Author: Chuck Banks

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S600 Update – Not Accidentally Sold After All…..

…..but still not mine.  After days of busting chops, CarMax tells me the 2008 Mercedes S600 V-12 was not accidentally sold in Ohio, but was deemed not sellable to customers due to a really bad transmission.  I found it on the Dulles lot last week.  I have asked a number of times why CarMax went ahead and completed a Virginia State inspection (see sticker below) after the car was deemed not sellable, but no response.  They tell me it’s going to a wholeseller.  Asked for documentation confirming it went, but no response.  Until I verify that, I’m still suspicious this car is going to a CarMax insider.  It was a bargain at $22,998 and 44,000 miles.  They refunded my $899 transfer fee and have offered to ship another car from anywhere for free.  No S600 has been that cheap – and there have only been three – in the two years I’ve tracked CarMax.  Will be hard to match.  And if I see this S600 sold to an individual and not a wholeseller I’m going to flip out on them!  And I will know where this car goes.

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CarMax “Loses” Another Car? My S600 is Missing! Help?!

Sorry – didn’t blog in December because I was working on another unicorn. A blog reader pointed me to a 2008 Mercedes S600 for $22,998. A bargain V-12, with night vision, auto cruise control, and every feature imaginable. I paid almost $900 to transfer in from Las Vegas. Been waiting….and yesterday CarMax Dulles Sales Manager informs me THEY ACCIDENTALLY FORGOT TO RECEIVE IT PROPERLY, TRANSFERRED IT TO OHIO, AND SOLD IT!!! I don’t believe it for a second. This also happened to a 2014 BMW 550i that was highly optioned and $5,000 below comps. The sales manager’s email suggested he wanted to offer a “potential solution” but haven’t heard from him since. Welcome thoughts from readers on how best to work this with CarMax – there have only been three S600’s offered by CarMax in the last two years. May be awhile until another comes in. There is a 2010 on Autotrader…..maybe CarMax should buy it for me?

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Quick Hit – The End of the Run 2009 1/2 Pontiac G8 GT – $19,998

G8 GT sidePontiac as a company ran outta gas in 2009, and sadly this Holden Commodore……er, Pontiac G8 GT unicorn went with it.  The big Australian sedan has been resurrected as the Chevy SS and will cover one soon.  Often when I see a Pontiac G8 GT or GXP in a driveway, the owner also has another enthusiast auto; an original Landcruiser FJ or a Mazda RX-7  or something that says they like what they like.

Been watching this 2009 1/2 Pontiac G8 GT because it seems to be a well-balanced value at only $19,998, with lower miles and price than most (check out the comps at the bottom – two other high mileage cars and a six-cylinder G8), and because it isn’t selling.  Then again, back in the day these sold poorly anyway.  It has been transferred once so far.  Would welcome thoughts from Pontiac experts on why it’s not sold.  Admittedly it is only a GT with a 355 hp power plant, not the 400 hp in the more coveted GXP (usually selling for $10,000 more than a GT).  It doesn’t have a sunroof, but the 2009 1/2 got Bluetooth!  The interior of this one owner car looks nearly new, with seat heaters in the front.  It is a 10 year old extinct car, so I’d still roll for the MaxCare warranty.  Here’s the Motor Trend and Car and Driver reviews from back in the day.  Find it here in Chicago.

2009 Pontiac G8 GT $19,998 39k Chicago

4 G8

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The Genesis of the Thanksgiving Fiesta at Plymouth Rock – The CarMax Version

Our annual Thanksgiving celebration odyssey really starts in England in the early 1600’s during the reign of King James I, sometimes incorrectly considered a 4Runner to Crown Victoria and the Grand Marquis of the times. Pilgrims and Puritans hoping to escape  religious persecution envisioned a better life and liberty in the New World, set sail in 1620 on the Mayflower, and initially, the Speedwell intending to boldly traverse the Atlantic.

Not much of an armada or grand caravan, really, as early in the journey the Speedwell had to return to port twice after taking on water, and the Mayflower continued its pathfinder cruze alone. At about 100 feet in length, the regal Mayflower was not a large vessel but for reference purposes, think of it as twice the size of the small corvette warships of the 1700’s.

Continue reading “The Genesis of the Thanksgiving Fiesta at Plymouth Rock – The CarMax Version”

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Free Car (Magazines) to Loyal Blog Readers

Downsizing and sadly the time has come to part with several cubic feet of car magazines collected (hoarded) over the years.  My wife has volunteered to hoist them all into the recycling dumpster but that hurts me to my car nut soul.  Yeah there’s a bunch of mags like these on eBay but other than Road and Track 2011, I have no complete years. Thought I did for R&T 2002 but an Automobile mag ringer snuck in and ruined that.  And selling magazines on eBay is a pain in the ass.

