2009 Nissan GT-R; speculated to list at around $70k when it comes out (early 2008).

No need to import a Smart car. They should be showing up here in the states soon after the new year. At least that's what was planned, it's been a few months since I've heard anything.

buy a 1996 honda civic fix it up... and re-invest the other 90k

in all honesty ray ive learned a lot, I spent 60k in cars last year and they are a depreciating asset, and I did a LOT of driving last year (30k) and all I have to say is from now forward even if I am a multi billionaire I will find other things to spend my money on. I just cant see myself tossing more cash out just for a symbol, or comfy seats or to make myself feel sexy.

Actually I'm not sure if it affected the Grand Marquis. I assume it did because I know it affected the Crown Vic, and that is basically the same car.

Do a Google search about police officers refusing to drive them until something was done about the exploding gas tanks.

I guess they would blow up when hit real hard from behind, and there was some officers who burned to death.

Pretty sure Ford did a recall though, so if you get your car serviced at a dealer you probably already had it done. Not sure of the years affected either or all the details...just remember hearing about it because they build those cars about 40 minutes from where I live.

Looks like they only fixed the police cars, they just said fuck the 2 million other people that own them.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news02/ford_pdfires.html

That's actually pretty horrible. :1orglaugh

I too spent well over $60k on cars last year... The smartest buy I made was a shelby cobra replica which I bought late summer/early fall and ended up selling it this year after owning it over a year and having a ton of fun FOR A PROFIT!!!!

If you buy a brand new car you are simply retarded. Use some sense and buy a toy car such as a shelby cobra replica or an investment grade muscle car and you'll show everybody you have good taste while being sensible with the wallet. My cobra would get chicks a HELL of alot better than that CTS-V ever would.....

You can buy cobra's with BMW suspensions BTW if you want a nice modern comfort ride. Also somebody mentioned the lotus's which are insanely badass but really anybody over 5'9 shouldn't bother trying to drive one much.

Having a badass car CAN have sensibility. Get a couple of "show cars" in the garage and daily drive something fairly normal. Those 03-04 Mustang CObra's are a badass blend of cost/speed and you can easily add quite a few things to it to make it even faster. This kind of car can be daily driven in everything but snow.

In the $100k range don't settle for anything that isn't AWD if you have snow and you decide not to go the toy in the garage route....

http://www.networktechs.com/cobra/Picture046.jpg

Good advice!

:thumbsup:thumbsup

I bought a little BMW z-3 convertible in 2002 or so. Still thrilled with it.

I will drive it until it falls apart. I often hear people talk of cars as "investments", which is absolutely nuts. An investment gains value. Cars do not, usually. There are exceptions, of course.

I buy for comfort and a pleasurable experience. I happen to like BMW's. We could have gotten any brand I suppose, but BMW's have been very reliable for me. Second best has been Lexus.

One friend had an Escalade and warned me against ever buying one. Another friend insists that BMW (My choice) is utter garbage and that Jaguar or Mercedes are the way to go. Yet another friend says my Mercedes friend is a dipshit.

All comes down to individual choice, I guess.

My wife has a BMW 7 Series, I have the old Z-3, and we have an Isuzu Rodeo for hauling shit around. I am pretty happy with all of them. When they break I will probably replace them with newer models of the same, rather than risk a change. I will test a bunch of others though.

A brand spankin new m3 :thumbsup