Blogging my nationwide hunt for affordable CarMax enthusiast cars. Automotive Unicorns.
Here’s the short version – the details are in the pages above. I was surprised to find that CarMax carries real driver’s cars, enthusiast’s cars, and has them at decent (for me) prices, with reasonable mileage, and offers spectacular extended bumper-to-bumper warranties that makes owning these cars affordable. I call them “CarMax Unicorns”. I am not affiliated in any way with CarMax and I suspect I’m one of their worst customers. Continue reading “Welcome to the CarMax Unicorn Blog”
Honestly, I didn’t know anything about this special edition MINI when I spotted it on the CarMax website, just that the big old #37 on the door looked peculiar to me, and I wanted to know more. Turns out CarMax has no idea either. It’s the MINI Paddy Hopkirk Edition, a unicorn, of which only 237 were sent to the USA in 2021 to commemorate young Irishman Paddy Hopkirk and MINI’s epic first-ever overall win of the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, back when the MINI was British. His car was #37. Sadly, he died of cancer a year after this car was launched.
(There were also 100 sold in the UK, 65 in Australia, 64 in Belgium/Luxembourg, 37 in Canada, 15 in India, and 10 in Taiwan, the web tells me, so really 1 of 463 if my arithmetic adds up.)
The MINI Paddy Hopkirk Edition has a whole bunch of cosmetic and appearance modifications: a paint scheme and stripe, 17-inch John Cooper Works light-alloy wheels in the Track Spoke Black design, John Cooper seats, a blacked-out grille, air intakes, a gas cap, and door handles. Nice commemorative stuff if you’re into that. Apparently, 237 owners were.
Here’s the hilarious part. The allure of the MINI Paddy Hopkirk Edition is that you get Paddy’s autograph on the left front hood stripe (above) and the dashboard (below). The CarMax marketers have included a photo of the hood under “Imperfections“. I imagine some photographer, as ignorant as me, thinks a previous owner signed the car?
The signature on the dash was not listed as an imperfection, however. The other commemorative decal is on the rear pillar.
Below, Mr. Hopkirk himself celebrates the launch of his commemorative car. The photos above and below were “borrowed” from the good folks at MotoringFile.com, and I highly recommend going there if you want to read all about why the 1964 Monte Carlo win was a big deal for MINI and Paddy.
Elsewhere, I got a kick out of reading his comments on the experience. Hopkirk thought, “We didn’t think we had a chance in hell of winning in reality, in all fairness. We were simply told to get out there and do our best.” and about the MINI, “It was an amazing car that did everything you asked it to do.” He added, “It was quite surreal at the time… even The Beatles sent me a signed picture and a telegram stating I was one of them now and I’m reminded of that almost every day… it’s on the wall of my downstairs loo.”
It was also more than just racing. “We weren’t just driving to compete, we were driving for Queen, for Country, and everything that stood for British manufacturing, engineering, and design. Great Britain was very influential at that time to the world, and the Rally made front page news, so a lot was at stake… if we did well, Britain did well, and BMC would do well.”
Rest in peace, Mr. Hopkirk.
I couldn’t find any performance upgrades to the Mini Cooper, even though it’s an “S” model under the packaging – not a bad thing. The base model had a 1.5L turbo inline-3 with a measly 134 hp, the “S” had a 2.0L turbo inline-4 with 189 hp, and the real John Cooper Works had a 2.0L turbo inline-4 bumped up to 228 hp. This MINI Cooper S should hit 60 mph in about 6.5 seconds – a second faster than the base model and a second slower than the JCW.
Not easy to see, but I found two more of these Paddy Hopkirks on Cars.com and Autotrader. Both in Florida, with a lower price and higher miles. Of course, the CarMax advantage is that you can buy the Maxcare warranty for near bumper-to-bumper coverage for another 80,000 miles and five years of spirited driving.
CarMax changed its web display again, making details hard to find and read. The car has 42,000 miles and is currently selling for $22,998. It spent much of its time with two owners in Utah and Delaware, accident-free, before being auctioned off in Manheim, Pennsylvania. This rare car is currently on reserve in Laurel, Maryland. Track it here if you’re interested.