So my holiday gift to lucky and loyal blog readers is one shot at claiming some or all of these precious historical publications for your archives.  In all seriousness, thumbing through these and being reminded of the “Cars to Wait for in 2003!” and such is kind of fun.  I’m just out of room and only keeping 20 years of Car and Driver (my wife does not yet know that, between us please?).  So email me if you want one or more (or all!) of these batches, and I’ll send them free of charge.  Small price to pay for fellow car lovers, and eases my mind that they’re not getting thrown out.  (Was thinking of sending e-gift cards to all the readers who signed up to follow this blog, but figured you’d all just buy car magazines with the money anyway.)  If no takers turning them over to the wife 12/9.

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Batch 1 – 2002 Road and Track (11 Issues – Removing the Automobile Ringer)

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Batch 2 – Road and Track (January 03, March 04, February and March 09, January and February 2010, July through August 2012, January through July 2013 less March.  No idea why these survived.)

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Batch 3 – Road and Track.  2011 All Issues! Woo-hoo!

 

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Batch 4 – Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.  Two 2012’s.  Nine 2013’s.  Ten 2014’s. Ten 2015’s. December 2016.  January-May 2017.  

 

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Batch 5 – Motor Trend.  Most of 2003.  January and February 2004. August 2009. One ratty January 2010 issue.

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Batch 6 – There is NOOOO Batch 6! (A little Monty Python humor.)

Batch 7 – Automobile. All of 2015.  All of 2016 and 2017 less December (did they print one? Hmmm.)  December 2014.  Must have started subscription then.

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Batch 8 – Roundel (BMW Car Club) Magazines from 2011 (when I owned a nice little convertible 330i!)

 

 

 

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The (Nearly) Perfect Unicorn for Veterans – AWD Diesel F10 BMW. You Earned It.

Col. Stephanie Wilson, 72nd Air Base Wing commander, waves to the crowd at the annual Midwest City Veterans Day parade Nov. 11. Walking along with Colonel Wilson’s Humvee were CAPT. Ed McCabe, Strategic Communications Wing ONE and Task Force 124 commander; Col. Michael Green, 72nd Mission Support Group commander; and 72nd ABW Command Chief Master Sgt. David Tuck. (Air Force photo by April McDonald)

Haven’t done a holiday themed unicorn blog yet, but it’s Veterans Day, and thought I should pick out a special unicorn for those who have served.  Didn’t take long to punch in the requirements.  Had to be 4WD/AWD, of course – don’t want to be restricted to asphalt. And diesel.  The third world thrives on diesel.  Run flat tires – not stoppping if we can avoid it.  Room for four shooters and all their gear.  Low profile color.  And 21st century troops need technology – heads up display to stay focused on the horizon, rear view camera and blind spot monitoring to track bogeys, Bluetooth to communicate with Hqs, and a killer sound system for when off the net.   Cold weather package because pretty much everywhere in the world it gets cold at night, and the US military owns the night.  Bummed I could not find something with all this and night vision, too! And just in case you read no further, thanks to all who have served in the armed forces in defense of this great nation.  Check out Jason Isbell’s tribute, “Tour of Duty”, for those who came home safe.

050426-M-9019H-006 U.S. Marines examine mortar rounds and a BMW automobile in what they believe to be a car bomb in the making during security and stabilization operations in the Al Anbar Province, Iraq, on April 26, 2005. The mortars and the car are part of the 20 weapons caches that U.S. Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment found during the operations. DoD photo by Lance Cpl. Brian M. Henner, U.S. Marine Corps. (Released)

Only one vehicle had pretty much everything needed, and at first I was bummed it was not a Humvee (there’s one at the bottom of this page as a back up plan.  Military folks always have a back up plan).  It’s a BMW!.  But then I thought after all our troops have been through, this would be a really sweet ride.  And having been to Iraq and Afghanistan, I know our Special Operations Forces are not unfamiliar with BMW’s, and BMW is not unfamiliar with tough places either – especially armored BMW’s.  (Somewhere in a shoe box, pre-internet days, is a picture of me driving a lightly armored BMW 320 in the Middle East!).

