There were certain medium priced cars when new that were bargains as used cars. The 1959 and 1960 Edsels were essentially Fords in a different trim. When the Edsel was dropped, these cars could be had at bargain prices much lower than the Ford and parts were the same as Ford and readily available. This wasn’t true with the 1958 Edsel. Throughout the 1960s, the Mercury shared its drivetrain, suspension and many other parts with the Ford, but often sold for less as a used car than a Ford of the same year. This wasn’t true at GM until the mid 1970s. Most of the GM cars had a engine made by that particular division.
Ok. I was wrong. I see 03 merc s600 do sell for 12k. Never let facts get in the way of a good argument.
While my Lincoln Mark is not the same breed of car as those on the list, the Marks suffered an obscenely fast depreciation rate.
They were first introduced in the mid 90s and were around 40k dollars. For instance, a '95 model with comparatively low miles and clean could be had 6 years later for 3-4 grand; or less.
People who bought new ones back then and financed the bulk of that 40 grand must have really been squirming a couple of years later when considering a sale or trade.
Mechanics love these well depreciated luxury cars. They don’t drive much, can do their own repairs and get the parts wholesale.
On the other hand, I’ve seen salesmen driving lots of miles break out in tears when their wheels were laid up and bills were astronomical.
Gotta pay to play with the big guys
“Gotta pay to play with the big guys”
Absolutely. But these cars are also rare. I looked for the VW Phaeton W12 on Auto Trader. There were 4 or 5 nationwide. There were 3 pages of V8 Phaetons, though, and they were more like $12,000.
The one luxury car I’d buy after ten years - Lexus LS430. Remarkable long-term reliability.
Docnick, the not driving the car much doesn’t apply in my case. My old Mark was still running and driving like new at 249k miles when it was wrecked.
My current Mark just rolled over 212k miles a week ago and like the first, still runs and drives great.
Both cars have been extremely reliable and that along with they way they perform and drive is what sells me on them so much.
Due to low production numbers and being a niche car, it does have a few drawbacks at times if parts are needed.
One area that I haven’t been up the creek on is the little rubber gasket between the throttle body and intake tract. It’s odd shaped and not available from dealers or in the aftermarket so hopefully there won’t be a problem with it, knock on wood.
I’m with jtsanders. This is a great shopping list. Want an awesome car for cheap than has been maintained perfectly? Get a used high end car like a BMW. I would avoid total exotics, but I will never buy a used Honda because people beat the crap out of them. No one beats the crap out of a 90,000 car. New Accord or a used M5? No contest.
Repair bills for high end cars are way overblown. Just get a local mechanic you trust. Same labor doing brakes on a BMW or Merc as it is on a Echo.
Perhaps, but some of the higher end cars use those carbon ceramic brakes and I can’t imagine those being cheap to replace.
Aftermarket kit for the fronts from Wilwood for 05+ Mustang is $7200
http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitListFront.aspx?mincatdesc=W6A%20WCCB%20Carbon-Ceramic%20Big%20Brake%20Front%20Brake%20Kit