Tag: 2014

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2014 BMW i8

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We’ve been accused of preferring older car designs to new ones. Rightly so, a majority of the cars that we feature are at least 10 years old, with a fair chunk now being over 20 years old. Are we out of touch with the market? Well, certainly that could be said – however, I think if you poll the authors here (and, a majority of our fans), most people just don’t get as excited about a car that you can pop down to the dealership and buy versus one that’s been well traveled, taken care of, and is hard to find in good shape. It’s the same reason why Antiques Roadshow is so popular; anyone can go buy the popular toy of the day and leave it in its original packing – but find a toy from the 1950s or 1960s in its original package and the pricing will probably surprise you. Heck, even my Transformers from when I was a kid are now quite valuable in good shape.

So we’re only interested in old cars? Well, not so fast – there have been several very exciting and pioneering designs over the past few years that helped in transforming the automotive landscape. The Porsche 918 Spyder, for example, redefined supercars along with the LaFerrari and McLaren P1. They’ve looked at hybrid technology not as the death of performance, but as an opportunity to better exploit it. However, all three of these designs are ultra-limited, ultra-exclusive and ultra-expensive cars, leaving mere mortals without hedge funds to dream of owing them only in passing flights of fancy. However, BMW has taken a very different route with its hybrid technology, offering two platforms that are both brilliant and innovative in their own ways. The admittedly less exciting, more practical application is the i3; a small electric city car. The reaction from enthusiasts to the i3 was less than, well…enthusiastic. However, I suggest that BMW’s departure into functional, efficient designs was at least innovative and admirable – this is technology that won’t kill cars, but will in fact allow them to thrive and continue for generations to come. Perhaps, then, the more exciting application of BMW’s efficient design “i” branding will sway you – the lightweight, sporty i8:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 BMW i8 on eBay

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2014 Audi allroad

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Audi’s C5 allroad wasn’t the first tall all-wheel drive wagon to hit the market; AMC claimed that crown with the Eagle well before Audi’s Quattro even hit the market. But it somehow defined the luxury do-anything segment and was unique in the German marques; Audi brought massive amounts of computational power, height-adjustable air suspension, a wide-body flare kit, twin-turbocharged power and even a manual gearbox. It was awesome. It was popular. But, it broke so much that even MacGyver was left stranded..

So when it came to the original allroad’s replacement for the B8 chassis, Audi dropped pretty much all the cool stuff. Gone was the manual, gone was the V6, gone too were the twin turbos and height-adjustable suspension. Audi simplified the recipe and based the newer allroad on the A4 Avant. Power came from the same 2.0T TFSI inline-4 mated solely to an 8-speed automatic found in the regular A4, pumped up the ride height slightly and added matte black fender lips and Voila! Miffy had a new ride to get to Nordstrom. Worse for some enthusiasts, the advent of the allroad came at the expense of the regular (and attractive) A4 Avant. Disappointed? Me too. But hey, every once in a while a good-looking one comes around…

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Audi allroad on eBay

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2014 Porsche 911 GT3

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Do you want want a Porsche 911 R but can’t swing the $300,000 price tag? Well, I may have a solution for you. Back when the 911 R fever was at an all-time high and people were playing truly insane prices for them, someone had the idea to option a standard 991.1 GT3 exactly how a 911 R looks. Notice I said looks, because the 911 R had a lot of very special pieces like a magnesium roof, carbon-fiber decklids front and rear, and carbon-fiber front fenders. While that doesn’t seem like a big deal, the lack of the 4.0-liter and six-speed manual is a much bigger deal given that wasn’t available yet on the GT3. Imagine the day the person who owns this car was having when Porsche announced the GT3 Touring.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 on eBay

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2014 Porsche 911 GT3

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Would you believe me if I told you that the 991.1 Porsche 911 GT3 had an engine warranty for 10 years or 120,000 miles? Well, it’s true. In one of Porsche’s rare screw-ups (in addition to that whole IMS thing), the engines in the 991.1 GT3 had a metallurgical defect in certain batches of pivoting rocker arms in the valvetrain. This led to misfires at high RPMs and thus, very unhappy customers who spent $135,000 plus another $40,000 in options. If for some reason your engine does fail, Porsche will drop in a new updated engine, no questions asked. You can probably put two and two together and figure out why I am bringing this up. This 2014 up for sale in Colorado just happens to have a fresh updated engine installed in it with just 2,300 miles despite the car having almost 18,000 miles. Not only that, this car has something else that makes it probably the cheapest 991 GT3 out there for sale on the market right now. Let me explain:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 on eBay

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2014 Mercedes-Benz G500 Cabriolet Final Edition 200

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To commemorate the end of the G-Class Cabriolet production, Mercedes-Benz decided to make a special version called the ”Final Edition 200” that was slated to be ultimate G cabriolet. They grabbed the wheels from the G63/G65, put some fancy leather work inside, added a some badges, and pitched it to all their best buyers. All 200 sold out before production even started, and those buyers probably weren’t too happy to hear a few years later that this wasn’t the end of the G cabriolet run thanks to the Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet. Granted, this was the last two-door G Cabrio, but still. Today, one of the 200 is up for sale Miami thanks to some federalization help from Europa International. However, this price on this G probably isn’t what you would guess. Are you sitting down?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Mercedes-Benz G500 Cabriolet Final Edition 200 on eBay

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Ralph Lauren’s 2014 Porsche 911 GT3

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Legendary fashion designer Ralph Lauren is no small time car collector. In fact, his collection ranks up there with the very best in terms of quality and his stunning way to showcase some of them. He doesn’t show them off all that frequently, but when he goes, he usually goes big. His Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic is nearly priceless, but some have estimated it to be worth north of $40mil. Even with his extreme wealth, he isn’t taking it out for a drive on a Tuesday afternoon. He has other cars for that. Some of those cars are Porsches, and more specifically, Porsche GT cars. He has been spotted in a 997 GT3 RS and GT3 RS 4.0, so it shouldn’t surprise you at what we are looking at today.

