The 997 Porsche 911 generation continues to age gracefully in my eyes. It certainly won’t get mistaken for a new car, but I certainly think it a soothing and classic shape that will go down as a “win” for the design team at Porsche. As with almost cars, the facelift model years always get the first look, but I really like the pre-facelift examples just as much as the later cars. Today’s example, a base 2005 C2, is finished in the classic Guards Red over black leather and has just 39,000 miles. The price? Well … at least it is in the ballpark.
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We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.Month: January 2022
After B5 production ended, Audi continued to widen the pool for its small chassis. Joining the lineup for the B6 model was a new Cabriolet, and of course returning were the dynamic duo of the sedan and Avant models. Power now came from the BBK 4.2 liter 4 cam 40 valve all-aluminum V8. Fitting the motor into the small chassis necessitated dropping the belt drive in favor of the infamous rear-mounted chain. Still, though, with 340 horsepower on tap and weighed the same as the outgoing 250 horsepower V6 twin-turbo, with instant torque, the S4 seemed top of the heap. But it was still playing catch-up with the outgoing E46 M3, so when it came to the B7, Audi offered even more spunk, bringing for the first time after three generations their first top-tier offering in the small chassis – the RS4.
At the heart of the new addition to the fleet was, of course, a special motor. Dubbed the BNS, Audi ditched the 5 valve heads but added FSI direct fuel injection. In reality, little was shared or untouched between the seemingly similar 4.2 V8s in the S4 and RS4, but the result of the fiddling was impressive. The engineers at Ingolstadt managed to crank a 420 horsepower screamer out, and coupled with the revised, more rear-biased quattro drivetrain in the B7, a completely different beast was born.
Today’s example comes from the 2007 model year and looks great in Daytona Gray Pearl Effect over the light gray interior – and it’s about as cheap as I’ve seen one of these come to market, though there are a few reasons for that.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2007 Audi RS4 on eBay
1 CommentIf you walked into your local Audi dealer in 2006, this was the absolute cheapest new car you could drive away in. However, it was far from a stripper. Based on the Golf 5, the first A3 to come to the US packed a punch with a 2.0T base motor cranking out 200 horsepower and good for 6.5-second 0-60 runs. Your $25,000 base price also got you a pretty nice interior, and (unlike the bulk of Audis today) it came with a manual transmission. Tick the Sport Package option for $1,800, and you got 17″ wheels, a sport suspension, aluminum interior accents, fog lights, a multifunction three-spoke steering wheel, front sport seats with leather trim, and a roof spoiler. It gave you Audi’s version of a four-door GTI, and as the styling has aged well, these are a compelling alternative to the normal Volkswagen:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Audi A3 2.0T on eBay
2 CommentsIn terms of the king of the hill in the Porsche 911 GT world, there are two. One is the 2011 GT2 RS, and the other is today’s car, the 2011 GT3 RS 4.0. Both of them were extremely limited in production, and most importantly, had a manual gearbox. Because of that, they sell for crazy money. Really crazy money. They have the perfect formula to be a really great collector car, and if you have a half a million bucks to spend, it all comes down to whether you want turbochargers or no. I don’t think either can be called better than the other, but for me, I might lean towards this GT3 RS 4.0.
Outside of a handful of paint-to-sample examples, the 600 cars were either offered in black or Carrara White. Today, we have one in British Racing Green. Naturally, I freaked out and thought this might be the best 4.0 ever spec’d out, but was disappointed to see it is wearing a vinyl wrap and not paint. Still, if you have $400,000, I would suggest this purchase.