Manual transmission Chevrolet SS models are the most sought after of the Australian Holdens rebadged and imported to the US from 2014-2017. And two of the five Chevrolet SS cars on CarMax lots are 6-speed manuals. Fortunately, GM releases production numbers for these cars by year, color, and options. Chevrolet sold 2,202 SS models in 2016, 711 with manual shifters. Only 168 in Red Hot Red. It gets harder after that – 13 with sunroof, inflator, and manual transmission, and 27 with sunroof, a spare tire, and manual. So… this 2016 Chevrolet SS is at a minimum 1 of 2,202. Or 1 of 711. Or 1 of 40 (I can’t tell if this has a spare or inflator!), or at best, 1 of 13. All of them say unicorn to me.
Six speed makes it more special.Count ’em – three pedals!
Just over three years ago, while Chevrolet was still importing and selling SS models, I wrote here about the inexplicable boost in SS inventory at Carmax – they normally carry a handful and in December 2017 had a remarkable 24 units on lots. Maybe they knew something. TheSS listed new in 2016-2017 for $42-48,000. They also came with significant rebates making them ridiculous values. What’s surprising to me is they are selling now, four years after extinction, for almost what they sold for new. Very few used cars are retaining value like that. This low mileage model is surely selling for at or above its new car price.
The Chevrolet SS was powered by a 6.2 liter naturally aspirated LS3 V-8 pumping a decent but not spectacular 415 hp. Car and Driver still made a 4.6 second 0-60 mph run – no slouch – and just short of 1g lateral handling on the skid pad. Respectable numbers. The car has adaptive suspension and is adequately appointed but by no means loaded. I doubt SS owners care. Find this low mileage, one owner accident free 2016 Chevrolet SS here in Hartford, Connecticut.
Porsche offered only 1,911 “Black Edition” 911 models in 2012, one of almost two dozen 911 variants for the final year of the 997 line. I always have to doublecheck the 2012 911’s – Porsche also replaced the 997 with the all new 991 line in 2012 so you can find both listed as 12’s. This 2012 911 Black Edition is a beauty and a bit of a unicorn.
Few cars have such a sleek silhouette to me!
Visually, the only way I can tell the 997 from the 991 models is the totally redone interior. I know Porsche pros note all the exterior cues but I’m not one of them. This interior layout is identical to my recently-sold 911 and a bit plain for me. The Black Edition adds a Bose 13 speaker audio system, monochromatic interior with specially trimmed door sills, gauges, sport steering wheel, emblems, and other cosmetic doodads. So far, the Black Edition seems to be mostly an appearance package.
It would be totally okay to ignore whether the Black Edition is special or not. The car is still a Porsche 911 and a wonderful driving experience. The 3.6 liter naturally aspirated motor runs a 4.4 second 0-60mph sprint, drawing on 345 hp and a seven speed PDK automatic transmission. As I’ve described in my road trip with Etta, my 2008 911, the handling is astonishing. I’ve been on the fence on whether to buy another 911 and as I write I’m feeling the enthusiasm to do it again. Not this car – I need a 991.2 – and yet this car is right for someone at only $47,998. It was once close to $90,000 new, and with only 36,000 miles it’s not a bad deal. My 2008 car was $34,998, purchased in 2018, and since then very few 911’s have been offered by CarMax for under $50,000. Only a handful under $60,000. MaxCare? I’d say yes. My plan was $3,500 I think, and while I did not have enough repairs to cover that cost, CarMax refunded $1,100 of pro-rated MaxCare when I sold the car. Why not? This 2012 Porsche 911 Black Edition is offered here in Renton, Washington (was in California last month). Enjoy.
Surprised to see a 2010 BMW 650i unicorn pop up at CarMax this week. This is a second generation E63 as BMW folks know, and the last year for this model. This 11 year old offering gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance coming to score a CarMax E63 M6 of fabled V-10 fame, aka the one who got away from me when I was looking to replace Guenther. It was this 2007 BMW M6 selling for $23,998 and only 44,000 miles. Still kicking myself.
I never liked the lines of the trunk, but could get over it for the right car. Car and Driver called it “semi-demented”.
I’ve test driven a couple of these big (4,400lb) coupes and they fit me like a glove – better than a 3-series by far. Cup holders suck. If you really REALLY want to see an in depth review of this car here’s a NewCarTest review from 2010. The 2010 BMW 650i sold new for upwards of $80,000. This one is just over $20,000 and eligible for MaxCare until it’s 16 years old. Still amazes me. Suspect CarMax will go to a 125,000 miles cap but that’s still plenty of driving miles left. The 650i has a 360hp V-8 that will only get you into the five second 0-60 mph zone, not terribly quick. Find this four owner, accident free beauty here in Athens, Georgia.
On one hand I don’t get the underpowered but surgically superior handling small cars. They’re just not fast. The Miata. The Toyota 86. The Subaru BRZ. All low powered four cylinders.
But a backroads spin in my 1971 Fiat 124 Spider, with only 110hp, reminds me of all that is right and salutary about a nimble sports car on a windy road. My apologies to these little sports coupes. So what we have here in the “Coming Soon” section on the CarMax website is a 2020 Subaru BRZ TS – of which only 300 were imported into the US. All in white. A true unicorn. And it’s not even on sale yet!
The 2020 Subaru BRZ TS is more than visual changes – it’s all about handling and braking. According to Motor1 – “The meaner version of the coupe uses Sachs dampers and coil springs with a tuned setup from STI. There is also a flexible V-brace in the engine bay. For sharper steering response, there are draw stiffeners on the chassis and sub-frame. Up front, Brembo four-piston brake calipers clamp onto the rotors, and there are two-piston stoppers at the back.”
The Subaru motor remains a 2.0 liter, 205 hp boxer four cylinder and all BRZ TS’s are 6 speed manual transmissions. The combo will only get you a 6.3 second 0-60 mph run, pitiful by today’s standards, but again it’s about the handling. The car sold new just last year for about $33,000, so truly amazing it’s selling at this premium, but then again it is just one of 300 in the USA! Skip the MaxCare – this car is under dealer warranty and no reason to expect reliability issues. Find it here in Fort Worth, Texas.
This is an X-Runner. Honestly, I’d never heard of them until reader Brandon Baker pointed this out to me today. The Toyota X-Runner was a “performance” small sport truck manufactured from 2007 to 2013 – makes this model the last of the line. A unicorn. Looks like lots of cladding and skirts and flares, but it has a tuned suspension, a solid 4.0 liter six-cylinder engine, and a six-speed manual transmission.
The motor only produces 236 hp and moves the 3,800 lb pickup to a seven second 0-60 mph run. But seriously, CarMax….what’s with the filthy engine bay? Maybe that sells trucks.
The X-Runner is pretty basic inside – Bluetooth, rear view camera, a CD player, and cloth seats. What’s surprising is this was a $28,000 truck new in 2013, and eight years later it’s offered by CarMax for only $2,000 less! Says to me there is a following for these pickups – even high mileage ones. It’s a Toyota, so I wouldn’t pay for MaxCare on this one. And it’s a Toyota manufactured in Texas, for what that’s worth. Find this three owner sport pickup here in Sanford, Texas.
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:
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.
