Contest: Help me choose a new car. (in Contests)

Help me choose a new car. I'm not really into cars so I'm having a hard time deciding what to get.

I've never wanted to spend big bucks on a car because cars are such bad investments. It's hard for me to justify spending money on a nice car instead of putting a downpayment on a rental property that makes good profit in the long run. Regardless, I've decided splurge a little on the price this time.

Here are the conditions:
1. Nothing too flashy. No muscle cars.
2. $50k-$100k range (possibly more if it's worth it)
3. Sedan, Sports car, or Convertible. No Suv.
4. Provide the following:
-- Make/Model
-- Price
-- Engine (cylinders, horsepower)
-- Post a pic or link to a good information page.
-- Tell me what you like about the car

Essentially, do my initial homework for me.

Winner will get a decent character that they can proudly say was once owned by Sefton and ironically, only gets attacked by Wldflr
Elementals
Score / PR / MPR: 305,436 / 129,425 / 124,328

1) MB CLS 55 AMG

Price about 85k
8 cyl Supercharged, 493 HP
Check out www.edmunds.com under mercedes benz CL55 for detailed write up and pic.

What I love about it, its a MB so the quality (german engineering) is great. Its 4 doors so it does not look like a muscle car but is just as fast (0-60 in 4.7 sec). Seats 5 and has all the hoots/bells/whistles you can ask for.

2) BMW 645 Convertible
Price about 85k
8 cylinder 335 HP

What I love about it: It does have a back seat so you can sit 4 in it. Its fast (sub 6 sec 0-60). All the options you can want. German engineering. And a convertible with a power top and a boot the top fits in automatically.

There are others but that would depend on what your really looking for, ie a convertible, a SUV, or a sedan.

...3) My favorite of the bunch right now. 2005 Maserati Quattroporte 8 cylinders 400 HP http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/maserati/quattroporte/index.html The best car of the 4 door sedans, better than the mercedes S, the BMW 7 series, the Lexus LS 430 or the Audi A8. The king of the road, IMO and my personal dream car....

BMW 745i Sedan
price 70k MSRP
V8 4.4 Liter 325HP
you get nice driveablity, smooth ride, automatic anything you can think of, and still has some nice power in it

stupid spell checker...would use no spell check tags but thats screws up the format in posts

Heh, I was thinking of going for the corvette but there is also the Pontiac GTO with the 2004 model that came out and then a 2005 came out which added 50horspe power and was a new version of engine. Basically Corvette and the 2005 GTO had same engines and everything else was the same but the GTO seemed to have better turning radius, had lots of stuff standard where corvette had it optional, sadly no side air bags, but the gto had full bucket seats so you could take 3 passengers. It had 6 Liter tank, I think that comes out to 18 gallons. Street mpg was 18-20 I think, highway was 25-28.

Corvette looks cool though.

Ok how about a viper? Maybe go for bmw or Mercedes, high class sports cars/2 seaters lots of horsepower, ah nvm that would be like 180grand.

but yea My comparison with gto vs corvette is that the GTO was only 34 grand and the Corvette was 45k.

Maybe the gto/corvette would be considered muscle cars I guess. But they are sports cars at least.

Subaru WRX STi
300 HP, 4-cylinder turbo-charged boxer engine
4-door sedan
All-Wheel drive
Starting at $32,995 MSRP

Click here for more information.

I like it because it is a great car, very safe, with very respectable performance. I like the all-wheel drive. While it may seem sporty, if you get one without a lot of the performance additions and without rear spoiler, the only thing displaying any sort of "muscle" is the scoop on the hood. The WRX is amazingly fun to drive. Sure, you could spend $20,000 more on an Audi or BMW that almost performs as well, but...why? You can also add a lot of very nice options: mine (plain WRX) has a sensational sound system and alarm system. About the only common luxury item it lacks is the leather seat package. But once you drive a car like this, you will understand why leather just doesn't work (cloth is required to keep your posterior behind the wheel).

Happy hunting!

Within a few decades, fossil fuels will be long gone from what my Professor tells me, so do your children and the environment a BIG favour.

Minimize your carbon footprint, and fuel consumption, sure it's already too late to do stop the Global Warming, but we can still try.

If you really need to get from A to B, or A to B via C and so forth. Get yourself a,

Or if you're really up to it use those limbs you call legs, and get yourself a brand new

:)

- Land Rover's 'Range Rover'.

- Prices from £38,971.91 to £73,000.00 (not including extras).
-+ Thats about $69,186.83 to $129,596.90 .

- Engines: Both petrol and diesel.
-+ Petrol from; Naturally aspirated 4.4 litre 306bhp V8 to 4.2 litre 396bhp Supercharged V8
-+ Diesel 3.0 litre 6-cylinder turbocharged 177bhp Td6

- 4x4 do anything, go anywhere (yes including high class restaurants as well as up hills) vehicle. Too many extras to mention, go have a look at the site:
- Landrover's website.




