Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Let’s start with the last line first: The C43 AMG is one of the best bargains on the market right now — if you can find a good one. There were less than 1,500 of these imported to the U.S. so there aren’t many to start with. Further, if you find one that needs TLC it should be deeply discounted as repairing this car properly can add up fast.
I still recall the first time I set eyes on an e36 M3 convertible in the flesh. We were headed to the movies on a summer evening just as it was starting to cool off. After we parked, there was a brand new one in Estoril Blue over Dove Gray. The top was down which gave us a nice chance to live vicariously from the outside looking in — dreaming of cruising home in the open air while sinking into a new leather interior and driving just a little faster than everyone else as the light went down.
It would take years before I got an e36 M3 of my own, but that connection early on certainly played a part in my eventual ownership. Mine was a coupe but a friend of mine who was a broker at the time had a 98 convertible for sale that I got to compare side by side. While the lack of a top is an obvious difference, the lack of B-pillars was also a strong visual character trait of the convertible. Unfortunately this translates into a lot more shaking in the cabin, especially at the windshield. Then again, you don’t purchase a convertible over the coupe because it makes more sense on the track. You get the ‘vert because it’s a fantastic excuse to go for spirited Sunday cruise when the weather is nice.
The Porsche 964 RS America is one of those cars you see from time to time in the marketplace, more often than not having led a pampered life with very few miles accumulated on its odometer. These lightweight 911s are highly collectable nowadays so it’s rare to see one with high mileage, let alone one having covered over 200,000 miles. This RS America for sale in California is the highest mileage example we’ve seen, but appears as if it might have covered only a quarter of the miles. This particular car is one of the first 100 made and has had a rebuilt engine
during its life.
Audi S4 Avants have a semi-mythological status amongst enthusiasts. Like the great Greek Titans, they were heroic, with greater than man attributes. However, as with the Greek Gods, they’re also inherently flawed, doomed to repeat the same failures over and over again. I can’t help but look at the S4 Avant and think it’s like Prometheus; a gift to inspire humanity, but one that you’ll pay for every day. Recently, a close family member bought a 2004 S4 Avant 6-speed – there will be an article coming on it soon. I was lucky enough to spend a few days behind the wheel; it had been a few years since I was able to drive a 6-speed V8 S4, and I had some interesting perspective. The previous opportunity I had was on track in a then-new 2004 6-speed sedan at Watkins Glen – the car felt heavy but capable, shifted nicely, had barely adequate brakes and was a freight train from hell on the straights. Fast forward a decade, and what does a used one feel like? Well, my instant thought was that it felt surprisingly like my old ’93 V8 quattro had; heavy and surprisingly slow to react to throttle inputs. The shifter felt clunky compared to my Passat, and the interior was positively claustrophobic compared to…well, even an A3, which itself feels far too small inside for it’s exterior size. There’s an immediate feeling of weight and girth that isn’t as noticeable in the B5/5.5 chassis. The dashboard isn’t as intuitive as it should be, visibility is remarkably poor, and for a 340 horsepower V8, below 5,000 RPMs it feels surprisingly slow. But then you get it moving, and on the fly it starts to make much more sense. Over bumps at speed that weight works to its advantage, smoothing out the ride and providing reassuring confidence that it’s planted. For such a low car riding on massive 18″ wheels, it’s amazingly comfortable. If the C4 and B5 S4/S6s felt a bit like slingshots with their turbo engagement, the B6 S4 feels like a battering ram, bullying everything out of the way. There’s no need to downshift on the highway in 6th gear; mat it at 80 m.p.h. and it won’t take you long to be over triple digits. And if you do downshift and that needle swings past the magical 5,000 RPM mark, the engine wakes up and comes alive, positively rocketing towards the redline. Of course, it comes with all-wheel drive and 5-door capability, so it’s no wonder that such a package has a magical feel to it; however, it’s still a flawed package – in my time with the S4 Avant (3 days), it failed to start twice – a still undiagnosed fault. I couldn’t help but think the entire time that I just wished it wouldn’t break (further) while in my stay. Still, like a freight train derailing, I can’t help but look when they’re presented in certain color combinations:
Last week, in my feature of a 911 GT2, I mentioned off hand that from its inception the GT2 has been the ultimate 911 – right up until the release of the GT2 RS, a car that took all of the insanity of the GT2 and decided it was not insane enough. Lo and behold, I then came across one such beast up for sale. Here we have a triple Black 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, located in California, with 5,781 miles on it. Weighing not much more than 3000 lbs and with power raised to 620 hp along with 516 lb-ft of torque the GT2 RS rivals any supercar and even dips its toes into hypercar territory. Yet it remains a functional machine that, while not an everyday cruiser, still doesn’t require its owners to suffer quite as many sacrifices to comfort and usability as certain Italian rivals might necessitate. It is one of the quickest cars Porsche has ever produced and, look at that, it also has a good ‘ol trusty 6-speed manual transmission, a reality that surely we will not see in future iterations of the GT2 (assuming one actually comes to pass).