Stock No: 28478006 VIN: WMWXR5C09M2N86833
I started writing this post on the Amtrak Auto Train headed north after my Florida pilgrimage to see the 24 Hours of Daytona, hang in Florida for weeks, and attend the Daytona 500 in one fell swoop. Done. I was intrigued by the Buick LaCrosse below, a low-mileage, low-priced car with a surprising number of features for a 10-year-old GM product. Thought I would be in and out with a “quick hit” piece. Two things sidetracked me. First, I learned that the Buick shared a platform with the Cadillac XTS through 2016, and I wondered how they compared. Second, our train just hit a pedestrian in the woods southwest of Jacksonville, Florida. Tragic, although I have more time to write. I’ll try to keep it short. Like life.
Same platform, different lines. My preference is the Buick’s soft curves over the Cadillac’s sharp creases, even though I once bought a loosely similar 2018 Cadillac CT6. All personal preference. The Buick is your trustworthy, quiet, cardigan-wearing uncle up against his younger Cadillac cousin, who also bought an espresso machine and crypto. Honestly, if it weren’t for the Vsport these would be the same car – although Buick stopped making sedans in 2020 and Cadillac continues even now.
To be fair, although I’m being a little unfair with this comparison, the Cadillac XTS is the top of the line Vsport Platinum – but it’s not the CTS-V with the Corvette V8, so it’s not completely outrageous. This Cadillac has the same family DNA as the Buick. And clearly this family favored the Cadillac with a driving coach.
Switched the order up on you. The interior shot above is the Cadillac, the Buick below. Here’s what they have in common: heated and cooling seats, heated steering wheel, heads up display, auto cruise control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, driver assistance packages, Bose audio and navigation. A lot for 2016. The XTS also has seat massagers. We love seat massagers. Just like the exteriors, the interiors are soft and circular, or sharp and linear. The Buick’s cupholders are for decaf. The Cadillac all Red Bull.
The Buick LaCrosse (above) stays with a naturally aspirated engine that ekes out 304 horsepower, which isn’t nothing, and, with GM’s Hydra-Matic six-speed, pushes 60 mph in the mid-six-second range. Not for me, but not horrible. The XTS (below) has the same 3.6-liter block (Car and Driver says it is – Cadillac says its a better block), but with twin-turbos added that increase horsepower to 410. Coupled to GM’s 6T80/6T75 series automatic with manual-shift mode, necessary for the additional power, the XTS zooms to 60 mph in a very respectable mid-four second time. Oh yeah, another difference is the Buick is front wheel drive, and the Cadillac AWD. Another reason for the upgraded transmission.
Which one would you drive? The Buick, with the added “Ultra Luxury Package”, sold new a decade ago for perhaps $45,000. Surprisingly, MSRP on the XTS Vsport Platinum was perhaps $73,000 – a whopping surcharge for the performance and complexity. But used they are within a thousand bucks of each other. Maybe the Buick is for retirees and the Cadillac is for retirees who still need to get somewhere? For sure the XTS warrants a MaxCare warranty. And with such low mileage, you could get MaxCare for another 120,000 miles on the Buick – but should you? Seems like a pretty straightforward car to maintain and fix. The Cadillac caps out at 88,000 miles of MaxCare, if that matters. I’d do it. With five years of MaxCare you could drive over 17,000 miles annually without risk of paying for a major repair. (And by the way, the Cadillac was wrecked once back in 2018.)
The 2016 Buick LaCrosse Premium is currently on reserve here in Norcross, Georgia. You can track it by the link or the Stock Number below. If you choose to. BTW – there’s an intriguing stupid low mileage LaCrosse I’ll add at the bottom of this piece if you’re interested.
Stock No: 27950006 VIN: 1G4GF5G30GF254367
The 2016 Cadillac XTS Vsport Platinum is also on reserve here in Winchester, Virginia (near me!).
