Cars To Buy, or how I learned to stop worrying and buy the money pit.

[Dennisch]

Think about it.

Every time you walk up to your freshly bought Lexus you see that unattractive face.
Sure, it will get you where you need to go but then you get out of it and when you walk away, you turn around and see that face again.

Every day will be like a Sunday morning after a drunken Saturday night where you made a terrible decision.

Edit.

@Danny had a brilliant suggestion.

Probably hard to find in the States, but this trumps all other suggestions.

 

[Sage Ages]

Where the hell are you gonna find that in New York?

 

[Dennisch]

Most likely in a sea container in the harbor after he bought it online from Europe.

 

[Sage Ages]

For $7000?

It's also too new to be legally imported if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Crash]

With the US car importing regulations and federalization requirements, Tornado is going to need a lot more than the $7-8k budget he allotted for the Citroen.

 

[Dennisch]

Well. Nope. They seem to hold quite a bit of value.

But still. Best looking of the bunch.

Edit.

@Custom878

 

[White & Nerdy]

Having driven exactly none of these, here's my ranking of these cars:

1. BMW 5 - RWD, available stick, apparently lovely engines, it's a BMW so will be fun to drive. One of only two here that gets all the car-guy stuff right.

2. Lexus GS - RWD, and the six-cylinder models use the same engine as the base model JZA80 Supra so this should theoretically be the most moddable of the bunch. Not sure how V8's stack up on that consideration.

3. Lincoln LS - RWD, available V8, and available MT, but the last two things are mutually exclusive and good luck finding that MT, or any aftermarket speed parts. The later models you're most interested in have the horriffic evil known as drive-by-wire, but I'm not sure you could notice it making your throttle response slushier because you're probably getting an auto anyway. It isn't half bad looking though. It is a bit of an old people car, despite what Lincoln intended.

4. Cadillac Seville - Nice powerful engine, and if it sounds as good as you say that's a bonus, but it's still a V8 FF, which is all kinds of wrong, and it's a bit of an old people car as well. Also, 4-speed torque-converter automatic. If possible, try to find out if it's ever been overheated, apparently Northstar blocks start to weaken after they've been overheated 2-4 times and this could become a factor if you start adding horsepower. From what I've heard, parts don't really interchange well between FF and FR versions of the Northstar engine.

5. Oldsmobile Aurora - Like the Seville, but with a smaller, less powerful engine (both the V6 and V8 are Northstar engines but probably have significantly less aftermarket support than the larger Cadillac versions). It also looks like a Daewoo from the back and just plain weird from the front.

 

[Tornado]

So it seems safe to say that the Lexus is probably the best choice of the lot, then. Close enough to the Beamer without the Beamer expenses. I figured as much from the start. I'm going to go look at another Seville this weekend (a 2003, with every option box checked and apparently with all of the service history), but I'll keep an eye out in the meantime. James linked me a really nice one that fits my budget, with the only problem being that it was in Long Island, so.

5. Oldsmobile Aurora - Like the Seville, but with a smaller, less powerful engine (both the V6 and V8 are Northstar engines but probably have significantly less aftermarket support than the larger Cadillac versions).

FWD Northstars newer than 2000, no matter which one it is, have no aftermarket whatsoever aside from reliability upgrades (and even the ones before that don't have much). The engine computer is too obnoxious to get around it for the 4th generation cars, so all things like performance exhausts and air filters do is make the engine louder and make the check engine light come on. It's moot, though, since I don't plan on upgrading anything performance-wise no matter which car I get. That's why I want a ~300hp V8 in the first place.