dustinb

This will get you laid:


And this is horrible:

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

The new Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S should be a little bit bigger than a Honda S2000 and is being compared (from a handling and power perspective) to an MX-5. ~2700 - 2900 pounds depending on options. Likely to be priced in the low to mid twenties.

Just throwing that out there.

kaisersoze

iTrader: (8)

Hmm I really like the m6/635csi but for your purposes I think an E28 or maybe E34 M5 would be better. They are smaller more nimble cars than the 6 series and have less of the lounge lizard element that the big 6 coupes had. I think the e28 is the best looking 5 series and has more style than the e39 which I think is a bit generic but that is just an opinion.
They are much more practical,have the same engine(s38) as the m6 and aren't that expensive to maintain.
Anyway just a thought

Seefo

iTrader: (5)

^Yea, good luck finding an E28 M5 (if that is what you were trying to say). Although I do agree the E28 is a sexy car. I still put my vote down for the e39 540i. an M5 will have some ridiculously expensive maintenance overall, and I think Joe seems like a frugal spender.

JasonC SBB

Only $18.5k in CA!

http://bringatrailer.com/2011/12/05/...5-bmw-m635csi/

JKav

iTrader: (1)

Joe, to expand on the 911 notion that Blaize started, you might consider a 90-94 911 (964 series).

964s were ~85% new compared to the outgoing 911 of the day, and addressed all the things you hated about the '82 911 -- better HVAC (a/c actually works), power steering, hydro clutch, a vastly better shifter... etc. They're at the bottom of their depreciation too, prices have ranged from 17-25k for years, yet still a good chunk less than a 993 which is mechanically largely similar to the 964.

Plus they don't scream desperation the way other (formerly pricey) older cars currently do.

Sam TII

Not sure if this has been suggested yet but how about a Lotus Evora? It's light, seats "4" and is a little more rare and sophisticated as Mr. Perez himself:



It might be a little too flashy though, but I think it might be a good fit, it's a least more fun than a 5 series and if you're really considering a 911 I think this might be a good contender, although probably more pricey than a 996 or the other ones you're looking at.

JasonC SBB

Bad boys bad boys, watcha gonna do!

Blaize

A lesson in putting your money where your mouth is, this arrived in my driveway yesterday

rleete

iTrader: (21)

You live in a tent?

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

That's how he managed to budget for the Porsche.



Details? (on the car, not the teepee)

Blaize

that's a photo from the sellers ad. You guys won't believe this, but I traded an old VW bus for it. When I moved to England I brought my VW with me as I knew they were/are worth MUCH more over here. Well I paid $2400 for the bus in Seattle 5 years ago, and just traded it in a straight swap for the 911 that was advertised for £11,000 ($17k). Saw the ad for the 911 on eBay and in the text he said he was selling in order to get a camper, emailed him, one thing leads to another, and bang. Straight swap. Sadly the Miata will be going on to a new owner this week as I damn sure don't need both and don't want to insure or pay road tax ($400/year) on two cars. But I am getting £4300 ($6.7k) for the Miata, so will be able to do all sorts of dumb **** to the 911 right out of the gate. To be honest I have even been looking at the megaquirt forums for Porsche's.

Its a 1984 carrera 3.2 and a euro model so a bit more power than the US ones. Stainless decat and muffler, K&N cone, and a chip. Bilsteins all round. Its been poorly maintained by the guy I got it from, but he only had it 14 months, and needs a load of maintenance done. But as I said in an earlier post, I was a dealer tech in New Orleans up until Katrina sank my house, so I still have all the special tools and manuals (dealership stayed dry).
It also had lots of elec bugs but I have most of it fixed already, all dirty/loose connections and blown bulbs. Its in ******* amazing shape, and everything works.

This is what I traded for it

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I've looked at the 964s, and was rather surprised to find that, around here anyway, they seem to price out in about the same territory as the 996s.

The other thing that bugs me, to be quite honest, is that the 964 is really starting to look like an old car. I still think they're cool, but more in a "poster on a teenage boy's bedroom wall" kind of way. Even the 993s are starting to show their age, and not just on the outside. I've never liked the interior layouts in any of the older 911s- to me, they look like something that British Leyland might have produced in the 1970s had they taken the time to stop being on strike and actually design something.

I'm really kind of liking the 996 idea, to be honest. SixShooter commented a while back on their suspension being a tad lackluster, and while I haven't put a lot of research into it yet, I have to assume that a solution to this exists in the form of some revalved dampers and new springs. From what I can tell, there's nothing particularly exotic about the mechanical design of the 996 suspension apart from having the word "Porsche" stamped onto it. Heck, Bilstein has both HDs and PSS series shocks available for them- how hard can it be?




