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:
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.
Haven’t seen many hardtop Jaguar XK’s on CarMax and even longer for an XKR unicorn. A little dated but the lines are still lovely. I don’t think this one will be available long so winging it with a blog post by phone.
It’s a 2012 model with 57,000 miles and if you go to the CarMax website you’ll see some of the worst marketing photos ever. Maybe that’s why the price is reasonable?
Identical to the Jaguar XF inside, the car has a heated steering wheel, air conditioned and heated seats, and a rear view camera. Adequate but not overly equipped. For a car that sold new for $103,000 I’d expect a little more.
The power plant is impressive. A 5.0 liter supercharged V-8 with 510hp good for mid-four second 0-60 mph runs. It’s not a 550hp XKR-S, but plenty faster than the 385hp XK. Choose your poison. This three owner, accident free California-Florida car is here in Mobile, Alabama.
I’ve run out of patience with CarMax for this post, and despite this being the third and fourth Mercedes covered in a row I gotta get it done. A very affordable badass Mercedes ML63 and an even more affordable and well equipped ML550 have been on and off the CarMax website for days, and I have been unable to catch them on the web on the same day for a post – so here it is anyway. Let’s start with the ML63 AMG, even though it’s not currently available I have not gotten the CarMax update that it’s gone.
This 2013 ML63 AMG (I think) was offered for $35-37,000. Fairly loaded with auto cruise control (Distronic Plus), seat massagers, heated and air conditioned seats, upgraded Bang & Olufsen audio – there’s a lot of luxury in the cabin. On the outside some slick running boards and black wheels. But that’s not why you want this SUV.
You want the ML63 because of its hand built, 5.5 liter 518 hp AMG motor. That, along with AWD and an adjustable suspension turn this family hauler into an SUV racer. Motor Trend turned a 4.8 second 0-60 mph run. And it’s got a tow hitch, if you need to ring along your cigarette boat. Admittedly, this SUV is a one accident vehicle, that drives down the price. But it sold new for just under $100,000 and is now a third that. Find this three owner 2013 Mercedes ML63 AMG here in Kansas City, Missouri. Hope it comes back on the market!
The Mercedes CL-class became the S-coupe in 2014, but it’s the same premise; an S-class from the (missing) B-pillar forward in every way. The 2010 CL coupe is the same as my 2010 S-class (S600) for the driver and passenger. At $24,998 there’s a ton of luxury in this unicorn at a bargain price. Again, room in the wallet for MaxCare I would not do without. Thanks to reader Cannon for alerting me to this beauty.
The CL550 has automated cruise control (Distronic Plus), air conditioned and heated seats, seat massagers, a heated steering wheel, AWD, and the cool (but totally unnecessary) night vision assist. CarMax gives it a 9 out of 10 on the features and yet I cannot think of what it does not have.
Okay, it doesn’t have a rear seat to speak of, similar to the CLS63 I covered yesterday. It’s about the driver and passenger. It has a filthy engine bay (shame on you CarMax) with a 5.5 liter V-8 that makes only 382 hp – adequate but not even close to the 500+ in the CLS63 AMG. But not everyone is a horsepower hog like me and most will find this plenty good for a luxury cruiser. The CL550 is a unique alternative to the CLS63, and $13,000 cheaper! Find this two owner, accident free car here in Fort Bend, Texas.
Going to keep this short since CarMax unicorns keep showing up and disappearing on their website faster than I can get to them. What we have here is a low mileage (40,000) 2012 Mercedes CLS63 for a really decent price. Leaves spare change for mandatory MaxCare. It sold new for maybe $95,000 and maybe more. I cannot tell if it has the far more expensive Performance Package – the red calipers suggest it might. What say ye, readers?
For $38k you get a luxury four door, four passenger coupe with a 5.5 liter, 518 hp turbocharged motor, adjustable suspension, and auto cruise control (Distronic Plus). Perfect for stop light launches and highway cruising. Car and Driver claims a crazy 3.8 second 0-60mph run here. But wait! There’s more!
