There’s a lot to like about this 2011 Mercedes ML63 AMG unicorn. Of course I have to start with the hand built 503 hp, 6.2 liter V-8 motor. A certain unidentified reader (we’ll call him Hans) who has another Mercedes with this same powertrain said it sounds like God gargling. Love it. When new, it sold for almost $100,000. This 2011 ML63 is sorta nearly new with only 37,000 miles on it – not even broken in over 10 years. The last ML63 I covered in January here was a 2013 model with more miles and more price. Me thinks this 2011 is not a bad deal. Buy MaxCare with the savings.
God is also thirsty, and this motor will guzzle gas – 11 mpg city, 15 highway, and 12 combined. Takes a lot to move a nearly 5,100 pound SUV. Stick to the highway. Or some light offroading since the ML63 is also AWD. But with the seven speed automatic the vehicle will do sub-5 second 0-60 mph runs, gas be damned.
The SUV is fully loaded with auto cruise control, read DVD system, heated and air conditioned seats, and even a tow hitch. Love the gray over tan colors. My wife thinks tan interiors look cheap. I think they look rich. My S600 has a tan interior. I win. Find this three owner SUV here in Hillside, Illinois.
Two years ago I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the 260 hp Chevrolet HHR SS unicorn and wrote about it here. Was even more surprised when a blog reader bought it! Well, here’s another one with lower miles and a higher price, but it comes with a five speed manual transmission. And 2010 was the last year for the HHR. The HHR forums suggest there were 916 HHR SS’s sold in 2010, and not a lot of them with manual transmissions.
The SS also included launch control and no-lift shifting for the manual transmission model, should you be so inclined, and while fun not necessarily fast at 6.5 seconds to 60 mph. I would have expected better for a 3,100 lb vehicle. Gone is the boost gauge in the A pillar that was in the 2008 model. Here’s the review from Car and Driver’s 2009 piece.
This car is damned clean with only 28,000 miles in 10+ years on New Hampshire roads. It’s a one owner, accident free car. It sold new for north of $26,000 and may not be a huge bargain at $16,998. But throw MaxCare in and you’ll be out the door for $20,000 with bumper to bumper coverage for another 125,000 miles until it’s 16 years old! Could be fun and not a lot of HHR SS models out there, and few in this condition. Find it here in Westborough, Massachusetts.
I’m curious what’s going on with CarMax inventory this month. I’ve not seen numbers this low even during the depths of Covid. I’ve written here and here, with the point being inventory tends to beef up before the end of the fiscal year (theirs ends in February) and drops off by fall. I’ve seen them carry over 70,000 cars nationwide and drop to 40,000. But 23,000?! This while industry analysts say used car prices are wildly increasing? I have no idea why – perhaps that’s why I just buy ’em and drive ’em and leave the thinking to others. I went in to my CarMax at Dulles in Northern Virginia to pick up a 911 for a test drive (below) and this was my view when wandering the lot.
Sales lot as gapped as an Appalachian kid’s mouth.
What I do know is that it’s still a hoot to be looking for my next unicorn. Yes, my plan remains to buy an enthusiast SUV first, then figure out what comes next, and yet when a decent 911 shows up I gotta try. This one popped up at my Dulles dealer at a reasonable price, albeit for a one (minor) accident car. CarMax now offers a TruFrame (I think) independent (I hope) report on cars with a reported accident that should give us confidence the car isn’t twisted. The real reason I wanted to drive this car is that I was persuaded the 991 (2013-2019) Porsche 911’s drove far more comfortably than my 2008 911 based on a test drive months ago, and I needed to revalidate that.
