matthewdesigns

iTrader: (8)

I'm with Hustler on this one.

**** a bitch who is worried about what car you drive. Seriously? If image is THAT important to someone you are trying to attract, you are in for an expensive ride. I'm frankly surprised to see that something this shallow has crossed your mind, let alone have it leak out onto a forum. No offense, but your rational, thoughtful, and thoroughly enlightening input on this forum on all other subjects belies this lack of confidence.

If you are just looking for an excuse to pick up a nice daily, and woman fetching is a smaller part of the equation, then I vote for a 335i

Blaize

They are terrified it might break. We are all willing to get out hands dirty (and I can safely speak for the majority of us and say we even enjoy it) but for the rest of the world, once the warranty runs out they want to be rid of it as fast as they can. Ergo; $25-30k for an accord and no interest in the £18k s class.

As to the original thread, and the perpensity our Mr Perez seems to have for 911's. I may be of some help. I spent 6-7 years as a Porsche dealer mechanic about the time the 997 was released. It is FAR AND AWAY the better car than the 996. The 996 is very much a gt car. Great for cruising and freeway work, but in the twisties the 997 is head and shoulders the better car. The numbers may not fully substantiate this, but if you do end up going that route, make damn sure you drive both before deciding which you are hunting for. They are very different animals.

Odly enough I find myself in the same boat you are. I am 35, wife and I split last month, and I am just now beginning to think that perhaps a canary yellow Miata with black racing stipes is not going to do me any favors when the time comes to replace her. My other car is a 70's green VW camper and it will be going on eBay in the spring as I will no longer need it since our son, is her son (so my stepson) and while I am not cutting him off, the family campouts are over.

Now that you are totally up to speed on my situation (and I know you were just dying to know), I am really thinking of an old late 80's 911. They are absolutely bottoming out from a value standpoint right now. $10-12k gets you a very nice car, and these are the absolute best of the "real" 911's. In ten years it is just about certain to have appreciated in value. And while the 996/997 says class and success, the real 911 says refined taste (a bit like that BMW a few posts back, however I have never warmed to beemers either). Not to mention the old ones are more fun, they are cheaper, classic car insurance, no depreciation, the 996/997 guys are all posers if you are in the real one, ect. And the 996/997 are still depreciating. It isnt going to lose what an S-class will, but you will lose something. The old ones will only go up from here.

Of course if you need A/C then ignore all of that..........

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (12)

Sometimes you have to puff up your chest to get the lady of your dreams.

gearhead_318

iTrader: (1)

Remember that it may be the same to buy the Camery or used 911, but it will be far more expensive to keep up and insure the 911. I would be scared to buy a 911 with too many miles, or too low a price.

Pontiac G8 GT or 6.0 GTO?

samulis

I dont know why it popped into my head and it is stupid, but anyway. GMC cyclone/typhon. Weird pickup kinda thingie that outran Ferraris of its day on straight line. Tho it is old yank pick up, so...

I dont know, all the cars come into my head wont go as dd, caterham/westfield 7, Lotus Elise, now to think I would be quite lost if I was in your situation.

Friend of mine has -87 911 with 993 engine and its just brilliant, sounds like bb chevy on idle and thats a lot better than the original hoover.

Im in the same boat about wondering why people buy what they buy. Just looking what great cars there to be had with Toyota Jetta money. As long it is reliable and decent on spendings I'd be fine with bit different.

How about C300?
Or 928 GTS? Or even 968? Huge boot in both and quite nice to drive. Or just go bonkers and buy TVR or Bentley Turbo R

jacob300zx

Why does it have to be newer? You live in California with perfect weather. You have a miata that with a paint job and hardtop would look great. You can by an old classic fully restored for pennies on the dollar of what the previous owners spent. I'd be rocking a classic like an Austin Healy 3000, MGA, E type, xj120. That would out class even the newest Porsche driver.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1962-...item336e6f6e96

JasonC SBB

LOLzer. I'm grateful for those types. It's because of them that I can buy a 2003 290-hp V8 540i for less than 3 year old Corolla money. When colleagues ask me "doesn't it drink a lot of gas?", I laugh at how much one of them spent on a new Prius.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Ok, I can understand that. My own mother back in Florida keeps worrying about the fact that her Camry is approaching 100k, as though this is some magic number at which cars spontaneously disintegrate into their constituent elements.

I'll eat a live hamster if that car doesn't make it to at least 200k.

So, fine. So Mr. and Mrs. average might not want to buy a 10 year old Merc. But why not buy a 10 year old Accord / Camry / Altima / etc? So once per year you have to replace a head gasket or a brake master cylinder or whatever. Even at dealer labor prices, that's still a hell of a lot cheaper than a car payment. Insurance costs are a hell of a lot lower, too.


Anyway...

Interesting. I would not have thought this, having driven neither. The 997s are rather pricier- not seeing anything at all below $30k. Lots of 996 Cabrios in the $17-$20k range, though.


The only 911 I have ever driven was an '82, and I must say that it was quite an unpleasant experience. Stiff, twitchy clutch, heavy steering, vague and sloppy shifter...



No. And die in fire.


No. And die in fire.


Heh.

I mean, I can understand caring about fuel economy if your job involves driving 500 miles per day. Why, at $5 per gallon, the difference between 25 MPG and 30 MPG would be nearly as much as a large pizza.