At $34,998 this 2016 BMW 535 dxi would be a really nice unicorn for any road warrior.  I was actually surprised to find a two-year old car with low miles, still under factory warranty.  Means MaxCare will be really cheap and take this car to 2023 and 150,000 miles without paying for a repair.  The diesel will only be getting broken in by then!  The expensive electonic gizmos would all be covered, though, and well worth it.

The in-line, twin-turbo six-cylinder diesel puts out 255hp and 413 ft-lbs of torque, and with an eight-speed automatic is good for a mid-5 second 0-60mph run and get this, a 550 mile cruising range on a tank of diesel!  Stole some of that from the great Car and Driver review in 2014 (car was unchanged for 2016), where they estimated a fully optioned AWD 535d would run close to $90,000.  If that was the price tag for this California leased car, here it is at a deep discount two years later at almost a third the price.  I love me some depreciation.  The 2015 model was named the Diesel Car of the Year.  Even the great and candid Jalopnik reviewer dug it.  This is a car I could learn to love on road trips.  Owned an E34 1992 BMW 525i in-line six when I lived in Germany and could pull off 600 miles on a tank, and comfortably cruise as long and as far as the bladder could handle.  Find this car here in San Jose, California.  2016 535d $34,998 37k San Jose

Continue reading “The (Nearly) Perfect Unicorn for Veterans – AWD Diesel F10 BMW. You Earned It.”

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Quick Hit – 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS…Didn’t Know This Was A Thing!

HHR SS SideAlways a skeptc when it comes to adding “SS” to a car name (like “GT”).  Sometimes they are badass like the Camaro SS and of course, the Aussie-Chevrolet SS, and sometimes they are just badges – like the Cobalt SS.  Was doing a search for 10 year old unicorns with low miles and came across this 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS.  On a lark I opened this page and was intrigued by the the retro wagon look, burnt orange color, low price and low miles.  Wondered about the SS part, especially since CarMax has it listed as 0 hp and 0 torque, and searched for reviews.   Pleasantly surprised they are almost all positive.  Check these out; Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Road and Track, and even Popular Mechanics.   The HHR had a five year production run but the SS was only sold from 2008-2010.  Yes, there were hundreds of thousands of base HHR’s sold, but the SS only represented a small percentage of sales (5%?).  Me thinks it was Chevrolet’s answer to the PT Cruiser that sold for 10 years.

HHR 3-4The engine is the 2.0 liter turbo with 260hp, shared with the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky before they went belly up, and the suspension has been tuned to handle far better than a vanilla HHR.  Even has a boost gauge in the A-pillar like the kids have!  The mid-six second 0-60 mph time ain’t that impressive and yet the reviewers all seem to dig this box.  So do I.  I’m trying to resist calling my son in Portland and asking him to go get it for me.  If none of you do in the next 24 hours I just might.  Make a nice little commuter vehicle for me!

HHR SS InteriorThe car sold for about $24,000 in 2008.  There are 59 of these on Car Guru right now, almost all cheaper, and almost all have tons of miles.  Only one has less miles at this price.  Oddly, it’s an hour away from me.  But it wouldnt have the coveted MaxCare warranty to keep this 11 year old car in free repairs until it’s a 16 year old car.  That’s special.

 

BoostCheck this out – it’s a one-owner car and was originally sold in Florida, spent some time in California, and is now in Washington.  If I bring it to the East Coast it will have done its own One Lap of America.  Find it here in Tacoma, Washington.  If the link is dead the car is sold, on hold, or being transferred (to me!).

 

2008 Chevrolet HHR SS $13,998 41k Puyallup

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Quick Hit – Low Priced 911….For a Reason. 2008 Carrera $37,998 in Albuquerque.

911 sideThere have been very few sub-$40,000 Porsche 911 unicorns offered by CarMax in the almost two years I’ve been tracking them.  Four to be exact, and one of them I bought.  I consider these “starter 911’s”, low miles, a decent price point, and the bullet proof MaxCare warranty to keep us unafraid of repairs.  I bought Etta for $34,998 plus the warranty, passed on a $33,998 911 in 2017 (had manual seats – I didn’t fit), and there’s been a convertible for $39,998 that comes and goes on CarMax lots.  This $37,998 2008 911 Carrera reminded me a lot of my car, almost identical in mileage, $3,000 more in price, albeit with a 6-speed manual transmission.  My car actually listed at $36,998 but also said it had navigation.  When I pointed out it did not, CarMax immediately dropped the price $2,000 without me even asking.

