS400 is expensive to maintain? You ain't seen nothin...
Rx330driver Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 lol...i see it! but i didnt bother to englarge the pictures the first time. I see a jaguar too, but im guessing that will cost just a bit more.
akewlguy Posted August 30, 2006 Author Posted August 30, 2006 Anyone familiar with the 70 Volvo, 1998... Looks like a nice car with leather all the goods for 7,000 bucks. Or I see a 3 series 98 with 80k miles for 7,000. Anyone have a Solera? Toyota is so dependable. Anyone have an older Celica? I am thinking about getting one for myself.
LEXIRX330 Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 Anyone familiar with the 70 Volvo, 1998... Looks like a nice car with leather all the goods for 7,000 bucks. Or I see a 3 series 98 with 80k miles for 7,000. Anyone have a Solera? Toyota is so dependable. Anyone have an older Celica? I am thinking about getting one for myself. I had a 1994 Celica...GT....197k on her when I got rid of it...and it still ran great. I had that car when I was in college...it was great! Mother in law had a solera...and she loved that too! Both are great cars! :D
LexKid630 Posted August 30, 2006 Posted August 30, 2006 My wife had a 1995 bmw 5 series. I have to admit it did last a long time (until 2003) with only a few problems... And the Camry Solara's are just 2-door Camry's. I'm guessing they'll last just as long as the Camry's do :)
nc211 Posted August 31, 2006 Posted August 31, 2006 In my opinion, buying an older used european car v. a used older japanesse car is like betting the pot when the house is showing 21 already. Especially when you're looking at the market offerings in the $7k price range. Kewl, unless you're 1) wealthy enough to spend the money at the mechanic, or 2) crafty enough to take on the european mechanical design yourself, I would stick with the japanesse cars.. You mentioned earlier that you don't have the patients to work on your own cars, so why gamble on an old, high mileage european car when we all know the likelyhood of problems is higher than with a japanesse car???? Not to say that you could get lucky, and end up with that perfect MB or BMW. But you have to ask yourself, if it's so perfect, then why is it on Bubba's used car lot? Which probably ended up there via auction, which means where ever it was traded in at, didn't think highly enough of the car to sell it on their lot. So they shipped it out to the auction. In my old job at the credit union, the consumer car guys would pool their repos to sell to used car lots, and auction guys with 1 good car, and 10 crappy cars. If they wanted the 1 good car, they had to buy the 10 crappy cars too. They would usually sell the 1 good car on their lot, then ship out the 10 crappy cars to auctions. I saw plenty of Audi's, MB's, BMW's, Volvo's and VW's head to auction. Sometimes for kicks, I would have the guys give me the keys of one of those cars, for a test drive to lunch. Drove a few Audi S4's, 5 series, 320e's, etc.... After each drive, I was always thankful I had a Japanesse car. Bad suspension, and warped rotors I can deal with. But funky electrical problems, and odd engine noise, no thank you... We even had a 2004 MB 500 SL AMG coupe, repo'd from a Minister "go figure that one??". The car had 10k miles on it. I drove that thing, and yes it was, no pun intended, God Speed quick! But it had to be jumped to get it started everytime. Also, the a/c wouldn't work, and you couldn't get the seat heater to turn off. They were short test drives, as my butt couldn't handle the heat for too long. Reason we had so many repos is because they purchased an underwriting software package that dealerships could use on site. It would approve the loan at the dealership, on our credit union rates. BUT, in typical "hire the cheapest" philosophy, nobody cared to read the manual, and therefore the parameters for approving these loans was unbelievable. I mean, if you couldn't qualify for a Blockbuster card, but could qualify for 125% of the purchase price of a $125k super coupe car....well....you do the math... doesn't take long to read the writting on the wall on that one.. Oh, and Volvo's......burn through light bulbs like a crack addict with a $50 bill.
blake918 Posted August 31, 2006 Posted August 31, 2006 I like Volvos; some of the new ones like the S60, S80, and C70 look really cool! I don't think I'll ever get one though since I think you either have to be a college professor or a physician to actually get the dealer to sell you one. LOL I'm sure a Solara would be a great choice--but the exterior style looks a little odd to my eye. I'm sure I could get over it with the bolt on TRD supercharger! LOL Mustang GTs are actually very reliable provided that you find one that wasn't owned by a maniac. That's funny about the priest with the SL500 AMG! My uncle was a priest, and I think the rule is that as long as you don't take a vow of poverty you can buy and drive whatever you want. Their was a priest that used to speak to my school as a motivational speaker, and he showed up in a shiney new Jag XJ each time he came. LOL
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