The car is pretty much the same as an E63, although the coupe design limits interior room a bit. But it has seat massagers, heated and air conditioned seats, blind spot monitors, lane departure, rear view camera, and Bluetooth. Not bad. Hard to go wrong with a car like this! I like gold cars – reinforces the idea of “driving rich”! Find it here in Irvine, California.
These are not them. The cars above are in fact the fleet of cars available at CarMax 18 months ago I covered here that reflected the 600+ horsepower club. A BMW 760, Audi S8, and a couple of GM products. (Since then there’s even been this monster 760hp Mustang GT500!). Anyway, when I covered the high-horsepower cars I wanted to write a piece on impressive high-output four cylinder unicorns – the 300+ horsepower club. And fate has dealt me a cruel Christmas, in that I’m down with Covid and need things to do while in solitary confinement (doing fine, thank you!). So why not take a moment to write about the seven CarMax unicorn models that top 300 horsepower from little four cylinder motors. Some may surprise you.
2018 Subaru WRX STI.
The granddaddy of these cars is the Subaru WRX STI. Not the fastest or best handling, but almost 20 years ago Subaru rolled out the Impreza WRX and a road ready rally car. The Impreza and WRX split in 2014, and the STI is the most potent Subaru you can buy at CarMax. Rumor has it the 2021/2022 WRX will pack a more powerful 400hp motor!
With a 2.5 liter 305hp engine and a six-speed manual transmission the car is good for a low-five second 0-60mph run. It’s AWD and yet Car and Driver was only able to eek out a 0.93 g lateral grip, far less than some of the hot hatches to follow. The car sold for maybe a hair under $40,000 new, and is offered here in Parker, Colorado – fittingly just an hour north of Pike’s Peak!
The upstart 2017 Honda Civic Type R
With a wacky but innovative three-pipe exhaust, a monster wing, and lots of scoops and wedges the Honda Civic Type R is hard to miss. The first Type R to make it to the US, the 2017 model debuted at $35,000 and seemed like a bargain for such high performance.
Red motor and red interior to remind you this is not your commuter Civic. With 306hp from a 2.0 liter turbo and a six-speed manual, the powertrain pulls this 3100 lb “sedan” to 60 mph in about five seconds flat. Some reviewers have gotten less. Here’s the Car and Driver review from 2017 where they gushed over the Type R entry into the US, and in a later test they were able to pull 1.02 lateral g’s on the skid pad. Impressive in that it’s only 2WD. It also comes with Apple CarPlay and automatic cruise control, if you just want a commuter. The car was $35,000 new and is now here in Richmond, Virginia almost at MSRP!
2017 Ford Focus RS
Sticking with hot hatches, but pivoting from Asia to Germany – here’s a badass Ford Focus RS, with a whopping 350 hp from a 2.3 liter turbo. Imported only from 2016-2018, the RS beast hit 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and ran all the way to a 165 mph top end.
The engine bay is pretty damned dull for such a hot car. The Ford was more expensive than the Subaru and the Honda, starting at $41,000. Car and Driver described the Focus RS as having “explosive takeoffs, all-wheel-drive grip, drift mode can unlock your inner Ken Block.” (I had to Google Ken Block. Rally driver. Now I know.) The Focus RS is also AWD. It also pulls more than 1 g in lateral grip. Unfortunately, CarMax doesn’t have any of the 2018 models available. With only 1,000 imported, and as the final year of production, would think there’s some collection value to them. Find this pretty Nitrous Blue model here in Birmingham, Alabama.
2017 Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG
My favorite I think, because it is the fastest and almost the most understated. The fins on the front fascia I could do without, and maybe the rear spoilers could go, and then it would just be an unassuming small sedan, right? A baby Benz that costs anywhere from $50-70,000 depending on options. But only $38,998 as the lease and factory warranty nears the end. Why is it so alluring?