At the risk of thread-jacking, I'm curious as to the details of your situation here. I really know nothing about immigration law in the UK- are you what we in the US would call a "permanent resident?"

Blaize

Sort of. I'll give you the short short version.

My mother is British, my father American. They met in singapore, he was bombing things in 'Nam, she was modeling, I was born a US citizen In California, when I was 20 they split and she went home.

I got married to a girl from Texas, honeymooned in England as we had somewhere to stay for free so could stay longer, she fell in love with the place. Hurricane Katrina hit, we were under 2 miles from the levvee break, and we lost everything.

wife decides she wants to go back to school for masters, as we have nothing we can travel light, why not a school in England. My mother of course loves the idea and between the two of them what can I do but go along with it. She finishes school and gets a job with the BBC, her visa changes from a student visa to a work visa, in both cases I am just on a spousal visa riding her coat tails. and thats where we are now.

Every time a visa expires we have to pay the "application fee" for the next one. its a total scam of course, there are set criteria and either you meet it or you don't, but all the same the fee is around $500 per person every time the visa runs out and has to be refreshed (she has a son so that's x3). The visa's last 2 years usually, just so they can get another fee from you.

after 5 years here we will gain dual citizenship and no longer have to play this fee game, but the clock only started when she switched to a work visa last year, so while we have been here 4 years, we are only one year into the 5 if you see what I mean. The "application fee" for citizenship is $1200 per person now and bound to be more by then (they are even more terrified of immigrants here than in the US, since joining the E.U. eastern europeans have been flooding in. All the low pay service jobs here are held by poles).

On the other hand, Her son had a MASSIVE overbite and it was going to cost well past $20k to have it corrected in the states. Its now fixed and cost me about $8 in parking fees at the hospital, so its not all bad.

I hear from brits who have done it going the other way, into the US legally, is even more expensive.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

That's one reason I asked. A friend and neighbor of mine is a UK citizen and software designer who has been in the US for about 11 years on work visa, all the while pursuing LPR status, and it was only this past year that he finally got through the last of the hoops (which amounted to little more than a waiting game, really) and got his green card.

I have heard, anecdotally, about the large numbers of eastern Europeans flooding into the UK in search of work, and the subsequent popular resentment of same; seems quite similar to the situation here in the southwestern US regarding Mexican immigration.

Blaize

Its pretty much identical. and of course causes massive public outcry for stricter immigration controls. Its actually even worse on this end in that respect because being a member of the EU forces them into an open door policy towards any EU citizen. So when they want to "crack down" on immigration, all they can do is make it more and more difficult for non EU members to get in. Frankly if we were to try from scratch now I doubt we would make it, it gets stricter every year.

anyway back on topic, buy a Benz.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Really?

I honestly don't know all that much about EU policy, but I somehow assumed, given the UK's seemingly separatist attitude (resistance to the EMU, criticism of EU energy and environmental policy, etc), that they would have placed into effect some kind of limitations on immigration policy even within the Union.


Wait, what?

A quick review:

Me: "The SL500 is actually looking quite nice."

Everyone else: "Mercs are unreliable crap. Don't buy one."

y8s

iTrader: (8)

I guess the local population is oblivious to this possibility.

also I hear the UK ranks at the top of average breast size.

Blaize

Yeah one of the fundamental principles of the eu (as I understand it, I am no expert either) is that any EU passport holder can go to live and work in any EU country, pretty much as they please. The wealthy Brits have all run off to Spain, and all the old Soviet bloc folks are here and france.

And look man, these people are all telling you to buy Vipers and Lambo's. They all drive Miata's. who are you taking advice from here. You want a Benz, so go buy one. They are mechanically fantastic, its all the electronics that **** up, and you of all people will have no trouble with any of that.

Y8S- It beggars belief, Americans are known the world over for having dead straight bright white teeth, and we all pay thru the ******* nose for it, everyone in Europe gets it for free from the state and they can't be bothered to show up. I don't understand it at all.

samulis

Stay on track with the Porsche. Only bad issue about 996 is that value is still going down. Go with Carrera 2/4.

We have the same mass movement on smaller scale. All the jobs been taken by Estonians. I work on field that has the most immigrants and have moments where I'm the only Finn of 20 ppl, fine until 6 different national origins try to communicate with bad Finnish. Weird as this has been the last and loneliest dark and cold corner of Europe and now ppl want to come here to beg on their knees or half illegal work force.

Dunno why it took 36 years before I started to really taking "advance" of the free dentist (last week) instead of bi yearly maintain check.