This 2014 991 GT3 was reportedly purchased new by Lauren and enjoyed before being traded in on a 991 GT3 RS Weissach Package. An understandable upgrade to say the least. The normally silver or black wheels were painted white to give the car an exceedingly clean look when finished off with the clear taillights. Now the car is for sale Porsche Atlanta Perimeter and kudos to them for not trying to cash in on the celebrity ownership. Heck, they don’t even mention that it was his car.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 on Rennlist

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Feature Listing: 2014 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition

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Porsche has never been one to shy away from offering a special edition of any of their cars, and that goes double for the 911. It seems as though virtually every few months some new, ultra-limited variant of the GT3, GT2 or Turbo comes splashing into the news feeds and headlines of every German car enthusiast. But occasionally, Porsche does have something important to commemorate, and when it came to 2014 they had a particularly impressive opportunity.

2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911, a car so entrenched in the ethos of sporting automobiles that it’s the mechanical equivalent of the Queen of England. Sure, the 911 hasn’t always been the best, brightest or fastest – but, it’s seemingly always been there and often it has been the superlative. So to celebrate 50 years of production, Porsche introduced a very beautiful and pure example of the 911, devoid of the flash and spoilers that often catch headlines.

Subtle was the key to the 911 50th. It was rear-drive, yet had the wide body from the Carrera 4S. It was lowered 10mm like the GTS, and had different black/chrome accents both front and rear. It wore a variation on the theme of the 2010 Sport Classic’s Fuchs-inspired wheels, here with a machined with black accent finish. Inside a choice of special houndstooth or tartan on the seats, with original 901-inspired gauges and the choice between the excellent PDK dual-clutch 7-speed or a 7-speed manual. Porsche’s Powerkit bumped power up to 430 for good measure, and the outside was draped in Graphite Gray Metallic or the even more gorgeous Geyser Grey Metallic seen here. It made for one stunning package:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition at Treasured Transportation

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2014 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6×6

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If you can remember from a few weeks ago I took a deep dive into a 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500 that was transformed by a couple of guys in a garage in Western Ukraine into a pretty damn good recreation of a 6×6. I am still trying to figure out how they pulled it off so well because it isn’t like you can go grab a spare 6×6 body from the parts counter at your local Mercedes-Benz dealer and Mercedes isn’t giving out technical sheets for a vehicle they built less than 100 of. Nonetheless, the price was actually pretty fair seeing how much work was put into and of course, how much a real 6×6 will run you. Luck would have it that I found a real 2014 G63 AMG 6×6 up for sale in Arizona with just a few thousand miles on the odometer. The price? Are you sitting down?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6×6 on eBay

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2014 Mercedes-Benz GL63 AMG

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What is made in Alabama, seats seven, has 536 horsepower, weighs 5,800 pounds and does 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds? The Mercedes-Benz GL63 AMG, of course! When little Cooper is late for soccer practice and Katilyn late for cheerleading, supermom Debbie can throw them in the GL63 AMG and cruise to an electronically-limited 155 mph to make up time all while hauling a living room set from the Pottery Barn in the rear. This is a monster of a machine that can basically do everything and then some. Does that mean everyone bought them? No. Mercedes said just two percent of GL buyers opted for the GL63 and I’m sure that had a lot to do with the $121,000 price tag. Now that these X166s are a few years old and therefore heavily depreciated, does it make sense to scoop one up? Lets find out.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 Mercedes-Benz GL63 AMG on eBay

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2014 BMW X1 xDrive35i M Sport

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Do not adjust your screen. This is not a test. Yes, a BMW X1 is appearing on these pages. But, please stick with me because I’ll explain why.

When the X1 arrived, I – probably like you – considered it a bit of an affront to the brand. Following in the footsteps of the mission-drift but popular X5 and X3 models, the X1 made a fair amount of sense from a marketing standpoint. For about the same money as a loaded Subaru Outback, you could get an (arguably) better looking and performing BMW, after all. So the X1 opened BMW up to a whole new market as the least expensive option in their catalog.

I’ll admit, when they arrived I even went and drove one with my wife. We were considering replacing her…yup, Subaru Outback, and since the Outback’s build quality had proven so abysmal it was hard to get on board with throwing $30,000 at one. But for about two grand more, you could get into a basic X1 xDrive28i, and it really was a nicer car in just about every way.

We didn’t go down that route, as it turned out, for better or worse. And four years on, I’m not sure that the first generation X1 aged all that well. It received an update in the 2012 model year which made it slightly more slick-looking, but the proportions are still fairly awkward. So why is it here? Because it was also one of the best BMWs you could buy.

Underneath the rather upright body was the chassis borrowed more or less straight from the E91 Sport Wagon. But the E84 X1 had a few trumps over the 328i. Like the E91, you had two engine choices. “28i” models got the N20 turbo four rated at a pretty amazing 241 horsepower with 258 lb.ft of torque, or you could get what you see here. In the “35i” there was a N55 turbocharged inline-6 with 300 horsepower and 300 lb.ft of torque at the same time that engine choice wasn’t an option for the wagon fans. So if you wanted a fast BMW wagon, here it is:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2014 BMW X1 xDrive35i M Sport on eBay

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