Enough econohatch faux unicorns. Getting back to something legitimately rare, high performance, highly depreciated, and a MaxCare must. A 2012 Alpina B7 sleeper. (Pardon any clunky formatting – doing this by phone at the airport to get it posted before it disappears!)
Not the first B7 we’ve spotted at CarMax (thanks Mustafa!) and yet always pleasantly surprised when these unusual cars are offered. Only 1,740 F01 models from 2011-2015 were imported.
Alpina modifications are subtle inside and out and the big BMW could easily pass for a 750. But Alpina makes the motors and ships them to BMW for installation, then the whole kit and caboodle returns to Alpina for final installation and suspension work.
The Alpina B7 is nicely equipped (for 2012) with heated, air conditioned, and massaging seats, heads up display, heated steering wheel, and even night vision assist. It does not list adaptive cruise control and when I get back will try to run the VIN. Would be surprised if it’s not there. Even has what looks like a vintage rear seat video system!
The 4.4 liter twin-turbo V-8 motor is good for 500 horsepower and with just a six-speed automatic and AWD pulls the car to 60 in 4.5 seconds. Plenty fast. This accident free, two-owner Ohio car sold new for maybe $125,000 eleven years ago and is only $33,998 now. MaxCare is probably not cheap and is definitely necessary. Can’t imagine repairs are cheap. Find it here in Rochester, New York.
A dozen years ago the stars aligned for a somewhat rare four solar and two lunar eclipses. There will only be six years like it this century. The first of those was 2011. It was also the final year for the Mitsubishi Eclipse sports coupe that had been in production for a dozen years. Coincidence? I think not. Fortunately for us CarMax has unearthed and preserved a nearly new pair of these extinct unicorns. May not be the greatest sports coupe on the road, but you won’t see a lot of them in orbit. And like most cars of questionable enthusiast interest, there are several forums and Facebook groups with thousands of owners who are passionate about their Eclipses. I swear if you think about the worst car you ever owned, there is a car club with a Facebook page of fans for that car. That said, these are the first Eclipses I’ve ever written about. That’s rare.
This 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS model is a single-owner, 16,000 mile car with a coveted manual transmission. The five-speed for sure makes the car more fun to drive, despite the limited 162 horsepower from the 2.4 liter four cylinder. On one hand, this is the company that brought us the Sapporo, Starion, and 3000GT – all cars I kinda liked. On the other they have largely gotten out of the car business and now sell the Eclipse as a small cute-ute crossover. If you really REALLY want to read some good automotive writing on the downside of a Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, try this hilarious piece by Jack Baruth in The Truth About Cars, He hates the convertible GS he drove and his review included such prose as “let me tell you what else is a bad idea: driving a convertible top-down through LA with a passenger who is both drunk and fluent in Spanish.”
The car is pristine inside. It’s certainly clean and unencumbered by options. It gets a “3” on CarMax’s Features and Specs scale – with a upbeat note the rating describes a car with “The Basics – More potential savings with more basic features.” (FWIW – here’s a link to a 2011 Hyundai Accent GL that gets a “1”) The Eclipse GS has cruise control, an aux jack and CD player, and air conditioning. Did I mention it’s clean? On the plus side, front seat leg room is an expansive 42″ – more than a Mercedes S-class.
Honestly, the car would make a fun little daily for someone’s first manual transmission car. Yeah it would be more fun if it were the 265 horsepower six cylinder GT….but at least you get 28 mpg on the highway! The car sold new for about what it’s selling for now, and it’s available now here in Baltimore, Maryland. And if for some reason you thought it necessary to protect this car from unlikely repairs, MaxCare is good for up to 150,000 miles or until 2028 – right before the next six-eclipse year!
Stock No. 23191938 VIN 4A31K5DF9BE004545
Sticking with my lunar (lunacy?) thinking, today is the beginning of the spring equinox and according to the poet Alfred Tennyson the time when young men think of love…and convertibles. Personally, I think everyone should own a convertible at some point in their life. Been fortunate enough to own three over the years. Nothing like the wind through the hair on a spring drive. Get a drop top before it represents a sunburn through a receding hairline. Trust me.
Anyway, if you want a convertible Mitsubishi Eclipse much like the one Baruth skewered, here’s another 2011 model with only 18,000 miles. It’s an automatic, though, so lower your enthusiasm a bit. But it’s a nice triple black unmolested little runabout with a convertible top for young lovers motoring to….wherever young lovers motor to nowadays. It’s $3,000 more to trade the manual for the convertible, but wait! There’s more!
