Our reach might always be outside of our grasp, and that’s very true with automobiles. There are plenty of cars out there you could afford to buy, but keeping it running would be another story. That doesn’t mean you don’t still want them. Which cars would you be tempted to buy even if for now you could just say you owned one?
Somewhere I read a story from a man who has owned a Ferrari 365GTC/4 since new. He said, “It’s great to drive when it’s running right and great to look at, but in the fifty-odd years I’ve had it I’ve spent a lot of time looking at it.” Indeed, his tale includes lots of headaches and money spent on every mile it’s covered. It’s a great car, but as a functioning motor vehicle, not so much. There are plenty of cars like that. Unlike that Ferrari, many are quite affordable, and they’d make great objects to put on your driveway to make the neighbors swoon and even raise property values on your street, but you couldn’t swing to driving it every day, if at all. What would be your choices?
To me, a perfect example would have to be a Series 3 Jaguar XJ6 or 12, or really any XJ before the boxy XJ40. My aesthetics might be forever stuck in the past, but it’s still the most beautiful four-door sedan ever built. Thanks to appearances in things like The Equalizer, LA Law and Whitesnake videos, it will still be considered a desirable, aspirational car to almost anyone who lays eyes on it.
These are typically dirt cheap, especially if they aren’t running. This V-12 one here sold on BaT for less than $2000, listed as “running” but no transmission. Again, the definition of “running” with these kinds of things is different than a “normal” car.
Honestly, even if they are fully functioning, they ride well but aren’t fast or quiet at all by modern standards. Besides, the risk of breakdown or a sudden under-hood barbecue is always there, and it likely won’t stay running for long. Don’t even talk about putting a Chevy small block under the hood; I’d rather let it sit as a paperweight than give it a Camaro motor.
No, I’d like to own one, just look out each morning and watch the dew collect on that sculpted, tapering hood. I might want to drain the oil first to keep the driveway stain-free. Some might put the equally cheap-and-tragic Jaguar XJS in as a choice. I’ve personally never been a fan of this sort-of-early-seventies-Mustang-looking thing, but I guarantee the Amazon delivery lady one day would say, “You have such a pretty car.”
Another one that can be bought for used Altima money but requires the equivalent of a monthly lease payment on a new Mercedes to keep running would be a BMW 850i. From the moment I saw that Alec Baldwin’s infamous character in Glengarry Glen Ross had one, the Munich firm’s uber-coupe from the early nineties has always remained an unattainable object. “You know why, mister? ‘Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight and I drove an eighty-thousand-dollar BMW.”
Our Mercedes Streeter is always looking for a “cheap, running example” of an early 8-series, and has said that our Thomas Hundal “knows a guy” who speaks highly of his. My response to this is a simple no. Actually, it’s hell no, I am rather certain that Thomas’s friend sinks massive sums of cash into his and can wrench like nobody’s business with huge blocks of time in his hands. On the other hand, our Mercedes Streeter seems afraid to drive my old E61 wagon much (wise decision), and if she’s cautious about running a 20-year-old six-cylinder BMW, then maintaining a 35-year-old one with what amounts to essentially two full 5-series drivetrains under the hood would be a mistake.
A “running” example will likely only stay that way for a few weeks before it nickel-and-dimes you, or more likely 1000 and 2000 dollars you even if you fix it yourself. Besides, even in the period when the reviews of the 8 series were a bit less-than-stellar, many Bimmerheads considered it to be a bit too big, too heavy, and lacking driver focus.
To be honest, Mercedes Streeter would get far, far more enjoyment out of Matt’s manual E39 530i; a much more reliable and fun-to-drive BMW. Still, I get it: it’s not the same as having an 850 in your driveway, running or not. I want one, too, dammit.
How about you? What car would you buy (or have bought) even though you know you couldn’t take care of it properly until the elusive “some day” when you’re left a large sum of cash?
Top graphic image: Beverly Hills Car Club
My wife’s choice would be a Volkswagen Eos, Murano CrossCabriolet or Range Rover Evoque convertible and my choice would be a Porsche cayenne GTS or an Audi Allroad, you the one with the 2.7T.