Stock No: 28141142 VIN: 2G61W5S80G9128888
Amtrak Update – there is no update as of the next morning. A five hour delay into the night as the accident becomes a crime scene. The crew believes the “trespasser”, as Amtrak calls it, was a suicide. So sad. Googling it brings up nothing, except at almost exactly the same time an Amtrak train hit someone in North Carolina. Seems not infrequent – second time I’ve been on a train that hit someone on the tracks who wasn’t supposed to be there.
Continue reading “Same Company, Very Different Childhoods; 2016 Buick LaCrosse vs 2016 Cadillac XTS Vsport”
Sometimes a car’s color and design combine to make a striking package, and that’s what got my attention about this 2015 Mercedes CLS550 unicorn. CarMax has 88,000 cars for sale today, around 6,000 are red, and of those, only 100 are Mercedes.
As an aside, I created an innovative tool I’ll call a “pie chart” to illustrate the color breakdown. I would patent it if I were smart enough to make the slices match the car colors. Two points to be made here: one is that three-quarters of the cars on CarMax lots are your basic black, white, gray, or silver. Not much interest in colorful cars in the US at the moment. The second is that there are technically eight “pink” CarMax cars. There really are four; the others are mislabeled. The four are “Barbie” pink Jeep Wranglers – one a diesel and one a PHEV! Enough already.
The CLS has been one of my favorite designs since its introduction in 2004. The second generation launched in 2010 and ran through 2018, and the one above is a facelifted model. It’s a lovely red over tan. Eyecatching.
I wouldn’t call the interior dated – more like “traditional” for its time. I once owned, for about 48 hours, a Mercedes E63 AMG with the same interior, and it fit me well. This car has automatic cruise control and automatic parking, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated, cooling, and massaging seats, Harman Kardon audio, and the Driver’s Assistance Package. That’s a fairly loaded car only wanting for 4Matic. Like all CLS models, it’s a four-seater only.
Under the hood is a 4.7-liter twin-turbo V8 rated at 402 horsepower. Coupled with a nine-speed transmission (9G-Tronic), the CLS550 hits 60 mph in 4.7-5.0 seconds, depending on who you believe. Quite respectable for a non-AMG car. The engine bay looks brand new.
The 2017 Mercedes CLS550 sold for maybe $74,000 new almost nine years ago. It’s depreciated adequately, and priced at $32k, there’s hopefully room in the budget for MaxCare for another 85,000 miles and four years of risk-free driving. At the moment, the car is reserved here in Memphis, Tennessee. The stock number and VIN are below if you want to track it that way. If you’d like some first-hand feedback from one of my readers and a CarMax enthusiast, check out this exchange I had with Seth Steiner, who owns one of these CarMax CLS550’s. Auf wiedersehen!
Stock No: 27384211 VIN: WDDLJ7DB0HA192000
Drove to Florida to catch the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (done) and linger here for a few weeks until the Daytona 500 (not done) and enjoy the sun. Except once the race ended, I relocated to Miami with my wife, who joined me for a week to escape the brutal Virginia snowstorm (she shoveled while I enjoyed the race – I do feel bad), the Florida weather dropped to near freezing, and we dodged giant flesh-eating iguanas plummeting from trees. She flew home, the sun is back out, and I feel guilty….so putting in some “work” blogging.
I found a 2015 Audi S6 unicorn with the V8 motor a good month ago, and it’s still available with low miles and a low price. Audi launched the S6 way back in 1999, the third generation ran from 2012 to 2018, and the 2015’s in the middle of that run were facelifted. Interestingly, Audi S6’s started with the 4.2 liter V8, switched to a 5.2 liter V10, the Lamborghini-derived motor (used to see these at CarMax – check this out!), back to a V8 – a twin-turbo 4.0 liter for this generation, and in 2019, transitioned to a 2.9 liter mild-hybrid six cylinder. The six has the most horsepower (444) and is the quickest to 60 mph at 4.0 seconds. But first let’s focus on the 2015 with the V8!