The short answer is yes…and no. When I dialed in all the most comfortable settings and drove like a commuter, the car was fairly civilized to drive. A little road noise from the summer tires but not bad. The problem was I kept choosing the most aggressive settings and wailing loudly down the exit ramps. The car is a beast. I loved it. And here’s the kicker. When I dropped off a book at the library for my wife, a beautiful young lady in leggings spotted me taking the selfie above and shouted “I think you should buy it!”. She was quite persuasive. I also just completed my latest 7,000 mile cross country drive (in the S600 – story for another day) and once west of the east coast I saw maybe two 911’s the whole trip. The car seems common in Northern Virginia and rare elsewhere. What to do? For the record, not one young lady gave my S600 a shout out. And for what it’s worth, as I’ve mentioned before now when you reserve a car for a test drive CarMax lets you add your intentions for trade in, financing, and best of all, MaxCare options. Allowed me to see what MaxCare would cost without begging a sales rep for a screen shot.
Let’s ignore that I seem to be wearing the same clothes in every CarMax selfie. I took this Macan Turbo home for a 24 hour test drive to get my wife’s take on whether it would be right for our “family” compact SUV. By “family” SUV I mean mostly mine, but one she would be comfortable co-driving on a family trip or taking to work when her potato Buick Encore is in the shop. She refused to drive my S600, my 911, or other wacky cars I bring home.
I really, really wanted to like the Macan, mostly because the Turbo has almost 40 hp more than the other baby SUV’s in the hunt. Yes, I dig the PDK transmission and matching rev downshifts that make me giggle. But two things ruled this car out. One is there is no smart key on the Macan. Seems silly but I’ve been ruined by my Mercedes and just don’t have the energy anymore to put a key in the dash and turn to start. The second was this goofy rear view mirror. I’m 6’4″ and the driver’s seat is always all the way back. No problem – plenty of legroom. But the mirror doesn’t accommodate tall people. Set at its widest angle, I got only a good view of the Macan haunches. Drove me nuts. What’s left?
The Mercedes GLC43 AMG next to my S600 in Boise.
To recap, the four compact enthusiast SUV’s we are considering are the Porsche Macan Turbo (fourth place) Audi SQ5 (third place), the BMW X3 M40i (second place), and the Mercedes GLC43 AMG (first place but haven’t taken one home for the wife to drive). I drove a rental GLC300 from Virginia to Kansas two years ago and it was pretty good. On my cross country drive to Portland I stopped by the Boise CarMax and drove the only fully equipped GLC43 CarMax has nationwide and absolutely loved it. We’ll ignore that I pulled on the lever to drop the second row seat backs flat, and on a whim wondered if I pushed on the button the seat backs would raise – instead the button broke off and disappeared in the wheel well. I’m sure that can be fixed. I would buy the GLC43 tomorrow but feel no need to pay the almost $2,000 transfer fee to the east coast. Will sit tight and see if one shows up closer to home. But I did shoot this downshifting shot and I gotta ask, for those of you who have rev matching automatics….does it ever get old? I so hope the wife likes a GLC! Then the hunt for my next true unicorn begins in earnest.
CarMax has a knack for poaching limited edition, low production, and ultra low mileage cars, and it looks like the accumulation of scarfed up first run Supras is no accident. CarMax currently has five of them – two for sale and three on hold or being transferred. Five of the 10 Supras CarMax has overall are Launch Editions. The first 1,500 Toyota Supras offered when the iconic model was reintroduced in 2020 were tagged as “Launch Editions”. The cars got a carbon fiber panel with the numeric designation on the dash, but other than some unique visual changes insie and out the car is the same as all of the other Supras. The first Launch Edition off the line, obviously #1 of 1,500, auctioned for $1.2 million as a charity donation. Toyota sold less than 6,000 2020 Supras of all kinds, so not a lotta them out there anyway.
The Toyota Supra Launch Editions in red and white exteriors have red interiors you can’t get in other Supras (thank God!) and the black models come with black interiors. All five of the Launch Edition models CarMax snagged have the optional adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, parking sensors, and rear-collision warning – an additional $1,195 over the $56,180 purchase price per Car and Driver – bringing the original sales price of these models to $57,373. The five CarMax models are selling from $52-54k, not much off of the original price. They also have less than 1,000 miles on the Serramonte, California, to just under 8,000 miles in Richmond, Virginia. Damned near new. No need for MaxCare!