You were wondering what the GS Sport offers over the plain old GS model, and unlike the basic hardtop configuration the droptop is rated an “8” – loaded with features! For 2011 in this class, that means it has leather heated seats, adjustable lumbar support, and a rear view camera. AND a Rockford Fosgate sound system. Baruth said his wasn’t bad, targeting the “critical retired-minitruckers-who-remember-the-Punch-45-amplifier demographic“. No idea what that means but I liked it. I suspect the Rockford Fosgate amp would offset any buzz from the same 2.4 liter four cylinder with the top down.
The 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS Sport sold for almost $30,000 – much more than the “basic” GS. This convertible is available here for a third less in sunny Doral, Florida, where the one owner has v=been driving it very little up and down the A1A. Oddly, Doral is where I am headed this week to drive a tempting Mercedes SUV. Maybe I can work a twofer deal?
The GT convertible (above left) comes with a subwoofer smack dab in the center of the rear seat. Baruth noted “the subwoofer mounted between the negligible rear seats seemed inadequately protected and quite prone to being poked with pencils, pens, broken bongs, shivs, and the other accoutrements of the modern Mitsubishi buyer, who is primarily identifiable by his sub-600 credit rating and fondness for the music of “Sublime”.“
And finally, note the mostly useless trunk on the GS Sport convertible (above left) compared to the not-too-bad hatchback with a deck lid trunk in the hardtop. Then again. we really don’t buy convertibles for long distance luggage.
Seems like every two years there’s one of these quirky Volvo C30 T5 R-Design unicorns with the somewhat rare (and fun) manual transmission at CarMax, and here’s another one. Wrote about this one in 2019 priced at $13,599 with 88,000 miles, and this one in 2021 with 50,000 miles at $18,998. Hard to tell anymore what’s a fair price for used cars. These little guys were sold in the USA from 2007 to 2013.
The C30 T5 R-Design got uneven reviews when new but over the years gained a loyal following and in 2020 hotcars.com considered it a “hot hatch” with some nostalgia, although the six second 0-60 mph time hardly makes it hot. I asked my colleague and more knowledgeable auto enthusiast Chad Jeepty what was so special about the manual C30 T5 R, and he noted, “The 2012 Volvo C30 T5 R-Design with a manual transmission was a special edition model only available in limited numbers. The R-Design version of the C30 was already a sportier and more performance-oriented variant of the car, but the addition of the manual transmission made it even more appealing to driving enthusiasts.”
The manual transmission version of the C30 T5 R-Design was powered by a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-five engine that produced 227 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque. This powertrain was mated to a six-speed manual transmission, which provided a more engaging driving experience compared to the standard automatic transmission. This car has seat heaters, BlueTooth and navigation and gets a “9” (out of 10) rating for features by CarMax, noting it is “loaded” and that baffled me. Dug deeper and CarMax’s definition of loaded is “8-10 Loaded – More premium features than other cars like it.” Pretty scientific if you ask me.
This 2012 Volvo C30 T5R is here in Puyallup, Washington, although I just got an update that it’s out for a test drive. MaxCare is available up to 125,000 miles but only 48 months. Not sure I’d bother – pretty reliable car.
Relieved that this 2013 Mercedes SLK55 AMG unicorn just became available. Allows me to make amends to blog reader Ken who reminded me there is another naturally aspirated AMG powerplant (in addition to the M156 I gushed about here) – the M152 variant of the M157, found in the SLK55. Ken was lucky enough to score a 2014 SLK55 from the original owner with only 22,000 kms (13,000 miles) on it. That’s right up there with this 2013 model with only 8,182 miles. Amazing only 800+ miles a year for the last 10!
The SLK55 is moderately equipped with seat heaters and the wonderful Air Scarf neck heaters, but not much else. Bluetooth, a Harman Kardon audio system and even a CD player. It is a gorgeous red color and a quick-dropping hard top convertible. I’ve had a soft top convertible (1971 Fiat 124 and a 2002 BMW 330CIC) and a hard top convertible (2013 BMW M3) and don’t think I could daily a soft top anymore.
The M152 motor is a 5.5 liter V-8 – the same block as I understand it as the twin-turbo, intercooled M157 found in the 63’s once Mercedes (as everyone did) stopped deriving their car models from the engine displacement – sans the turbos and intercoolers. Just a deep breathing V-8 that makes 415 horsepower and moves this little convertible to 60 mph in the low four second range. And hit 28 mpg on the highway.
This is a two-owner California car that sold new a decade ago for perhaps $75,000. Seems like an almost new bargain at $41,998 and MaxCare is available for another 117,000 miles and five years. Find it here in Fremont, California.
