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2015 BMW M5 30 Jahre Edition

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At this point we’re all familiar with the ridiculous investment opportunity the BMW E30 M3 has been recently. According to Hagerty, average values held steady around $15k from 2007 to 2012, and they were even lower before then. Today, Hagerty estimates the average E30 M3 value is $48k, an easy $30k if you picked one up just 5 years ago.

In these days of “unicorn” start-ups and (allegedly) ridiculous easy riches, 5 years is a pretty long horizon for the make-money-now bunch. In that case, they should have grabbed one of the 30 BMW M5 “30 Jahre Editions” released in the US last year, a 10% share of worldwide production of the ultimate F10 M5 celebrating 30 years of the M5 supersedan. With power bumped to 600hp and a special Frozen Dark Silver that puts most of today’s fancy satin/matte finishes to shame, it is definitely more than just a badge exercise (although there are plenty of self-important badges). Initially sold for $138k, a nice $34k premium over the M5’s MSRP, just one year later you could have triple the profit of that 5-year E30 M3 investment.

Despite the piped-in sound silliness, I do like the F10 M5 and BMW’s modern styling. Though a little overcomplicated, it’s growing on me and vastly preferable to the days of the Bangle Butt. It toes the line between aggressive and subtle while packing a nuclear punch that will keep up with most supercars. Turn all that up to 11 along with an extra dose of rare, and you’ve got the 30 Jahre Edition.

Click for details: 2015 BMW M5 30 Jahre Edition on eBay

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1997 Porsche 911 Turbo S

Here’s a rare thing: these days the only thing more rare than a limited-production air-cooled 911 is a limited-production air-cooled 911 with a decent number of miles on it. And that’s exactly what we have here with this Black on Black 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo S, located in Northern Virginia, that has seen 105,280 miles over the course of its life. While I’m sure we have all suspected such cars to exist we almost never come across them and for this to be the last and most valuable of the air-cooled Turbos (excepting, of course, the 993 GT2) I’m shocked to see it. It’s fantastic though! The current owner of this car, who has had it since 2001, certainly appears to have gotten the most out of this purpose-built machine. With the market for air-cooled Turbos in the midst of a precipitous climb where might potential buyers value this example with such high mileage? Hopefully this auction will shed some light.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo S on eBay

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2013 Audi TT RS

There aren’t too many cars that I look at today and think that down the road they’ll be viable used cars. I can look back at the previous tech-heavy generation cars for the trends of what will occur – take the BMW E31 for example. Sure, it’s a really neat looking car, and the lure of the V12 is made even more appealing since you could get a manual transmission. But then there are the horror stories of the 15 or more computers that it takes to run all of the electronic systems, and I wonder how people will keep them running in the future. That’s even more compounded when you look at newer models. For example, about a month ago I took a trip out to Coventry Motorcar and drove their modified CL65 AMG. It was when new, and still is today, an amazing car with every sort of electronic gizmo possible, from heated, cooled and massaging seats to the twin-turbo V12 under the hood. It’s as if Mercedes-Benz took a Brookstone catalog and attached it to a Saturn V rocket. But can you imagine maintaining that car as it creeps towards 120,000 miles? I certainly can’t, and it’s a feeling I have about nearly all new luxury German cars.

There are a few exceptions, even in my favorite brand of Audi. While I’m not a fan of most of the models they’ve come out with recently in general, there are a few special ones that I’d consider owning down the road. It’s not that I don’t like or admire the cars; the performance of the new generation motors is stunning and the interiors and exteriors are, I think, the best in the business. It’s that I just can’t contemplate how you’d keep a new S8 running down the road. Having owned cutting edge, tech heavy Audis in the past, it’s a recipe that I would be concerned with in the future. I might make an exception, though, for a car like the this:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2013 Audi TTRS on eBay

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1994 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Widebody

I’m going to begin this post somewhat counter-intuitively: of the various 911s Porsche has produced the 964 is the only model where I prefer the style of the narrow-bodied car over the widebody. I find the proportions of the narrow-body 964 to be excellently balanced and while a wider rear does give it a more aggressive stance I actually find the narrow-body to look more purposeful, in the sense of more poised and dynamic. With that said, I don’t dislike the widebody 964, in fact they can be fantastic looking variants, and their relative rarity makes them a valuable commodity and consistently of interest to those in search of a good 964. While the Carrera 4 itself served as the debut model for the 964 when it was released in 1989 it was not until the final model year, 1994, that Porsche added those wider rear fenders. These were, in a sense, a prelude to the Carrera 4S and Carrera 2S made available for the first time for the 993 and the 964 C4 Widebody most definitely is a special car. As with most special cars, prices are not cheap, but rare models have shown quite well on the market and stand a good chance of continuing on those lines. Here we have what looks like a very well cared for 1994 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, located in Washington, with 81,800 miles on it.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1994 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Widebody on eBay

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Porsche 924 Roundup

The Porsche 924 represents some of the best aspects of automobile enthusiasts, while simultaneously embodying two distinct and very different decades. From the 1970s comes the upright, modernist and simple dashboard, but while it nods to the decade that bore it, the exterior is immediately identifiable as the 1980s signature silhouette with a low-slung, long hood, pronounced bumpers and flip-up headlights. Quite a few cars in the late 1970s and 1980s attempted to mimic the design of the 924, including the notable RX-7 and you could even argue the 280/300ZX. You can even see influence of the groundbreaking 924 design in the Miata of the late 1980s as well as such modern GT cars at the AMG GT-S. For enthusiasts, though, it was the near perfect weight distribution, the torquey inline-4, the manual gearbox and the all-important Porsche badge of engineering and build quality that led to the 924 being a hit. It didn’t hurt that it was the most affordable Porsche, either, and arguably still is so today. I’ve rounded up a group of 3 distinct and neat 924S models from late in the run to see which offers the most bang for your buck:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Porsche 924S “GT” on eBay

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