Nothing fancy inside the 2015 Audi S6, though it’s quite well equipped. This car has heated, cooling, and massaging leather seats, a heated steering wheel, auto cruise control, cross-traffic alert, heads up display, and maybe night vision, although it’s not a listed item, and the photographer left out that dashboard shot. The listing says it has a Bang & Olufsen audio system and a Bose audio…..it’s Bose. I’ve driven a few Audis like this and dug the motorized infotainment screen, although I can hear my Dad saying, “Just one more thing that can go wrong,” although it would be covered by MaxCare.
For a mid-size sedan, the S6 has a decent trunk, although the rear seat shot is misleading. When I scoot the seat back, there ain’t nobody sitting behind me. Your leg length may vary.
My best bud had a 2014 Audi A6 TDI (diesel) he loved – it was comfortable and strong and survived the Audi diesel scandal, but not a violent encounter with a deer in Pennsylvania, and like the turbodiesel, has ceased to be. It always felt sophisticated to me. Guess this is a facelifted model, in its own way?
The Audi S6 performs well – 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds – because of the 420 horsepower V8, All Wheel Drive, and a 7-speed S tronic dual-clutch automatic transmission (DSG style). It has a governed top speed limit of 155mph. The car sold new for about $75,000 a decade ago and is holding firm at $32k now. With only 29,000 miles, you can get MaxCare for another 96,000 miles of warranty-covered driving. I’d do it. Oddly, this one-owner lifetime California car is being shipped all the way to Rochester, New York. You can track it here, or keep reading to see what the 2020 Audi S6 has to offer?
Stock No: 28021737 VIN: WAUF2AFC1FN013876
The 2015 Audi S6 is a bit analogue – just five years later, the 2020 model below gives a more digital impression. More modern. To be expected. And $9,000 more expensive and yet still within unicorn territory.
The 2020 S6, the current generation, is six years old and yet still sleek. The dual-screen system below looks as contemporary as anything on the road. The 2020 model is similarly equipped to the 2015, although with more sophisticated driver assistance (hands-free?), Apple CarPlay, and an all-digital dash. Love the quilted seats and the subdued red seats. It does, in fact, have the Bang & Olufsen audio.
The 2020 S6 is powered by a 2.9-liter mild-hybrid six that makes 444 horsepower, and with an eight-speed Tiptronic transmission and again, AWD, Car and Driver made 60 mph in four seconds flat – a half-second quicker than the V8! I asked the net to simplify the choice between the 2015 S6 with a V8 and a 2020 with a V6 and got this:
2015 for classic V8 power and character.
2020 for more tech, efficiency, and refined performance.
The 2020 Audi S6 is a two-owner, accident-free car that split its time between Florida and Illinois before being listed by CarMax in Richmond, Virginia, and now being shipped to Charleston, South Carolina. It sold new for $75-80,000, not much more than the 2015 – and is now listed at $41k – with higher miles than the older 2015, though. Here’s the listing if you want to track it.
Stock No: 27845634 VIN: WAUDFAF24LN041380
Last week, I blogged about the 2015 Audi S8 unicorn above. Here’s the link. As I published it, I wondered when I last wrote about an Audi S8 and searched my blog archives. Almost exactly a year ago, another 2015 Audi S8. The 2015 S8 above is selling for $35,998 and has 40,000 miles. The last one I wrote about was selling for $39,998 and had 38,000 miles. It gets stranger.
Here’s what I wrote last week about the one above:
CarMax reports it was in one accident in 2021, with severity “unknown”. Must have been a doozy. The details in the Experian AutoCheck Report note:
Accident or Damage Reported
Left Side Damage or Repair Reported
Right Side Damage or Repair Reported
Rear Damage or Repair Reported
Damage or Repair to Bumper Reported
Damage or Repair to Wheels Reported
If there was damage to the roof, I’d be wondering if they rolled it! How do you damage both sides and the rear? It’s buyer beware, though the accident was years ago, and you have to believe it’s rolled into the price. If you want it as a bargain to drive it until it’s not worth anything, maybe you don’t care. If you’re worried about resale, maybe you do.