I wanted to believe this car was almost as good a deal as mine, except I looked into the history and found it’s had not one but two accidents.  Bummer.  The left rear, pictured above.  Also, a close look at the seats shows far more creasing than I have in mine.  But if you really, really want to own your first 911, given the scarcity I’ve seen over time, this is about as good a deal as you’re going to get.  I suspect it will be months until another sub-$40,000 911 shos up.  It’s still a very pretty car at 10 years old, and still goes like stink.  Go in eyes wide open and enjoy this iconic car.  Find it here in Albuquerque.  If the link is dead it’s sold, on hold, or being transferred.

2008 Carrera $37,998 39k Albuquerque

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Who the hell is John Varvatos, and why should I buy his used car?

300c side
Still stylish, after all these years.

Well for starters, John Varvatos has an American auto badged in his name and inspired by his chic fashion designs, a bit like the Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer model I wrote about last week.  This Chrysler 300C Varvatos Collection is more elegant and stylish than the Eddie Bauer Ford, but hey, it’s also got a massive 5.7 liter V-8 and AWD, so it’s cool, strong, and classy in a way the truck is not.  It’s a bit of a unicorn not because there aren’t a huge number of Varvatos cars out there, this Luxury Edition is pretty common, and even the Limited Edition isn’t all that limited, but because I’m thinking not a lot of folks know who John Varvatos even is! You do now.  I do, too.

john-varvatos-co-bb12-2015-billboard-650
John

Here’s all you need to know.  He’s 63 years old and was born in Detroit, which gives him some street cred with an American muscle car, and he has been an award winning men’s fashion designer from a young age. And he signed Zac Brown to his record label.

 

 

Marky
Mark

 

Most importantly, he gave us the boxer-brief made famous in the Marky Mark ad of 1992 (back when old man Mark Wahlberg was a boy – don’t get too creeped out by the ad) – underwear that changed my life.  Too old for tighty whities, too young for boxers – more than you need to know.  Trust me on this.

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The Red Headed Stranger, Cool in Black and White

But wait there’s more!  John Varvatos made Willie Nelson look even more badass than he is, and that’s even more impressive than Marky Mark’s abs.  Nothing more you need to know about why John Varvatos gets to have his name on a car.

300c 3-4 view
Look close – there’s a JV badge on the trunk.

Back to the car.  Yes, it’s two tons of Yankee steel, but at 363 hp and a 0-60 in the mid-5 second range this plus-size sedan moves briskly.  Kind of like Magic Johnson when he was in Michigan.  And the creature comforts…..heated and air conditioned seats, an Alpine stereo, panoramic sunroof, remote start, and rear sunshade – as cool as the 300C gets short of the Motown edition (yes there really is one!).  Car and Driver said, “You can practically taste Detroit” in this review.

 

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Hats off to the CarMax photographer that captured this shot with Marvin Gaye on the radio!

This two owner car sold for about $50,000 when new, believe it or not in Michigan, before moving to Amish country for the last few years.  It’s selling for about half its new car price tag, but I’d still get the MaxCare warranty.   You never know how those Pennsylvania Dutch get when behind 363 ponies.

 

 

 

300c trunk
Easily a four-snitch trunk.

300 C Nice Wood
Nice wood.

300c Poopy Interior
Not a big fan of poopy underpants brown seats.

I’ve driven a V-8 300C for hundreds of miles, at night, in the snow, and loved it.  I’ve even seen a few really low mile, highly optioned, and low priced 300C  V-8’s on the CarMax web site over the years.  I’ll be keeping my eyes out for a Limited Edition, an even classier version of this throw-back big sedan.  Find this one here in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

2014 300c Varvatos

 

 

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CarMax I’m Watching You – Inventory Way Up!

Last year I noticed the CarMax nationwide inventory ballooned up from just over 40,000 cars during the summer of 2017 to 73,000 cars in mid-November.  Prompted me to do my amateur analytics piece called The $577 Million Car Loan and Other Fascinating CarMax “Analytics”.  Here’s the link.  Well here we are a year later (been blogging a year?! Perhaps time for a year in review piece?).   Been watching the inventory levels creep up this summer from about 47,000 cars  to about 62,000…..so far.  That’s only 15,000 more cars compared to the 30,000 last year, but with an average selling price of $20,000 that’s still a $300 million increase in inventory on the lots nationwide this fall.  Could that be why I got this alert dropping the price of a Mercedes by $12,000?  When the inventory peaked last fall more and more cars on my saved list pinged with $1,000 price reductions.  CarMax quarterly financials end on November 30th, annuals in February.   I’ll be watching!

11-4-2018 62,000 cars

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