They can also do this:

Save some money and get a Mazda 6.

You can get one fully loaded for under 30K. Get the "s" (sport) model with the 3.0L V6 and manual transmission. If you prefer an automatic, make sure you get the 6 speed automatic instead of the 5 speed.

The V6 gets 225HP I believe.

The car is a mid-size sports sedan, that has lots of interior room, handles beautifully, and is quite fun to drive. 0-60 in under 7 seconds.

http://www.mazdausa.com/
http://www.mazda6club.com/ <- read the forums
http://www.cardomain.com/profile/marmstro <- pictures of my 6s

I fully agree with Sutekh.

My dad is in love with his Subaru WRX! You will never have more fun pulling up to a stoplight and smoking past everyone who doesnt know how quick you are. It is really a great car with a low price tag. If you have snow in your area it can easily handle that with its AWD or if you just want to go have some fun off-road. If you want speed an power then get the STI version, but if you want more luxary and options then i would recommend the WRX. It can come with a sunroof, manual or automatic transmission, 6 disc radio, nice sound, of course that turbocharged engine, and much more. Really a great vechile. 5 stars!

if you go to www.subaru.com you can build your own, and it will give you a run off of the prices.

Suburus, hondas, etc are nice, but I'm pretty much leaning towards a luxury sedan. Think mercedes, lexus, acura, etc.

Here's what I have right now...

-- 2000 Toyota Corolla (I drive this one the most. Giving it away to cousin in college).
-- Lexus LS 430 sedan (gift from older brother. this is the one I'm giving to my dad because I feel like an old man driving it).
-- 2006 Infiniti FX SUV (gift from oldest brother. It's ugly but probably will use it in the winter.)

So no SUV cause I already have one. Again, no muscle car either. I'm single and 32yo. I'll wait to get a muscle car when I hit my midlife crisis in 10-15 years.

I have the Infinity SUV for my wife the FX35 and love it.

But for a single guy I would go for the BMW 645i Coupe or convertible depending on your preference.

again look at the 745i it has every luxury you can think of...

I recommend the Cadillac Sixteen. People have preconceived ideas about Cadillacs being an older person type car but this is entirely incorrect.

This car goes for about $78,000



As you can see this looks much unlike any "standard luxary" car on the market as it was taken from the original design of 1950's Cadillac and beefed up a bit.

The Cadillac Sixteen has luxary:

All this leather and wood is standard in and "standard luxary" car except the Sixteen has something that doesnt come standard in any luxary car.

Sixteen has a V16 (thats why it is called the Sixteen)
Sixteen has 1000HP (yes that is 1,000)

You might expect Cadillac Sixteen to be a muscle car but it is not in fact. When I was researching this car I read at least 30 different feedbacks from major auto magazines saying how smooth and non-jerky the Sixteen was to drive - much unlike small, uncomfortable, and jerky like a luxery sportster. In addition to power and true luxery the Sixteen is unusually fuel efficient - getting about 26 MPG - about the same as their standard cars get. I prefer to view this car as a "driver only" type of car although it is a sedan wth as much room as a full size sedan such as Pontiac Bonneville.

Bottom Line: Excellent Luxery with sophisticated power. Not many of these rolling around - how many have you seen?





Cheers

Whoops forgot to show links http://www.c2e.info/images/CAS03/cadillac16inside.jpg - interior http://www.4wheelz.net/cadillac/conceptz/sixteen/cadillac_sixteen.jpg http://motortrend.com/future/concepts/112_0308_frst_16_nose_s.jpg http://www.cardesignnews.com/autoshows/2003/detroit/highlights/images/cadillac-sixteen3760s.jpg

Get a H2 in Bast Green.

Oh, Wuss, do you really need me to comment on the fact that mpg, as a function of social responsibility if not economy, didn't even make the qualification list?

If you want class without flash then you really should consider a Jaguar.

Personally I'd go for one from the XJ series as it's the classiest of them all in my opinion (especially the Vanden Plas) and with a price list that is within your range.

All the specifications are detailed on the Jaguar website and very easy to find. Speaking from experience, I'd really recommend this car!

you could probably get a bmw or like umm here is a cheap but nice looking car a cavalier 2001 it gets 30 miles to a gallon(if its a stick)on some of them. it looks pretty nice and a tahoe is a pretty nice car its not really a muscle car but its one of the bigger ones but it looks nice, there is also the mustang like 2004 looks pretty nice or if you want one that looks like the old ones i would say a 2005(thats what i want a 2005 convertible gt mustang GT Red) and there is also a very expensive car called a maclaren its worth 1 mil but its a very very nice car it can go 60 in 5.6 seconds :) thats my dream car the seats go up instead of out and if you want to see pictures just go to google and type in maclaren then go to Images and you will see some pictures you could probably do that with any other one but maclarens look very cool if you buy one of them..i wouldnt drive it it cost's to much to drive it lol but those are the cars i think might be pretty good. Oh yeah and the cavalier you can get for 7k sometimes and the mustang from like 14k (if you want one thats been used) and up sometimes you can get it for less and the tahoe im not sure on so there you go have fun!(or you could just buy a piece of junk then get it on pimp my ride :-P)

