10 Low-Grade Low-Priced Unicorns Somebody Wants. Maybe You? (If not I have 10 more!)

Doing a bit of house cleaning.  Have over 200 unicorns in my profile, some more intriguing than others, and thought I’d get 10 of them out here for you to pick through.  In my years as an auto enthusiast I’ve learned there are car fans and car clubs for pretty much every car out there.  These caught my eye – some I’d actually own – and others because they are an interesting combination of price, performance, mileage, and maybe extinction?  Anyway will keep the writing short and get them to press.  Here we go.

Only 6,000 miles on this modest beauty.  Not yearly – total!  A decent 328hp and AWD.  Here’s an Autoblog review.  This two-owner Maryland car sold for almost $40,000 when new eight years ago and is available here in Midlothian (near Richmond) Virginia for $20,998.  Nice car and thought the depreciation would be more.  The crazy low miles are to blame.

Drove one of these before I bought my 911 and was really impressed with the all around poise and performance.  Reminded me of my old Camaro with the long nose and two door look.  Except that was a slow six cylinder.  Anyway, this 2010 is both low-priced AND low miles AND pretty well equipped – seat heaters, blind spot monitors, rear view camera and AWD.  Sold new for about $58,000.  Has the 354hp 4.2l V-8 also found in the A8 (and formerly in the S4 and A6!).  Current S5’s now have the supercharged V-6.  Here’s the review in Autoweek.  Find this well balanced two-owner car here in Irvine, California.

Haven’t seen one of these in forever.  But it’s not just a bigass Kia Borrego, it’s a V-8 Borrego!   Thought for CarMax they had gone the way of the V-8 Toureg.  It’s a gigantic body on frame old school SUV, with 4WD (high and low range!), and third row seating.  The 4.6l V-8 alas only makes 337hp, but you’ll be the only one on your block with one.  According to the Car and Driver review they sold for over $30,000 and came on the market at exactly the same time nobody wanted full sized SUV’s anymore.  I’ll bet there are cheaper ones on Autotrader but at least with CarMax you can get a MaxCare warranty for another 25-50,000 miles and five more years.  Find this two owner (OK and KS) truck here in St. Louis.  It’s high miles but only $12k!

This, my friends, is a real honest to God unicorn.  A low-mileage, low-priced, high-horsepower, MANUAL TRANSMISSION Cadillac CTS-V.  I’ll share the review up front from The Truth About Cars.  Almost nothing to not like.  A 556hp beast.  Supercharged 6.2l engine.  Nine years old, three Florida owners, no accidents.  Find it here in Madison, Tennessee.  Probably deserves its own blog posting it’s so good!

Not a performance car (but not slow).  Just a decent little extinct experiment by General Motors that didn’t work out.  I happen to think the 2008 Aura is a nice almost-German sedan with a 3.6l more-than–adequate V-6 engine.  I was stunned Road and Track nailed a sub-6 second 0-60!  Here’s the review.  It’s nicely appointed and costs less than $10,000.  And of course CarMax will sell you a cheap warranty for another 75,000 miles or more – and five years – on an 11 year old car.  That’s a deal.  Find this single owner car here in Clearwater, Florida.

Miss the Chrysler Crossfire?  The Crossfire was built on the first generation SLK platform, and this little beauty is the second generation SLK.  Not a rocket with only a 226hp 3.0l six, but it’s an adorable hard top convertible coupe that’s nine years old and with only 10,000 miles.  It has the cool (hot?) Air Scarf neck heater I wish my ’71 Fiat had.  There aren’t a lot of reviews about this car, but this one from Motor Trend in 2009 criticized it for being fun – but not $55,000 fun.  Maybe someone will find this nearly new car $22,000 fun?  It’s a two owner Virginia car that has made its way here to Philadelphia.

 

Here’s a second Cadillac that caught my eye.  This one is a little out there.  The 275hp Northstar V-8 always gets crushed in viewer comments.  But is has s-t-y-l-e.  Gold emblems.  It would make a great Uber Black money-maker.  Or a mob car with that five body trunk.  I absolutely hate the vinyl top and tried to do some internet research on why they exist and who wants them, and found nothing before I got bored and quit.  If you know please comment.  That said, it was a $50,000 big Caddy when new, and is now only $13,998 with fairly low miles.  It’s a one-owner Texas car, and yes, that owner had an accident earlier this year in Dallas.  Not sure how CarMax’s Autocheck can report “ACCIDENT OR COLLISION REPORTED. MINOR DAMAGE REPORTED. BODY REPAIR PERFORMED” and also “Your Vehicle Checks Out: AutoCheck has not received a damage-related event from an auction or an independent source. Not all damage events are reported to AutoCheck.”  Here’s a review from New Car Test Drive – it’s everything it looks like it is.  Find it here in Irving, Texas – where else?

Here’s another extinct unicorn for you.  A rarely driven Mercury Mariner for only $12,599.  Kind of reminds me of a Ford Escape?  Maybe a Mazda Tribute? Leather interior, a decent V-6 that while underpowered is more than adequate for daily use, and seat heaters, parking sensors, sunroof, and Bluetooth – would make a great spare utility car.  With only 19,000 miles it’s damned near new.  I wouldn’t bother with MaxCare – check out this article on Autotrader – Ford Escapes (yes I knew the Mariner, Escape, and Tribute are triplets) bang out over 170,000 miles easily as the highest mileage taxis on the streets of New York.  Cheap, reliable, comfortable family hauler with a little more style than an Escape.  I know – have driven two nearly identical Escapes thousands of miles.  Find this one owner California car here in Ontario, California.

This Audi is the reason I created this unicorn blog.  My Mercedes S55 (Guenther) taught me that for the price of a Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, an auto enthusiast of modest means could buy a high end car, and with the MaxCare warranty, shift the financial risk of repairs to CarMax.  “Driving rich”, as one reader wrote.  This Audi A8L is fully loaded – even has night vision – and is selling for only $23,998!   It has a decent 372hp 4.2l V-8 – the same as in the 2010 S5 above (but with 18hp more) – AWD, adjustable suspension, blind spot monitor, lane departure warning, a massive trunk, and a pristine engine bay.  Driven about 6,000 miles a year, this eight year old car is just plain cream puff.  A fine opportunity to “drive rich” – and worry free with MaxCare.  This two owner (Georgia-California) accident free luxury German unicorn is here in Lithia Springs, Georgia.

Let’s wrap this up with an old-school muscle car.  With 20″ wheels and a slick triple-black look, this 11 year old low-mileage convetible is a bargain.  Navigation, Bluetooth, seat heaters, Shaker sound system, it’s all you need for drop-top fun.  The 4.6l V-8 is good for only 300hp, and yet good for a 0-60 in the five second range.  Never figured that out.  And it rumbles.  But driven less than 2,500 miles a year.  Thanksgiving is a bad time for convertible buying weather-wise, but spring will be worse price-wise.  This three-owner middle America car is All-American and can be found here in Des Moines, Iowa.