Collectibles? Maybe. Maybe not. The Toyota-BMW partnership, and the availability of a higher horsepower BMW Z4 M40i for about the same price (used, from CarMax) dilutes, to me, the specialness of the new Supra. But if you liked the original classic and want a second chance at being one of the first to buy a 2020 Supra – and want a plaque on the dash that says so, perhaps you’ll appreciate these. FWIW – in 3 1/2 years this is the first Toyota unicorn I’ve blogged about!
The Toyota Supra, of course, is powered by the BMW 3.0 liter inline six good for 335 hp – 20hp more than the last generation Supra, mated to an eight-speed transmission, that pushes the 3,300 lb sports car to a 3.9 second 0-60 mph run. That’s about the same as a base Porsche 911 costing twice as much.
The cars. If you have better eyes than me, or can zoom in better, you might have a better take on the limited edition numbers. I also have the prices because all of them were saved to my profile when available. On any given day availability changes – the Harrisonburg, Virginia car became showed up again as available while I was writing this (it’s been on and off the market for awhile). Here’s what I got:
Certainly not a performance or enthusiast unicorn, but peculiar nonetheless. A 2011 Honda CRV LX with a ridiculous 482 miles on the odometer. The $18k price tag for a pretty base model makes it not so much a bargain as a museum piece. Begs the question…where has this cute ute been for the last 10 years? I might pass on MaxCare for this one.
Looks brand new. CarMax has it listed in the “less than 1K miles” category and had to zoom in on the dash to see the actual miles. Cloth seats. CD player. Not even Bluetooth?
Has it even had an oil change?! I know folks appropriately caution that old cars with low miles do not necessarily mean it’s in great shape – rubber pieces deteriorate over time. The 2.4 liter four cylinder puts out a respectable 180 hp. Only 2WD though. It’s a one owner (of course) California car found here in Duarte. Enjoy.
As called by my bud at CarMax Teslas are back on the CarMax used car unicorn lot. Gave a heads up in this post in February and the first one showed up this week. As background, I posted about Teslas and CarMax in 2018 here but they vanished for a few years. In 2018 they were offered in California only and should be available nationwide soon. Thanks to reader Cannon for alerting me to this one while I’m driving cross country! (Update below.)
The Tesla dash was once space age, but with everyone bolting iPads to the dash not so much anymore.
Makes me want to eat Oreos. Or Pandas.
I wanted to make some funny ha-ha joke about what’s under the hood of a Tesla, but it looks a lot like my 911.
I honestly don’t know what to write about Teslas. It’s electric? I’m the guy who writes way too much about V-8’s and owns a V-12. Gas powered cars will sunset about the same time I do. Clearly they are the future. I’m hoping to get details on MaxCare options for this Tesla soon. For now, find this one owner, accident free car here in Palmdale, California.
Interrupting my drive west (see below!) to bring you another “shooting brake” unicorn courtesy of CarMax! Nearly identical to the 2011 model found here in November – same price, almost same mileage. But this one’s a 2010, and still amazes me that bumper to bumper MaxCare coverage is still a bargain for an 11 year old Mercedes. It’ll be 16 years old before it runs out of warranty.
The interior of this four door “coupe” is stylish for its day and seats just four. Not for everyone. It has a Harman Kardon audio system, Bluetooth, adjustable suspension, sunroof….and not much else. Pretty basic as Mercedes go, and yet it’s got more charm than a basic family sedan. Plus it’s got a 382 hp 5.5 liter Mercedes V8 that’ll do sub-5 second 0-60 mph and run forever. Once a $70,000 car this single owner, low mileage, accident free Idaho car is still a bargain at $19,998. It’s here in Boise.
Last spring I covered not one but two of 89 2017 Cadillac ATS-V’s with manual transmissions here. Thought they were pretty exclusive unicorns until this 2018 model posted and learned it’s only one of 62 ATS-V manual transmission sedans sold that year. THAT’S exclusive! Manual transmission coupes were even more scarce for 2018 at 54 units sold. Will keeping a lookout for those.