And here’s what I wrote a year ago on that 2015 S8:
Oh yeah. It’s a single-owner car, and in 2018, the single-owner crashed into something in Georgia. The Experian Auto Check Report notes:
Accident or Damage Reported
Moderate Damage Reported
Right Side Damage or Repair Reported
Front Damage or Repair Reported
Damage or Repair to Bumper Reported
Damage or Repair to Hood Reported
Damage or Repair to Radiator Reported
Damage or Repair to Grille Reported
Damage or Repair to Fender Reported
My immediate thought was, “Oh hell – I just wrote about the same car twice, a year apart!” and I was annoyed that I had invested a couple of hours writing all for nothing. Yeah, I wondered why the same 2015 Audi S8 was back on the market a year later with just a few more miles and for a few thousand less, although it wouldn’t be the first time a car was resurrected by CarMax. That’s not the mystery, though.
The screenshot above is the S8 from a year ago. It’s a different color, and because I’ve been tracking Stock Numbers and VINs, I was able to verify that these are two different, but nearly identical 2015 Audi S8’s. The mystery is the almost identical, horrific damage to two Audi S8s of the same year. Not a mystery, but embarrassing, is how similar my write-ups were on both cars. Maybe I’m just running out of automotive creativity? I’ll try to be better. Anyway, wondering if CarMax buyers are on the prowl for damage-depreciated Audi S8’s?
Happy belated New Year! I haven’t forgotten my CarMax collaborators. Will explain the delay in writing in a bit. But first, a unicorn I don’t want to miss – a 2015 Audi S8. Bargain price and low miles. Low profile. Fast. Luxurious. Tempting.
(The reason for not writing here is that I day-hiked the Grand Canyon Rim-to-River in the fall and spent weeks writing about it. If you’re into hiking, the Grand Canyon, my shameless links to my other webpage adventures are at the bottom of this blog.)
This is a third-generation, facelifted S8. The folks in Audi World are highly confident that only 697 S8’s were sold in the USA in 2015, and only a few thousand over the years. A rare bird.
The Audi S8 comes fully loaded – heated, cooling, and massaging seats, auto cruise control, heated steering wheel, heads up display, adjustable suspension, Bose audio, and all the safety stuff, including Cross-Traffic Alert.
Here’s a weird deal breaker for me. At 6’4″, my head is usually at or behind the B pillar in most cars, including this big Audi. Yesterday I tried to slide into an Audi S8 and an Audi S6 at my local CarMax, and bruised my butt in the process. Both cars have this protrusion, and I hit it every time I got in. I asked my favorite CarMax Car Dude Guru Service Rep Ryan about it, and he thought it might be a side airbag housing. Google AI agrees with Ryan. The photo below was mine from the Audi S6. The only way I could own an Audi, I guess, is to have my left cheek reduced. My insurance won’t pay for that.
The rear seat doesn’t look as spacious as I’d like, with the driver’s seat probably all the way back. Nice powered window shades, though.
Enormous trunk. Nice road trip car. Motor Trend thought the fuel mileage was excellent at 27mpg highway in a 500+ horsepower big sedan. Gives you almost a 600-mile range at normal speeds. A tradeoff for sure, given the sports car performance lurking in an S8. A “regular” V8 Audi A8 gets 30mph highway – a V6 only 29!
This 10+ year old Audi is not without imperfections, and CarMax has included photos of some nicks and scratches. These are the things that would not bother me for $36k, but would drive me crazy in a higher-priced car. Battle scars. But there’s more to the story. CarMax reports it was in one accident in 2021, with severity “unknown”. Must have been a doozy. The details in the Experian AutoCheck Report note:
Accident or Damage Reported
Left Side Damage or Repair Reported
Right Side Damage or Repair Reported
Rear Damage or Repair Reported
Damage or Repair to Bumper Reported
Damage or Repair to Wheels Reported
If there was damage to the roof, I’d be wondering if they rolled it! How do you damage both sides and the rear? It’s buyer beware, though the accident was years ago, and you have to believe it’s rolled into the price. If you want it as a bargain to drive it until it’s not worth anything, maybe you don’t care. If you’re worried about resale, maybe you do.
