Tag: bmw

I have a couple of dozen (about 50 really) CarMax unicorns tagged but wanted to open with a sampling of what’s on the lot today.  Again, my bar is $35,000 or less, 60,000 miles or less, an enthusiast car, and relatively exclusive.  Your standards may vary.  So here they are in no particular order:

2007 Mercedes CL550 – The “big coupe” from Mercedes – the two door version of the S-class, originally a $100,000 car.   You can read the review from the link below.   It’s the third generation CL and has everything a top of the line Mercedes should have – in 2007.   What I like? It’s big, exclusive, comfortable, well-appointed with Distronic auto cruise control, cheap, low miles (driven only 3,400 miles yearly), and you can get a warranty for the next five years. I like that with only 34,000 miles CarMax will likely give an affordable warranty to 75,000 miles – but I would take all they offer that I could afford.  What I don’t like?  No bluetooth. Ad says rear view camera but I doubt it – CarMax photo spread almost always shows a shot of the rear view camera in action if it has one.  Rear view photo of the car doesn’t show one.  I don’t like less than 400hp but 382 ain’t bad.  I also don’t like that this car is not transferable and is 3,000 miles away from me.  I would give it serious consideration.  I’ll bet it’s gone in days, although there’s also a 2009 CL550 on the lot at $32,998 that hasn’t moved in a week.  We shall see!

Car and Driver Review CL550

2011 BMW M3 – The “benchmark” sport coupe per the review below, and the best everyday sports car I can imagine.  I’ve owned a 3-series.  Everything is in the right place.  M3’s are tough to find in my unicorn category.  Once a $70,000 car, most are close to the $35,000 unicorn limit, have 70-80,000 miles on them and are 8-10 years old.  I have a hard time paying that much for that old with that mileage.  So I like the balance of price and mileage here.   I like the SMG transmission and 400hp.  I’m not a big fan of the hard top convertible only because I own a convertible. Otherwise it’s the best of both worlds.  Don’t know why, but the hard top convertibles sell at a discount over the hard top coupes.  If you like these then you’re in luck!   A little short on amenities but you can’t have a bad day in an M3.

Autoweek Review – 2011 M3

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