The twin-turbo V-6 makes 464 hp and 445 lb-ft of torque and with the six-speed manual cranks out sub-four second 0-60 mph runs. It also tops out at 189 mph and pulls 1g in lateral handling. Badass numbers all around for an American six-cylinder. I have a soft spot for Cadillacs after going to the 24 Hours of Daytona the last six years and watching the black Caddy’s win overall four of the last five years (second this year). Some serious engineering chops.
This 2018 review in CarBuzz gave the car tremendous props for performance, but dinged the Cadillac for a below grade interior for the money. I’ve plopped my butt in a fair number of Cadillac CTS-V’s and have to agree that the interiors don’t impress me neither. That said, the “for the money” part becomes more interesting when taking into account the car sold new for maybe $70,000 just two or three years ago. Used, with 20,000 miles on it $47,998 makes it seem like a bargain and the interior more defensible. And while I normally almost always advocate for MaxCare, this car is likely still under GM warranty. Find this single owner, accident free Cadillac ATS-V here in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Just got word from a well intentioned but not yet validated kindred CarMax guy (sorry for all the qualifiers) that CarMax intends to resume offering Teslas. I stumbled on CarMax Teslas almost three years ago and posted this blog piece, but not much into electric cars and lost interest. When my friend called me about CarMax carrying cars again I acted all seasoned and wise and pointed out my blog piece from 2018, as if I knew what I was talking about. The young man said well yeah, they used to offer them in California only but now it would be nationwide. Humbled. Hope to learn more about MaxCare options for Teslas soon.
So I dug deeply into this tonight, meaning I Googled it. Found this Business of Business website that explored the Tesla-CarMax relationship in this piece, and this piece. If you read them you’ll learn that CarMax once had over 300 Teslas for sale after I wrote my 2018 blog, and by late 2019 CarMax slammed the gullwing door on selling these cars. We’ll ignore that if you read these pieces you’ll know I REALLY am not a serious journalist. I’ve said it before though – I’d pay good money to have coffee or drinks with the CarMax guru who decides what cars to sell and what to avoid. Still curious on Alfa’s, Acura NSX, and Nissan GTR’s! I do know that CarMax sells over 700,000 cars a year, and must have incredible analytics on what’s working and what’s not. If I didn’t think it would affect my credibility even just a little bit, I’d be buying CarMax stock.
Been busy and the unicorns are piling up in my saved profile, so let’s just turn them loose here with little to no commentary. Just pix and links. Well, maybe a thought or two. Some of them aren’t available at the moment but by having the stock numbers or using the links provided below you can find them and save them to your profile. They may be back.
Found this 2013 Audi A8 L for a ridiculously low price of $22,998 in Palmdale, California. Blue over brown. Nicely equipped with a 420 hp 4.0 liter V-8, AWD, seat massagers, air conditioned and heated seats, this is a real nice example of “driving rich”. It’s currently listed as unavailable but not yet sold. Maybe it’ll come back. Here’s the link.
The 2015 Chevrolet SS (to me) is the one to have. Only imported from Australia from 2014-2017 this model year first offered the adaptive suspension (Magnetic Ride Control (MRC). The SS is a nice sleeper with a 415 hp naturally aspirated V-8 and a slew of standard features. Here’s the peculiar part. Three years ago I posted this piece about 2017 being the last year for these muscle sedans and that CarMax boosted their holdings of this Holden to 24 units. Now they have only three, and most interesting, prices are increasing! This unit has only 16,000 miles. The link to the car is here. And if you’re really curious, check out this 2017 model that is selling for I think the same price as when it was new, four years ago. An investment grade Chevy?
An eleven year old Volvo S40 gets my attention for one reason only – it has a five speed manual transmission. It’s a decent car with seat heaters and a sunroof, and yet the five cylinder 168 hp motor in a 3,300 pound sedan has to be fun, right? It’s here in Tallahassee.
Another phantom car that’s currently unavailable but not yet sold is this feisty 2013 Golf R. Only 43,000 miles on the two-liter turbo good for 256 hp, plus AWD and a manual transmission. Seems like a bargain. It’s (not) here in Louisville – but maybe somewhere soon!
