A car for my father

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
What are your thoughts on the M5 due out later this year then? The only issue there is that the newer M5's are pretty big.... Even my E39 isn't a small car by any means. And we start to get away from what he is looking for.

Are you asking in general, or for your father?

In general:
- Awe-inspiring from an engineering perspective.
- Awesome for areas where highways have no speed limits.
- Few (if any) advantages over a 550i otherwise.
- Crying shame if it doesn't come in stick.
- I hate that it's turbocharged and direct injected.

For your father:
- Utterly useless. Despite its huge power and awesome tuning, I'd bet money that its sheer size will mean low smiles-per-dollar unless it's driven in ways that it doesn't sound like he'll even approach. It will just feel like a slightly sportier 5-series. The other options we've been mentioning will let him have a LOT more fun for his money at the speeds he'll be driving.

 

[OVERKILL]

More in general I guess, LOL! Just out of curiosity.

Looks like his choice is the best choice at this point, the SLK-350. I'll take him to BMW and see if anything catches his eye there as well. I'm not near him at the moment (in another province) but will be chatting with him early in the week.

 

[CivicFan]

Take him to test drive the cars you have mentioned to see which one he likes. All of them, except for the 1 series, will fit the German Car experience.

He just needs to see which flavor he likes

 

[Trav]

Maybe look at the Mercedes CLS. IMHO its one of the sharpest looking Benz in a long time, not light on power and rides real nice.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Take him to test drive the cars you have mentioned to see which one he likes. All of them, except for the 1 series, will fit the German Car experience.

He just needs to see which flavor he likes

That sir, is the plan

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
All of them, except for the 1 series, will fit the German Car experience.

In what sense does the 1-series not fit "the German car experience?"

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
All of them, except for the 1 series, will fit the German Car experience.

In what sense does the 1-series not fit "the German car experience?"


Too youthful, not a car for a distinguished elderly gentleman.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Too youthful, not a car for a distinguished elderly gentleman.

Not sure I agree. But even accepting that for the sake of argument, how is that un-German?

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: CivicFan
Too youthful, not a car for a distinguished elderly gentleman.

Not sure I agree. But even accepting that for the sake of argument, how is that un-German?


I was thinking "German experience for him".

 

[jaj]

Having had the E39 M5 (two, actually) and an E92 M3, I can tell you that the E9x M3 is an excellent choice. You can choose from a two-door, a two-door convertible and a four-door sedan. It can be had with the DCT transmission that works just fine as an automatic. It's easy to drive and if you have the Electronic Damping Control, it's also very comfortable for daily use.

My E92 M3 was rock solid for the three years I had it - no problems with anything, even with a fairly busy track day schedule. It was superb. If BMW Finance hadn't acted like idiots, I'd still have it.

I can't comment on the Mercedes products these days. I used to buy a new one every five years but the quality and appearance went sideways (in my opinion) when they bought Chrysler and it's never really come back since. I switched to BMW and never went back.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: CivicFan
I was thinking "German experience for him".

I'd say the fact that he's considering an SLK speaks differently, no?

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
What's the budget here? You said anything with 300+ hp. That includes the SL roadster. Someone at church just bought a used SL500. It's probably 7-10 years old, but a heckuva car. I imagine the new ones are phenominal.


Under 100K. He wasn't scared by the price of whatever he was sitting in, which I imagine was around 80.


SL550 than, you should be able to get a nearly new one.

IMHO one of the best drop top GT cars out their.

The SLK is a secretaries car, if he can its worth going all out for the big drop top.

Sadly the SLS is still to new so used ones haven't dropped that far yet.

Oh have him go test drive an SL600, if he isn't used to fast cars and liked the M5 putting his foot into that bi turbo V12 will take his breath away. That is a FAST car.

vehicle link

 

[hattaresguy]

What about a monster? Another long link

 

[OVERKILL]

Talking to him on the phone tonight, he said he was also entertaining a low mileage used example as viable. He isn't stuck on just going new.

So we quickly went through the auto trader.

We looked at a 2008 M6, 2008 Z4, 2006 M5....etc (these were all around the $40-$50K mark with very low mileage) There were no nice M3 examples with low mileage.

We've got a few dealers in Toronto that had some specimens of interest, so we are going to go test driving, new and used, in the next few weeks

hattaresguy:

What do you think of this one:

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Mercedes-Benz/SL-Class/TORONTO/Ontario/5_9193046_ON20071113113204381/

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
SL550 than, you should be able to get a nearly new one.

...

Oh have him go test drive an SL600, if he isn't used to fast cars and liked the M5 putting his foot into that bi turbo V12 will take his breath away. That is a FAST car.

Good call.

 

[Patman]

The used car dealer I bought my Civic from always has a ton of high end cars, so you might want to check out their inventory and see if anything tickles your father's fancy!

http://www.autocityonline.ca/

 

[OVERKILL]

Patman, you aren't kidding!

Just checked it out. Will take a ride up there.

 

[Patman]

That M6 convertible they've got looks like a nice choice!

They've also got a nice Dinan supercharged BMW too!

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Talking to him on the phone tonight, he said he was also entertaining a low mileage used example as viable. He isn't stuck on just going new.

So we quickly went through the auto trader.

We looked at a 2008 M6, 2008 Z4, 2006 M5....etc (these were all around the $40-$50K mark with very low mileage) There were no nice M3 examples with low mileage.

We've got a few dealers in Toronto that had some specimens of interest, so we are going to go test driving, new and used, in the next few weeks

hattaresguy:

What do you think of this one:

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Mercedes-Benz/SL-Class/TORONTO/Ontario/5_9193046_ON20071113113204381/


Nice car, if you go a year newer you get the new nose which IMHO looks better, but that's personal taste.

The R230 has been out since 2003 so its well sorted by this point.

Also be very careful buying a late model high end car from a 2nd tier dealer, there is a reason they went to auction and ended up their. Generally your best bet is looking through Mercedes and BMW's CPO websites and finding a nice clean trade in.

The dealers keep all the good trades and auction off the rest.

I haven't had good luck at all with 2nd tier dealers with high end cars, unless your looking for something common like a C or E class.

 

[hattaresguy]

Oh another option in his price range although not German would be a Ferrari 550, an Aston Martin, or a Maserati.

All extremely enjoyable and competent GT coupes.

Ferrari 550

Maserati

Aston

Aston

See so much better than an SLK LOL!