People know I love projects and I was once offered an 850i (or more likely840i if they exist) for $2000. The catch was that it was running 4 years ago when everything electrical just cut off, and the guy spent the last 4 years trying to chase wiring issues with no success. The only two things that worked in the car were the headlights and the rear passenger window. I passed on this “opportunity”.
I was offered an E38 750i for $1200.
I know myself well enough to know it would sit un-touched until I ended up junking it.
I have a weird desire to import a Renault Megane RS when the 1st gen (1st for the RS, they are based on 2nd gen Meganes) hits the US 25 year import mark here in a couple years. Pricing is likely to be doable, which I will note is different than “I can convince my wife this is a good idea”, but I don’t believe they fit the money pit profile. That said, parts availability is an issue, they aren’t super easy for a shade tree DIY guy like me to work on and I’m doubtful there’s a huge pool of available professionals to turn to for cars that were never sold here. So I may be setting myself up for this sort can buy/can’t fix scenario.
i have come very close, more than once, to buying a Fiat Dino (coupe). The owner of an exotic car repair shop actually talked me down from the ledge the last time I was looking at one by sharing some repair bills for a (Ferrari) Dino engine he had just serviced (same engine, if you didn’t already know). He did me a solid. But I still think they are underappreciated beautiful cars that make glorious sounds and I’m not ruling out doing something i KNOW I’ll regret if the right situation ever pops-up again.
Maserati Biturbo. They have appealed to me for a long time, but every story about one ends in a nightmare of repairs that make those Jags seem Lexus-like.
I’d love to own one of the newer Alfa Giulia’s but their overall reputation worries me. For the money they cost I’d much rather get something like a Miata(if I’d fit) or C6 and have money left over for operating costs and whatever maintenance they’d need.
Apparently my answer is the 1999 k2500 Suburban currently residing in my barn. Not really sure why I can’t get a basic 350 Chevy to be reliable but I like it too much to part ways.
Dear Spouse would go for the Audi 5000 CS Quattro Turbo or a 1st gen Allroad. I’d go for an older Nissan cabover from Europe.
Though this “Rotus” 13B powered Super Seven has a certain appeal (between apex seals):
https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/snohomish-1973-lotus-super-roadster-in/hw5pCjdFk3RGqdXr5nSHhG
Good lord that looks like the most fun you can have on four wheels, I didn’t even know I wanted this
Probably any must-have car this side of crappy old Renaults (they’re all must-haves in my book). But in recent years I found myself in a situation in which (if gas prices don’t keep escalating and turn global economy even more upside down) I could definitely save up for a few years and burn some cash on a dilapidated Rolls Royce Silver Shadow – a personal favourite in terms of cars that also symbolise everything that’s wrong with humankind – and spiral into absolute financial chaos just getting the engine to turn over. That would be fun!
Every once in a while I’ll see an Aston Martin Vantage or DB9 in the mid $50’s and it is tempting. But not that tempting.
Any big French car, I want one badly. A Peugeot 604 or Citroen CX are top of the list. I would keep a Series 3 XJ6 for my dependable backup when the French car is in the shop.
There are things I can afford monetarily but am woefully underfunded in political capital with the spouse.
Funny because the first answer that came to mind was that Audi 5000 CS in the Shitbox Showdown, because Dear Spouse would positively demand we buy it.
I kinda wish I’d picked up a nice, low-mileage 1970’s land yacht from an estate sale back when they were just cheap, used cars. Of course, back then, it would have served daily driver duties as well, meaning it wouldn’t stay decent. Now, when I can theoretically afford a weekend cruiser, well-preserved examples are well out of my range.
So, I could try to find a worn-out one for what passes as cheap these days, but restoring it to its former glory just isn’t in the budget, and I wouldn’t be content to drive it “as is” like I’m Uncle Buck or something.
Those old XJ6s are too gorgeous to care what motivates them. I picked this ’82 XJ6 with an ’87 Camaro engine and transmission up 12 years ago for $2300, shown here next to my daughter’s Corvette. Total cost of ownership to date, including purchase price, plates, tires, oil changes, etc.: $4117.
It’s been a blast to own – I’ve put between 25K and 30K relatively trouble-free miles on it (speedometer was inop when I got it) and even won a couple of trophies along with a “best-of-show: saloon class” plaque with it.
No one cared what was under the hood.