Love this Lexus. It’s a time warp sedan. Nothing terribly special with standard air conditioned and heated seats, leather, sunroof, and bluetooth. But the interior is pristine and the car only has 20,000 miles over 12 years. Kind of old school. Only a 272 hp six cylinder and yet it’s still a calming cruiser. Selling for $16,998 here in Covington, Louisiana.
Yeah just last month I blogged about a similar Benz here, and it seems like a better deal with a lower price and lower mileage. But it was a 382 hp 2010 model and this is a 2013 with 429 hp. Always go for more horsepower. Total luxury and AWD. The car sold new for well over $100,000 just eight years ago. Now less than $30,000 here in Laurel, Maryland. (Pssst – if you’d rather have a more beefy CL63 this one I covered two months ago is available again in Cincinnati.)
Another peculiar car that appeals to Acura fans – the TL SH-AWD. With the venerable 3.7 liter V-6 making 270 hp it’s a solid sedan and family hauler. Nicely equipped and only 16,000 miles, I’m thinking this car will be bullet proof and in no need of MaxCare. It’s on sale here in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Thanks to fellow CarMax sniper Hans for alerting me to another 1 of 500 Mini John Cooper Works GP hot hatch. This morning it was available for $25,000 (I think) and tonight it’s currently unavailable. Maybe it’ll be back. In the meantime you can read about the last John Cooper Works GP Hans sent my way here in May 2019. This one was here in Jacksonville.
German Compact Sedan #1 – A 10 year old low mileage AWD Audi S4 would seem to me to be a nice commuter or college car. Qualifies as an enthusiast car with a supercharged six cylinder pumping out 333 hp. Well equipped and I love the black and white panda interior. This single owner S4 is still available here in Modesto, California.
German Compact Sedan #2 – A 10 year old low mileage AWD BMW 335 XI. Sound familiar? I was surprised to find a nearly identical Bavarian twin to the S4 above. Same price. Almost same mileage. Almost same equipment. Only 300 hp though from the inline six – 10 percent less than the Audi. And a coupe. It’s here in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Not in my DNA to own a minivan, although can’t deny their usefulness. Perhaps another day I’ll share the unofficial Cannonball Run my buds and I did in a Chrysler minivan in 2007. This isn’t an R63 (Hans) but it is an extremely well equipped turbodiesel minivan that would make for unique arrivals at soccer practice (Mick). Everybody gets seat heaters. Rear DVD system. Power hatch. Blind spot monitor. Rear view camera. The van has AWD and is powered by a six cylinder that only puts out 210 hp, but 400 lb-feet of torque. Sadly this one is currently off the market. I recall the price being $25,000 but might be wrong. For now you can track it with this link in Sacramento.
If the minivan isn’t for you there’s a helluva lot to like about this 2016 Volvo XC60 T6 R-Design Platinum. The lengthy moniker is not one of them. It’s fully loaded with auto cruise control, seat heaters everywhere, heated steering wheel, all the lane change/blind spot/rear view camera driving aids, and AWD. Here’s the odd part. I think it has a 3.0 liter turbocharged six cylinder engine good for 300 hp. That’s what it says on the listing as I read it on my laptop. BUT – on my phone, this same car is listed as having a 2.0 liter four banger that also makes 302 hp. The engine shot suggests a six cylinder? Nice car either way is here in Maplewood, Minnesota.
For what it’s worth….continuing my search for a compact SUV with enthusiast credentials. Drove an Audi SQ5 last weekend that got a thumbs up from the wife, and today I’m collecting a Macan Turbo for a 24 hour test drive. Doesn’t have the features I want so just hoping to get another positive response from my bride. Then find a Mercedes GLC43 and a BMW X3 M40i to complete the round of possible daily driver SUV’s. Once that’s done and a buy made, back to pondering the fate of the S600 as my indefensible semi-exotic car. Another 911? Another V-12? Something more bizarre? Stay tuned.