You wanna know what picture I've got stuck in my head right now? This:



I am seriously liking the look of the 2011 model.

curly

iTrader: (25)

Don't knock them until you try one. Quirky, but fast and extremely comfortable. They're incredibly practical as well. I put a treadmill BNIB in the back of my 900 with the seats down easily. It's like a pickup with a hatch back there.

Get a '94-mid 2000s 900 or 93 hatchback, and you'll have huge cargo room, decent handling, heated leather, automatic climate control, bose audio, turbo power, and a host of other amenities, all for under $4,000. They're SERIOUSLY under priced.

mgeoffriau

iTrader: (7)

Had a 1995 NG900 SE Turbo. It was okay. When you drive it, you realize why 98% of people are convinced all turbo's are laggy. It has power, but you've got to put your foot in it and count to 3 to find it. Kind of a dog around town.

It did have a ton of cargo room, though. Only bad thing is that, unlike the original 900's, the hatch door doesn't go all the way down to the floor of the cargo area, so items must be lifted over and then lowered into the cargo area. With the original 900's, you could just slide stuff straight into the cargo area.

I've been really tempted by this 1998 Saab 9000 CSE. I haven't gone to look at it, as I'm a little worried that if the seller would take $2000, I'd end up taking it home.

http://jackson.craigslist.org/cto/2680364659.html

curly

iTrader: (25)

I had the V6, very rare to be mated with a 5spd, but it made full use of it's 170hp, great package. I had a turbo 2.0 in a 9000, and even mated with an auto (that failed 4 times, hence stay away from autos) it didn't seem too laggy. This was years ago though, so my judgement of car performance isn't what it is now.

I forgot to mention safety, ran that 900 into a tree at 100mph, walked away with a little whip lash and a leather burn on my elbow.

Never noticed an issue with the cargo door, it's not exactly a huge lift to go up and over.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

he wants an impressive car and you suggest a saab?

buffon01

iTrader: (9)

I with Hussie on this one and I was going to say what Matthewsdesigns said on the first post. If you are going to let a car be a reason for a woman to approach you, then she might just approach you for the wrong reasons.

I would drive a 540i though. Good luck brosef.

astroboy

iTrader: (18)

Just my opinion here but if you get a car and tweak your lifestyle to attract a life partner eventually you will go back to being you, and said partner for life may not like that/you. Stay true to you and get a delorean or something you really would like rather than worry about your image.

If your looking for a ***** magnet get a Ferrari or Lamborghini and make the rounds at the strip clubs.

ScottFW

iTrader: (4)

That tickle in your wee-wee is from the plutonium that's powering the flux capacitor.

A classig Jag or Speedster or Karmann Ghia (sp?) will attract the female version of this. Is an engineer in his 30s looking for a woman in her 50s who teaches poetry at a liberal arts college?

I rolled up next to a Maserati GranTurismo in traffic a couple of weeks ago and was looking over the vehicle until I saw the driver. Mid-40s woman in a business suit, her left hand was on the wheel and had no rings on it, and she looked like an alpha cougar version of Demi Moore in Disclosure. The kind that would seduce you, grind your ***** into the consistency of talcum powder, and then kick you out on the side of the road and leave you for dead. I can appreciate that. But I wouldn't buy a Maserati even if I could afford it. When not even rockauto.com stocks parts for it, that's about the point when it becomes too exclusive for someone who does his own maintenance, not because he can't afford otherwise, but because he's a cheapskate.

Since you're mentioning AMG cars, have you looked at the C36 AMG? My dad has a 96 and its reliability has been very good, it's comfy, nice interior but not frilly, it handles pretty well, and it's not slow (3.6L I6, 276 hp). It is old enough to be fully depreciated (for example, there's one on Autotrader for sub-$8K with 64,000 miles) and you get that baller Mercedes hood ornament. The stock wheels aren't everyone's cup of tea but BBSs look boss on this car. I dig the body styling but it might be a bit dated for you if you think an E39 5-series looks old (I dig E39s too). The C36 is not a common car, but rockauto does stock maintenance parts for it (probably what it shares with the rest of the C-class of that era) and they aren't expensive at all by German standards.

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

If you want to stick to a 2-seat roadster, how about a used SL vs a newer SLK?

Honestly, any car that is clean, has AC and leather and is not too loud will be fine for 90% of the women out there.

Opti

Id say get a nice clean goat or CTS-V or a classic muscle car.

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

Add automatic transmission to that list above. The key is to find a car that is not a repellant (versus finding a car that is an attractant).

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I've been looking at them, and I still just can't come to grips with how gods-damned ugly they are.

That, and they are manufactured in a town called Trollhättan.


Scrappy Jack summarized pretty well here- I'm not looking for a ***** magnet. I'm just looking for something that isn't specifically a repellent like my present vehicle. Being fun to drive wouldn't hurt either. (eg: I am strongly biased towards small and light. Though I must admit, even a 996/997 Porsche is downright portly by Miata standards.)



I hadn't previously, but it's not a horrible-looking vehicle. Only one turned up on Autotrader (at any price) within 500 miles of SD, with 188,000 miles on it.


To me, the 90's vintage SL500 looks like a Chrysler LeBaron mated with a Fox-body Mustang.

No, if I were to buy a Merc, it'd be an SLK.


Die in a fire.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I don't know how you feel about hondas, but what about an ap2 s2k?
Not fast nor a great daily driver, but extremely sexy, relatively cheap (mid teens right now), fairly lightweight, nimble and quick, and pretty darn reliable.

Basically a more "grown up" miata.