The Internet is a great place to get advice on what car to buy. Look, generally, you’ll do well with something like a Honda or a Toyota. But what if you like the finer things in life and don’t want to pay full price for them?
Today, we asked you about the best deal you’ve ever gotten on a car. Kyree reversed the question, answering with the worst cars he’s handled:
I have had the absolute opposite of “good deals”. These include, but are not limited to:
- The 2004 Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas purchased for $3,600 that cost me $3,000 in suspension work but wouldn’t accept any air struts. I ended up selling it for $5,000 after slapping coilovers on it and disabling the air suspension
- The 2008 Lexus LS 600h L I purchased for $11,500, not realizing it needed a new traction battery. I ended up putting one in, and doing all of the front control arms (gen. 4 LSs are notorious for being hard on their suspension), then trading it in for $11,000 on a 2015 Land Rover LR4 HSE Lux, which itself is about to lose me money
- The 1996 Jaguar XJ12 I bought for $7,500 that promptly killed its alternator and then after that, an entire transmission. Never mind that the transmission is entirely a GM 4L80E with a unique bellhousing and wiring harness. The shop (AAMCO’s) estimate went from $2,000 to $4,300 to a final bill of $6,000. And after I’d approved the repair, I found a reputable online retailer selling reman units with 18-month warranties for $1,900.
- The 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500 SL a friend and I bought off the used lot of a Buick/GMC dealer locally. We were thrilled to be getting one of the finest German cars of the era. We paid $4,000 for it and never tested the convertible top, because it was February. Turns out, the hydraulics were leaking. And when they leaked, they’d drip fluid all over the place and short out some ECU somewhere, causing the car to stumble and stall. I had no appetite for doing the hydraulics at the time, so we sold it for $3,000 to a lady from Dallas.
About the only car that’s ever panned out for me and been a deal was a 2006 Range Rover Supercharged I bought for $1,800 that needed a transmission. After that, some A/C work, a new fuel pump, and cosmetic stuff, it netted me a bit of a profit.
I don’t know why people ask me to go shopping with them for cars, because I clearly don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. I’m impatient, do not like things being half-broken, and don’t really have a proper shop to wrench on things myself. And I don’t know where people are getting these sweetheart deals from, but they never come my way.
As a bonus, here are some cars I’m glad I didn’t say yes to:
- A 1992 Citroën XM — This one had the infamous Liquide Hydraulique Minerale (LHM) leak from somewhere in the system. I didn’t have the appetite for an esoteric French car at the time, especially since I had the aforementioned 2004 Jaguar, the 1993 Benz and the 2006 Range Rover. A friend of mine who deals in classics (esp. British cars) did end up buying it; I’ll have to catch up with him and see how it went
- A 2006 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI — Need I say more?
- A 2004 Volkswagen Phaeton W12 — Need I say more, Part 2?
- A 1999 Mercedes-Benz CL 600 Coupe — W/C140s are getting harder and harder to keep running, and I didn’t have much faith in my ability to keep tis one, the rarest of them, going
- A 2004 Bentley Continental GT — Need I say more, Part 3?
- A 2006 Maserati GranTurismo — Questionable history? E-gear transmission? Italian engineering? No thanks.
There’s a reason my Touareg V10 TDI is a garage queen and not the tow pig.
Earlier today, Lewin wrote about a unique Dodge Challenger “death kart” with a tube steel body that attempted to follow the lines of the original body. It looks cool, but I wouldn’t bet on its safety. But as Rad Barchetta notes, that’s probably not important:
The Venn diagram of people interested in this creation and those interested in safety kind of looks like a pair of eyeglasses.
That was great, good night, everyone!
I’m way behind on my reading, but I’ll counter. XJ40 chassis. 3 of them. So far. And they’re all broken. In different ways. Pretty. But broken.
Buy the best examples. It’s much less painful than trying to fix some beat cheap heap.
I spent beyond top of the market for my ’11 128i convertible four years ago, and it has needed nothing but replacing the brand-new but intrinsically awful runflat tires and an oil filter housing gasket.
And there is a happy medium when it comes to premium cars. The hur-dur super performance or super luxury versions are simply pain on four wheels. A modest spec BMW or Mercedes is still massively nicer than a Camry, and massively cheaper to buy and maintain than a silly M or AMG penis-extender that won’t go any faster when you are driving in the usual congestion.
My first car in high school was a 1992 Cadillac Eldorado (North Star engine) with +100,000 miles. I loved it more than it loved me.
I learned my lesson and my first new car post college was a Honda Civic.
You can lose money on even basic cars.
I bought a used Chevy Malibu, spent several thousand to fix it to the safety levels that I require for my family, including a very expensive rear bearing, and we ended up spontaneously replacing it instead of keeping it in the family for several years. The market went down, so I lost on price I paid versus resale value as well as on repairs. I could have done nothing to it and the dealer would have offered me the same amount. I would have sold it on the open market to someone who might appreciate my efforts, but too much crap was happening in my life at that time.
Bad timing is all.
Even though I’ve had to put some money into it occasionally I’ve never been sorry for buying my Jaguar. I derive too much pleasure from it to worry much about occasional repair bills, and I’ve saved a lot of money by doing some of the work myself.
Counter argument. You got to “enjoy” and “drive” some decent luxury vehicles for much less depreciation than a Fisker Ocean! And at the end of the day you could find buyers for your vehicles, which is also probably more than can be said for the Ocean.
I remember back in the 80s my dad saying that AAMCO rips people off and tells every customer that walks through the door that they need a new transmission.
My dad said the same thing. He spoke from experience.
When I bought my two German machines, I did a lot of forum and FB group reading beforehand to see what problems people were posting. It turned out both were quite stout. The Q7 oil burn issues never came up in my search, but luckily mine doesn’t burn a drop. So far the only unexpected maintenance on either was a leaky oil filter housing gasket. The night vision in the Q7 sadly doesn’t work, but I’m pretty sure the BMW dealer I got it from broke it and yeah, good luck getting them to pay for a $2,000 night vision camera on a used Audi. I haven’t troubleshot it yet, so maybe it’s something easy.
I recently bought an off lease ’21 BMW with low miles from CarMax and I don’t drive far. I’m rolling the dice that it all goes swimmingly. I feel like a bit of an idiot for not buying a brand new loaded Camry/Accord (for ~ same price) but holy shit, I love this baby M. I suspect buying the Toyota/Honda would have been like my Passat TDI. I liked that car but I never loved it like I did my Q45.
BMW and Mercedes are NOT good investments, unless you find one with ALL service records possible.. Certain years of the LS were also more problematic…including those that dropped valve springs (and engine replacement is NOT cheap). As for Cadillac…Northstars were very problematic…but a well maintained one after 06 should not be too bad..and given the depreciation, one could as well fix any electrical issues (frustrating..and the engine is difficult to work on…but if you are committing to a car to run to 300k miles…you might as well do it).
If you cannot work on a Northstar…well- there are other cadillacs which are probably a bit better. A GMT800 Escalade is a better option.
I also love some used luxo-metal. I have a 16 XFs and a 06 330Ci now – the BMW is a salvage title…
My operating principle seems to be “buy high, sell low”. Making full use of the Capital Depreciation Fund. Who else would have a VW as the backup to a BMW?
Ha, love the confessional turn in Kyree’s post. To that I reply: you might not know what the fuck you’re doing, but you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing at least a bit less than those around you.
I trust someone who says “I’m bad at this” more than I trust someone who says “I’m super awesome at this”.
Raw honesty in that comment. And I respect it, as my life is also littered with weird purchases that I learn nothing from.
Thanks, Mercedes!