Above is the heart and soul of the S8 – a twin-turbo V8 making 520 horsepower. The A8 V8 pushes 435. With an eight-speed automatic and AWD, the S8 rockets to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. Top speed is 155 mph, governed. Remarkable for a 4,600-pound luxury sedan. Below is some dude’s video of the motor and a quick fast getaway.
The 2015 Audi S8 sold new for at least $115,000. It’s less than a third that now, leaving room for a must-have MaxCare extended warranty. It’s currently being shipped to CarMax Capitol Expressway in San Jose, California. Here’s the link if you want to track it.
StockNo: 28161877 VIN: WAUK2AFDXFN011633
Bonus: if a high-performance Audi S8 isn’t for you, for just $4,000 more, you can get a more refined, four-year-newer A8 with a V8! This is a fourth generation, so you also get the dash with multiple flat screens, and not the pop-up display in the 2015 S8. And this one hasn’t been crashed. It’s here in Sacramento.
Stock No: 27817906 VIN: WAU8EAF89KN024307
If you comment, “Okay, Boomer,” you wouldn’t be wrong. This car is not for me. I’m sure it is for a lot of folks younger than me. I have never seen a wing this big on anything sold by CarMax. Does that make it a unicorn? I’m thinking not. I’m also thinking the Subaru WRX’s performance is not increased a whole helluva lot (if at all) by the addition of this gizmo.
The 2023 Subaru WRX didn’t come with a wing at all. This is a one-owner California car, and the one owner not only added the wing but also wrecked it about a year ago. You know who you are. This is an aftermarket unit. So are the Italian wheels, from OZ Racing. They’re legitimate rally wheels. Fan of F1 driver Carlos Sainz, Jr? Back in 1990, his dad “won the Driver’s World Rally in a Toyota Celica 4WD, equipped with OZ wheels,” according to OZ. I can live with the wheels.
The Subaru WRX STi had a wing (above), but it was discontinued for the 2023 model year.
I’m not advocating this car. It was in the results when I was searching for a cheap, fun, manual transmission car. It probably is a cheap, fun car, but there are better choices. For the same price, you can buy an actual WRX STi from CarMax – just a few years older. This base WRX has 271 horsepower, and the STi has 310, the latter running maybe a half-second faster to 60 mph, and maybe in need of the more tasteful (to me) factory wing?
CarMax has 132 Subaru WRX’s for sale as of today. This is the only one with the giant wing, so it’s pretty unique? Better act fast. (Like this car is acting fast?) This 2023 Subaru WRX is currently available here in Stockton, California.
Stock No: 28065576 VIN: JF1VBAA65P9807229
This is an automotive mystery, and I welcome help from anyone and everyone to solve it. My hobby is searching the CarMax website for unicorns, and sometimes that means searching with one attribute or another and seeing what pops up. Are there any V-12’s? Hellcats? What’s the highest mileage car? Lowest? Most expensive and least expensive? Oldest? Newest? The latter drove me to this post. Of the 83,000 vehicles in CarMax’s inventory, about 100 are 2026 models. Intrigued by how “used” 2026 models end up on CarMax lots, I dug deeper. Imagine my surprise to find a dozen nearly identical brand-new (almost no miles) 2026 Nissan Rogues not only at CarMax but also at a single dealership in Turnersville, New Jersey. I had to know more.
January 2026 Update – The number of new Rogues went up to 27, and nine have sold (so far). Most are in Maryland and New Jersey, though some strays have reached Michigan, Missouri, and even El Paso, Texas. Long ago, I was fascinated with the Where’sGeorge tracker for dollar bills. Explains my odd fascination with keeping tabs on these Rogues.
I called the Turnersville, New Jersey, CarMax, identifying myself as a writer on all things interesting at CarMax (a bit of an exaggeration), hoping to ask their sales folks how and why they came on a dozen identical “new” cars. I presume they got them in a batch at an auction, and yet couldn’t imagine why. And why sell them all at the same CarMax dealer – why not disperse them to nearby dealerships? A very nice young saleslady called me back to say she had no idea how this happened, and really, dealerships have no visibility into how cars show up on their lots anyway. I did not believe her and figured she was both clueless and, even if someone at the dealership knew, they weren’t going to tell me.