The motor. This hand-built and autographed AMG 2.0 liter puts out a whopping 375 hp. With AWD and a seven speed dual clutch automatic it’ll do 0-60 in less than four seconds. Preposterous. It’ll also pull 1 g per Car and Driver, who loved everything about this Mercedes here except for its price tag – more than a C63 AMG with a beefy V-8. But it’s depreciated to match the price of the other four bangers. The CLA45 will run to a governed 155 mph, unless it has the AMG Dynamic Plus package, then it’ll top out at 167 mph. Enjoy this ruby red racer here in Norcross, Georgia.
2015 Ford Mustang Ecoboost
I really, really don’t want to like this Mustang but I do. And yet it confuses me. A real Mustang has a snarling V-8 and the 2015’s and up have the independent rear suspension that makes them handle nicely and this one is yellow, which I really dig, and it’s a six-speed manual. But it’s an itty bitty turbo four cylinder, the first in a Mustang since the SVO’s of the 80’s. A 2.3 liter turbo four pumping 310 hp, 10 more than the Mustang V-6. Sigh. (Okay full disclosure, I had a Merkur XR4ti once – also with a 2.3 liter 175 hp turbo Pinto motor like the SVO. Loved it.) Here’s the Car and Driver review of the automatic version of this Mustang.
But the Mustang only weighs 3,600 lbs (looks so much bigger and heavier!) and will still rip off a low five second 0-60 mph run. Maybe a half second off it’s V-8 kin, and yet it will sip 30 mpg on the highway. I have never heard one of these on the road and think I would be confused by a Mustang with a turbo whirr and hum. If you can get over that, it’s got a fine cockpit and a lotta style, and it’s the cheapest of the seven 300 hp four cylinder cars! This five year old Mustang is available here in East Haven, Connecticut.
2018 Volvo S90 Plug-In Hybrid T8 Inscription
This may be cheating. Technically a 2.0 liter four cylinder like the rest, but this big sedan is augmented by a 10.4-kWh Lithium-Ion electric motor. Together they make a massive 400 hp, the most in this group. That hybrid puts it in a sub-5 second 0-60 mph category, very fast for a frugal but luxurious car. Here’s the review from Motor1, where they described the Volvo as “efficiency done with style.”
This Volvo has the most handsome interior and by far the richest list of features. Apple CarPlay, auto cruise control, seat massagers, Bowers & Wilkins audio, it has it all. Surprisingly it sold for $82,000 new and just two years later it’s less than half that. A real bargain. I suspect this is the one car I could own and enjoy almost like my S600 for long distance cruising. But there is one deal breaker for me – it’s made in China. I’m not ready for that. If you are, it’s available here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2018 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS
Last but not least, a real 365 hp four cylinder mid-engined sports car. A fourth generation Porsche Cayman flat four, going 2.5 liters. Oddly, it’s not as fast as the Mercedes CLA45 AMG at 4.1 seconds to 60 mph, but it will out handle and out class the Benz.
The interior is identical to the Boxster and the 911, as they have been since inception, and smartly appointed. The driving position is even better than my 997 911. I got a kick out of the engine bay photo – nothing to see here! Move along! Here’s the Car and Driver review from 2018. They were a little underwhelmed by the GTS compared to the S models but not unhappy with the car at all. Just unclear on the value. It was an $80,000 car when new just two years ago, and honestly has not depreciated hardly at all. At this price it really doesn’t make my unicorn cut, but it is a 300+ hp CarMax offering. Find it here in Houston, Texas.
So that wraps up all the 300+ hp four cylinder cars you can get at CarMax at this time. There are some oh so close bridesmaids that would be fun, such as the 292 hp Audi S3/VW Golf R, the 291 hp Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution GSR, and even the 263 hp Mazda3 Mazdaspeed. I do enjoy big motors, and yet some of the most fun cars I’ve had, including my 1971 Fiat 124 Spider and my old Ford Fiestas, have been four cylinders. None of them matched the 300 hp of these cars and yet still a pleasure to rev. Having 300 hp in these would be quite the hootenanny!