Well, since a 50k-100k is a requirement, I'd get a BMW M3. It’s a straight 6 with 333 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque. It's naturally aspirated, which means lower maintenance as you won’t have to be taking care of your supercharger/turbo. You can get one fully loaded (and for a BMW, fully loaded means ridiculous toys) for around 60k. It's basically a 2 door coupe that actually seats 4 people comfortably. I've ridden in my buddy's and he's let me drive it once, it drives like a dream. It gets decent gas mileage and insurance is very reasonable as not every 17 year old kid has one to go out and wreck. Awesome handling and amazing power (and this is from the guy who races his motorcycle). The car is a total sleeper, looks like a normal BMW 3 series, but when you and the wife are out driving and some punk kid starts revving the engine of his rice rocket, guaranteed you'll put him to shame. The online M3 community is very strong, so once your machine is out of warranty, there's plenty of help out there to get you back up and running. Car and Driver, Road and Track, and Consumer Reports have had it listed extremely high in their “to buy” lists for years and years. I think you’d be doing yourself a great disservice if you didn’t at least go look at and drive one.

oh yeah another nice car is a viper but its probably really really expensive but it is a nice car :-D

Problem with the M3 is that they are changing the body style to the new 3 series and are changing the engine from a I6 to a V8 with 400 HP. This should be within the next 12-18 months so any new M3 you buy now will be an old style shortly.

http://www.edmunds.com/future/2007/bmw/m3/100405835/preview.html thats the link to the info on the new M3....

Pyro, you crack me up. =)

McLaren (F1), for those who want to look at it.

Pat, I can't give you any advice here. I'd never go with anything other than my trusty Ford Ranger.

I went to the Mercedes dealer today to test drive a CL55 AMG (Ranger's suggestion). While there, I also tested a CLK55 AMG convertible. Wow. Ranger gets Elementals.

That's one nice baby to drive around with. I wish I can afford one of that.

Don't care how much I earn after I graduate, or even if one day I become a millionair. I'm always gonna be driving a camry..^_^

I think the Ariel Atom would be a far better choice, Nixon.

1. BMW Z4 3.0i
2. AUS$ 86k (should be less than 100k after currency conversion)
3. Convertible
4. 6 cylinders, 2979 cc
5. Max power 170 kw/231 bhp/5900 rpm
6. Max torque 300 nm/3500 rpm
7. Info

8. My brother in law has one and I tested it. It was awesome with its superb handling on the road. Its CBC (Cornering Brake Control) was great. It includes many advance features as you can see it on the website.

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/dodge/viper/ copy and past this into website box this is one smart baby (it has all information on the website) prices range from $85,745-$86,995 and it is a convertible and it is really nice you should check it out

/me chants "Prius!"

Well, it's a little under your price range, but it's a sweet car, plus Larry David drives one.

Here's a link if you're actually interested.

'spose I should've checked if the contest was still going on BEFORE I posted.

Oh well, PRIUS!

BMW M5 E60 .... now that's what i'm talking about.

Base Price is around 80k

http://motortrend.com/roadtests/sedan/112_0410_first_bmw/

or even check out the Infiniti G35

Based on your description, I would highly recommend America's finest in luxury: http://www.cadillac.com/

http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/vseries/index.jsp?

They have a new series out called the V-Series. The car comes in three flavors, a 400hp sedan, a 469hp supercharged version, and a 443-hp convertible. This hits all three types of cars you wanted, while keeping the base model the same. It's not extremely flashy. Cadillac has always provided extreme luxury while being the textbook definition of "reserved".

Each version sports the tecnologically brilliant Northstar V8, and hits a respectable average of 0-60 in 5 seconds -- not too shabby for a luxury sedan / coupe / convertible. With a fine wood-grained internal finish combined wiht top shelf leather interiors, this car screams GM heritage. It includes an in-dash dvd player with the original Cadillac OnStar system, the system that defined the "in-car navigator" genre back in 1991.

Cadillac has always been on the cutting edge of technology, being the first to have the aforementioned OnStar, the first to exhibit a practical method of projecting the cluster in the windshield as a HUD, the first to have automatic disengageable cylinders for fuel economy, and the first to make a 32 valve V8 affordable.

What blows me away is the price point. Lexus can't touch Cadillac in terms of price. With prices starting at $51k and ranging as high as you can dream, this car will take you wherever life leads you -- in style and comfort.

Cadillac... V-Series... $51k+...V8/400hp, 469hp, 443hp...
...Perfect.