Next, I called the closest Nissan dealership to that CarMax, Nissan of Turnersville. They’re a seven-minute drive from the CarMax dealer. A gruff but loveable sales manager scolded me repeatedly that there’s no way CarMax could sell “new” cars, and these were probably old, and don’t worry about it. I assured him these were 2026 models, and as far as I can tell, they were never titled and have almost no miles. He said maybe, but if you buy from CarMax, you won’t get Nissan’s 1.9% financing (Salesmen are all alike), and I interrupted to say “not my point – a used car dealer in your backyard is selling a dozen damned near new Rogues in direct competition with yours!” I got his attention and we had a nice chat, and I gave him one of the VIN’s since he seemed intent on following up by then. I got a hint of the New Jersey mob indignation at someone encroaching on your turf and wondered if some car dealers were going to the mattresses. Imagine my disappointment when, a few hours later, I got a text saying,” By the way, if you are interested in buying a new Rogue…”
That was yesterday. Tonight, I started scrubbing the CarMax listings to begin this post and was gobsmacked to find that most of these new CarMax Rogues are moving from Turnersville, New Jersey, to the CarMax in Laurel, Maryland, not far from me. What the hell? For the longest time, the CarMax in Laurel was the last CarMax that sold new cars – Toyotas back then, so I’m wondering if there’s a connection. The web tells me there are no CarMax’s selling new cars anymore. I’m baffled why having a dozen new Rogues at a dealership in Maryland is any better than one in New Jersey. And while I’m doing this rigorous analysis over some Jack and Sprites watching Thursday Night Football, I see there are two more of these 2026 Rogue’s inbound. We are up to 14 now.
I don’t know a lot about Rogues and don’t much care. But of course, I had to dig deeper into this little SUV. It’s made in Smyrna, Tennessee. All of these models have AWD and a 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine good for 201 horsepower, 228 ft-lbs of torque, and a 0-60 mph in a sluggish 8 seconds. Be aware: CarMax lists some of these as three-cylinder and others as four-cylinder, but they’re all three-cylinder turbos. The sales price is pretty narrow, $27,998 to $30,998.
The mix is eight SV models and six S models, and all eight SV models are actually the next level up Rock Creek trim, with a few more features standard. The Rock Creek models are outfitted with automatic cruise control and Nissan’s best autonomous-driving feature, ProPILOT Assist. As an aside, I’m wondering how much better autonomous driving is on modern (2026) cars compared to my 2021 Mercedes?
The 12 vehicles above popped up in Turnersville, and the two below were listed for Laurel tonight. I’ve added all 14 to my saved folder on my CarMax profile so I can see where the hell these vehicles go next.
For what it’s worth, all of these Rogues were first available in September. All in New Jersey. No mention of fleet or rental. All say the last recorded mileage was maybe “1” OR “2” miles.
Oh yeah, for those unfamiliar, like me, with the trim levels and MSRP for the Nissan Rogue, here you go. Rock Creek is not a trim level you can sort for in the CarMax app, but you can see from the Nissan website below that trim was $4,000 more than the base model, and maybe, since CarMax can’t distinguish, perhaps a bargain? The top-of-the-line trim is Platinum. This ain’t that.
In closing, if anyone can help figure out the dynamics of this peculiar accumulation of Rogue Nissans, I would welcome your input. To help, the stock numbers and VIN’s for the 14 Rogues are below. Thanks again for reading, and I appreciate any help.
