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Tag: 2006

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Two Turbos or None? BMW 335i v. M3

Published January 17, 2015 by Carter

A few months ago at a gathering of friends, two BMWs were present – my friend’s E46 M3 and his acquaintance’s E82 135i. A bit under my breath, I mentioned to him that I still couldn’t get over how unattractive the 135i was compared to the M3. I may have said that the E82 looked a bit like a really poor quality bodyshop repaired a E46 that had been both in full frontal and rear crashes – poorly. But my friend countered that if anything, that 135i was faster and more fun to drive than his M3. Looking back, I paused, and thought “Could I?” The answer remains no in my book, but it does raise an interesting question – with E92 335i prices dropping within reach of the higher E46 M3s, which is the better choice?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 BMW 335i on eBay

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2006 MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works GP

Published January 9, 2015 by Paul

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It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a full decade since the first generation of the reborn MINI Cooper has passed. Four years ago I made the fateful choice to sell my 2007 Mercedes-Benz C230 Sport for a low mileage 2006 Cooper S. I haven’t looked back. It’s been a fantastic ownership experience and a car that suits my needs quite well. I choose a 2006 Cooper S because it was the final year for the Brasilian sourced Tritec supercharged engine. The first time I got behind the wheel of an R53 Cooper S I was hooked. The engine was punchy, had torque in every gear and, oh, that whine from the blower under the bonnet. In an age where a lot of newer cars seem to just blend together, this little car had serious character.

For the R53’s final year, MINI would introduce a special run of 2000 Cooper S models, with the John Cooper Works package labeled the “GP.” This was a very focused, track ready beast built in Italy by Bertone, sans rear seat with some other weight savings measures and a higher output motor. The sole color choice was Thunder Blue with red door mirror caps, carbon fiber rear wing and unique four-spoke alloys. This Cooper S JCW GP for sale in Miami has done just over 40,000 miles and is ready to tackle any curve you could throw at it.

Click for details: 2006 MINI Cooper S JCW GP on eBay

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2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S w/ X51 package

Published December 28, 2014 by Rob

I can’t remember the last time I wrote up a 997, and like with the 996TT, which I have written about frequently, the 997 provides us with a nice value comparison for those interested in a 911, but for whom performance might trump long term value. As we will see with the car here, since these cars already have passed through their significant depreciation from new they can be had for reasonable cost while retaining some of that cost for any future sale. For those who can’t get past the 996’s styling a car like this one, a Black 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S with the X51 performance package and just 28,500 miles might be just the sort of thing to look for. Added to the power increase of the Carrera S over the standard Carrera, the X51 package raises horsepower to 381 and torque to 306 lb-ft appearing to push the limits of just how much Porsche can extract from the car’s 3.8 liter flat-six while remaining fairly comfortable and without reverting to forced induction.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 2006 Hartge H50

Published December 16, 2014 by Carter

While engine swaps on BMWs seem downright commonplace, there are the normal engine swaps (the well played out S50/52 comes to mind) and then there’s Hartge. The history between the two premier BMW tuning firms in Germany – Alpina and Hartge – is interesting. They’ve vied for the top spot for several decades with slightly different design philosophies. During that time, they’ve also seemingly flip-flopped; originally, Hartge took a more conservative route than Alpina, whose wild turbocharged creations challenged BMW’s own offerings. But after they were granted full manufacturer status in Germany in 1985, Hartge really came into its own and hasn’t looked back since. While like many firms they offer a line of aerodynamic tweats, wheels, exhausts and engine management chips, their party-piece is taking motors from the larger BMWs and popping them into the 3-series models. None of these conversions is more notable than the E90 H50 though. While the E46 H50 took the V8 out of the 5 series, the E90 had a V8 available in the lineup in the M3. Hartge therefore moved up the food chain to the E60 M5’s S85 V10. With a staggering 500 horspower out of the box and even 50 more with Hartge’s tuning, they transformed the rather mundane small executive sedan into a supercar:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Hartge H50 at Turner Motorsports

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Tuner Tuesday: 2006 Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Renntech R1

Published December 2, 2014 by Carter

The supercar market has always been a bit perplexing to me; get past the glam and the glitz of these showstopping performance machines, and they generally are seldom used toys that depreciate quickly. You don’t hear about someone having saved money their entire life and walking down to a McLaren dealership to buy a P1, for example. That means once they’re no longer grabbing headlines, the well-heeled owners move on to the newest, biggest and best thing to impress their friends. Back up a decade and there was a massive showdown in 2003 between the Porsche Carrera GT and the Mercedes-Benz McLaren. With nearly equal power output, price and performance, one would have presumed that in today’s market they’d share equal value. Both were and are very special cars, and similar production numbers made it to the United States. But today a good Carrera GT will set you back half a million dollars, while you can grab the McLaren for less than $200,000 today:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Renntech R1 on eBay

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