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Tag: 1997

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1997 Porsche 911 Carrera S Vesuvio Edition

1997 Porsche 911 Carrera S Vesuvio Edition

Published June 27, 2018 by Rob

Keeping track of special options packages isn’t easy and I will admit I did not know this existed. I’m still not entirely sure it does, but after some searching I’m pretty sure.

This is a 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera S with the Vesuvio package, which was an optional package offered through Porsche Exclusive that provided a few contrasting cues to highlight that stunning exterior paint. We have featured the 993 in Vesuvio Metallic before; we’ve even seen the 993 C2S in Vesuvio Metallic before. But the full package? That I have not seen.

From what I could gather it appears there originally were 24 of these 993s produced. One of those has been totaled, which leaves us with the figure this seller gives us that this is 1 of 23 known to exist. That’s pretty rare. To make this one even more rare – though probably not more desirable – this one is a Tiptronic. There are only a couple of those, so if you’re uninterested in a manual transmission, or if the years simply have passed you by and driving a manual no longer is feasible or desirable, then this should mark one of the very rare opportunities to get your hands on one of these cars.

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1997 Mercedes-Benz S600

1997 Mercedes-Benz S600

Published May 26, 2018 by Andrew

Last week I checked out an extremely well-kept 1996 Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupe that was probably the nicest example currently for sale. It had a price tag to match, but I argued that it was probably worth it over a cheaper example with a bunch of problems that will seem never-ending if you don’t stay on top of them. Today, I wanted to check out the brother S600 up for sale in Brooklyn, NY sedan with triple the mileage but surprisingly a higher price. Truth be told, this S600 painted in the rare Green Black Metallic has been up for sale for a while and it probably has to do with the price tag but curiosity got the best of me so I really wanted to take a look at this M120-powered sedan.

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1997 BMW M3 Sedan

1997 BMW M3 Sedan

Published March 24, 2018 by Carter

Just last night, a friend informed me he had “acquired an older BMW”.

“Willingly?”, I asked. He affirmed he had contractually agreed to this life changing experience. “What model?”, I furthered.

“A Z3”.

Now, supportive friend Carter probably should have nodded in approval. After all, the Z3 is great value for the money. They’re cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, and fun to drive. But what actually came out of my mouth was laughter. Not maniacal laughter, mind you, but just the uncontrollable mocking type that you immediately feel a bit bad about. Hoping to redeem the situation a bit, I prodded “Six cylinder…?” Nope. 4. I contained further laughter at this point, but I was grasping for straws. Meekly, I ventured “…..manual….?” hoping for some affirmation. “YES!” he happily retorted, glad to finally confirm a question of mine.

It’s actually a nice car, and it’s in great shape, and he paid almost nothing for it. But from the same period, BMW had some other affordable, fun to drive and even more potent options for enthusiasts. Take, for example, the M3 Sedan. Like the Z3, it was rear drive. Like the Z3, it has a manual, and they share some achitecture. But while the Roadster has a bit of a stigma that results in enthusiasts’ dismissal, the M3/4/5 has developed into a legend in its own right. Damn the fact that it didn’t have the more exotic Euro motor, if you want a cheap and pure driver’s car while still being able to comfortably transport 4 adults, they don’t come much better than this platform:

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1997 Audi S6 Plus

1997 Audi S6 Plus

Published February 12, 2018 by Carter

Update 2/12/18: A year after we originally featured it, this ultra-rare S6 Plus is back with 1,000 more miles for $500 less. It’s still a steep price for one of these super-S models, but it’s pretty hard to find them at all, never mind like this.

Audi’s sleeper sedan squared up against some seriously stiff competition in the early 1990s, and to be frank, though it was innovative it came up a bit short in the power department. In turbocharged 20 valve form, the 2.2 liter inline-5 cranked out 227 horsepower and 258 lb.ft of torque. That was impressive by 1980s standards, but in the early 90s you needed to carry a bigger stick. BMW’s E34 M5 brought nearly 100 horsepower more to the party at 311 with the revised 3.6 (and yes, it had more torque than the AAN, too), but Mercedes-Benz really crashed the party with the E500, whose M119 held a full 100 horsepower and 100 lb.ft of torque advantage over the Audi. You could be as clever as you wanted, but a 50% power disadvantage was a bridge too far to cross for the legendary 5 pot no matter how many wheels were driven.

The writing was on the wall, and Audi decided to offer an upgraded V8 model alongside the S4 in the rest of the world. Starting in October 1992, you could select the same ABH 276 horsepower 32V 4.2 liter all-aluminum V8 in the S4. The switch to S6 saw the introduction of the revised AEC, which gained 10 horsepower for the 1995 model year and would continue to be the standard V8 in the S6 until production ended. But the big new was the 1996 introduction from Audi’s skunkworks quattro GmbH of the Plus model.

The Plus upped the ante quite a bit with the reworked AHK V8. Though it displaced the same 4.2 liters and had the same 32 valves, the breathed on motor had 322 horsepower and 302 lb.ft of torque. Power was matched with upgraded suspension, brakes, wheels and some small “Plus” badge details – this was still the decade of stealthy performance, after all. Few who look at this model would see anything other than a C4 sitting on slightly larger wheels. But for those in the know, this was one of the most potent super sedans (and wagons!) of the 1990s:

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VRffordable Double Take: 1997 Volkswagen GTI VR6

VRffordable Double Take: 1997 Volkswagen GTI VR6

Published February 7, 2018 by Carter

Update 2/6/2018: After selling in November for $2,250, the new owner of the Candy White GTI is selling it with an uninstalled turbo kit asking $2,900 now.

Tired of seeing high prices for Corrado SLC VR6s? Today is your day, because nearly all of the fun offered in the 6-cylinder Corrado was also slotted into the GTI. For a hair under $20,000, you got the same thrilling 2.8 liter VR6 mated solely to a 5-speed manual. Did you want an automatic? Well, then buy the Jetta. Sure, that motor and the bigger body of the Mk.3 meant it was quite a bit heavier than the previous GTIs had been – by 1995, the ‘hot hatch’ had bulked up with 700 additional lbs of super-weight gain Mk.3000 versus the A1. But faster? Without a doubt. With nearly double the horsepower of the original U.S. market model, 0-60 was sub 7-seconds and you could hit 130 flat out. Coupled too with VW’s ‘we don’t care if you think it’s broke we’re not going to fix it’ styling attitude, the Mk.3 might have not looked as slinky as the Corrado, but underneath it was still a Golf and as such, practical.

So while the Corrado pretended to be a Porsche, the GTI remained the answer to the ‘what if’; you wanted a Porsche, but you a) didn’t want to (or couldn’t) pay for a Porsche, and 2) you occasionally needed a car that you could actually use to transport things other than your smile. This was the recipe that made the first two generations successful.

It was no surprise then that the third generation GTI remained a niche hit for Volkswagen even in relatively dire times for European imports. While finding a nice GTI VR6 can be quite difficult, it was a bit of a Thanksgiving treat to see two pop up in my feed. So which is the winner?

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