Stock No. VIN Location
27794620 5N1BT3BB9TC679037 LAUREL
27794623 5N1BT3BB4TC686445 LAUREL
27794624 5N1BT3BB8TC694581 LAUREL
27794625 5N1BT3BB8TC694435 LAUREL
27794627 5N1BT3BBXTC694405 LAUREL
27794628 5N1BT3BB0TC676110 LAUREL
27794630 5N1BT3BB3TC693578 LAUREL
27794635 5N1BT3AB2TC686767 LAUREL
27794636 5N1BT3AB2TC671153 LAUREL
27794637 5N1BT3AB8TC688846 LAUREL
27794639 5N1BT3AB2TC681178 LAUREL
27794640 5N1BT3AB1TC685769 LAUREL
NEW
27794638 5N1BT3AB5TC685399 LAUREL
27794626 5N1BT3BB5TC696028 TURNERSVILLE (COMING SOON)
Imagine my excitement at seeing a police vehicle for sale by CarMax for the first time. I expected a unicorn for sure… spotlight, cool rooftop antennae, maybe a cage between the driver and the rear seat perps, and a giant motor for high-speed pursuit. I didn’t expect this.
UPDATE – Alas, CarMax changed the listing. It’s now a Charger SXT. Photo at the bottom. 🙁
First, the interior….nothing special at all. A little bland with no gun rack or radio console. The Dodge has WiFi and Apple CarPlay, but that’s about it. The trunk is plenty big for big cop stuff, or suitcases and golf clubs. The back seat shows no blood or vomit stains, so I’m thinking this law enforcement officer was not in the apprehending business. Pretty benign.
The center stack photo below appears to be CarMax’s image capturing what a DUI captive would see. It’s not your eyes.
The disappointment is under the hood – a 3.6-liter six-cylinder barely making 300 horsepower. I was so hoping for at least the 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 with 370 horsepower. Or more. Not a lot, but a lot more than 300. The sedan does have AWD. It hits 60 mph in just over six seconds. Not chasing anyone down in this, although with 30 mpg on the highway, it might outlast a few on a long-distance run. On the other hand, this police car spent its two years in Hilo, Hawaii, racking up 45,000 miles – that’s about 200 laps of the entire island. There are no long-distance drives.
Reading the history report, I was relieved and yet disappointed to see no prior theft. How amusing that would have been. There are no CarMax dealerships in Hawaii, and this car made it to Norco, California, east of Los Angeles and Anaheim, where it dropped $1,000 in price to $22,998. No need for MaxCare on this. Here’s the link, should anyone really be interested.
Stock No: 27739384 VIN: 2C3CDXBG1PH591387
There is nothing at all wrong with the Jaguar F-Type sports car. I have struggled to get over its shape compared to the sensual XK and XKR, and yet on its own, it’s a legitimate British enthusiast car. While exploring the few manual transmission cars available in the CarMax inventory, I was surprised as hell to find a Jaguar. And when I did, I turned to the web to see how rare these cars are. All extrapolated, but it seems only 4% of Jaguars that made it to the US were manuals, and diving down to F-Types, in the “S” trim, only 100-150 were imported to the US. Here’s one. A unicorn.
Before we get to the drive train, let’s look at the creature accouterments. Or not. CarMax suggests this car has pretty much nothing going on inside and even notes it doesn’t have air conditioning. Bullshit. Amazing to me how far off CarMax can be in its descriptions. Generally, I don’t care, unless a car doesn’t have the options it says it has, in which case it’s overpriced. But what’s more important is that they get it wrong and underprice a car because it’s listed without features it really does have! Love those.
The Jaguar F-Type S is a big hatchback, like the Audi S5? or my 1977 AMC Gremlin?
Let’s get to performance. The Jaguar F-Type S is powered by a 3-liter supercharged V-6 making 380 horsepower. While it wouldn’t seem to have V-8 oomph, it actually zips to 60 mph in less than five seconds and tops out at 170 mph. I didn’t think it would be that fast.
This 2017 Jaguar F-Type S is currently on reserve in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can track it here. It sold new for $80,000 and is on sale for about 40% of that now. It’s a two-owner, accident-free Texas car for all of its time. Here’s your chance for a rare unicorn. And for this price, you can spring for MaxCare and be out the door for less than $40,000.
Stock No: 27400858 VIN: SAJWB6BC2H8K37599