For high school Jack, it was my friend’s ’79 Triump Spitfire 1500. His parents were going to replace it with a brand new YJ Wrangler (lucky guy!), and he offered to sell me the Spitfire at a price even a high schooler could afford. But my parents said absolutely not. I suspect they were right practically, but emotionally they couldn’t have been more wrong. I still think about how cool that little yellow guy with the wood dash and houndstooth upholstery seemed.
You chose the wrong Jag. X100 XK8.
The lie I tell myself is that the reliability on the 4.2s from 2003-2004 (before the facelift made the bumpers all chunky) is good enough to make it work.
One of these days I will buy one and it’ll all come crashing down to Earth. But until then, I dream.
Yes, you want a later 4.2 car… less so for the engine (as close to bulletproof as a modern Jaguar drivetrain can be–the 4.0 isn’t bad once one addresses the timing chain guides and tensioners on the early ones), but for the the six-speed ZF automatic, which is a huge improvement, driving and reliability-wise, over the five-speed unit.
I wanted an 8 series for years until I had enough money to buy one and learned what that would mean.
I’ve also been warded off away from an Esprit several times because of that but I’m not sure how long that dam will actually hold.
No lie, my Jag mechanic offered me a Series 3 XJ12 for free just to get it off his lot. Even though I love my XJ40 and have found to be far less troublesome than one might expect I wisely refused his kind offer.
Did Bob of the headlight logo with the 8-Series make it over from the old site?
That’s a good question. I think I remember seeing his moniker here but it’s been a while. I seem to remember a conversation where he was talking about his selling the 850.
“What car would you buy (or have bought) even though you know you couldn’t take care of it properly until the elusive “some day” when you’re left a large sum of cash?”
None.
There is no such car like that for me. If I’m buying it, it also means I know I’ll have the money AND THE WILLINGNESS TO SPEND THE MONEY taking care of it/using it.
And that’s because I do my research before buying.
Note that I view ‘having the money’ and ‘having the willingness to spend the money’ as two different things.
For example… I just bought new set of 5 tires for my C-Max and an extra aluminum wheel that matches my other wheels. The tires are a more expensive set of Michelin tires. And the used aluminum wheel was $375. I’m willing to spend the extra money on good tires And I got the extra wheel and 5th tire so I can do a 5 tire rotation and have a full size spare on hand.
And I’m willing to spend the extra money because I plan on keeping the C-Max for at least 5 years… and probably more.
But when I was in the market for a car in 2024, I was seriously thinking of a 2014 Tesla Model S. It was one of my dream cars that would be suitable to daily.
But then I got the insurance quote… CAD$4500/year. By comparison, something like a Prius or C-Max only costs around $1500/year to insure.
I COULD afford the insurance on the Tesla.
But I think about what else I can do with that money.
And so I bought a C-Max Energi.
Would rather take that extra CAD$3000/year I would have spent on insurance and use it to help my kids with their post-secondary education, go on a vacation with my girlfriend, buy nice clothes and/or a number of other things.
Any vintage factory body Rolls-Royce, Silver Shadow/Wraith/Spirit/Spur, they’re all pretty reasonable to buy in decent shape, but I would not want to be holding the bag when something went wrong
This not a theoretical question since this is a purchase I am seriously considering. I have wanted a Gallardo since they were released. I see decent ones for sale for the low $100s and I am at a point where it wouldn’t be unreasonable to buy a $120k car. I could reasonably afford $10k in yearly running costs on top of that, but $30k repair bills would be a problem. I almost bought a Gallardo two years ago but went down the maintenance cost rabbit hole and chickened out.
The deal I made with myself is that I can buy a used Gallardo (or maybe even a Huracan) if I first pay off my house (I bought in 2022 so I don’t have a crazy low interest rate). I am 2-3 years away from paying off my house, at which point I may throw caution into the wind and finally buy a used Lambo. I don’t know if I will have the courage to write that big of a check, though, even when I have no other debts.
Unimog. God those would be fun.
This 1976 Cadillac Coupe Deville.
A full tank of gas here today would cost me 238 US Dollars.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202608104970160
Well crap. i wanted to say a Ferrari 308, F355, or Viper GTS, but the prices have gone astronomical since I last looked 12 years ago…
Nothing???