Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Carter’s post yesterday on the 2004 Passat 1.8T Variant got me thinking about rather ordinary German estate vehicles. That Passat was truly a nice find, as it is rare you find a B5 or B5.5 Passat in such great nick. Lightning has struck twice this week it seems, as I’ve come across this tidy 2002 BMW 325xi Touring for sale in Oregon. While it’s not a manual, for most, the automatic would do just fine for a small family hauler.
The unicorn-like Estoril E46 M3 have been featured before, an incredible color selection on any model but shining especially bright with the added rarity on a non-standard model, customized through the BMW Individual program. The E46 M3 is in the top few percentiles of best sports cars ever, and the few wearing Estoril’s desirability is quickly multiplied. Today’s example just keeps piling on the extreme options list with an Active Autowerke supercharger leading the mechanical upgrades and plenty of Vorsteiner carbon bits turning up the visual volume. 40k miles is the cherry on top, completing the stunning package that could spend some time in european car if it had a better story than “I bought it on eBay for a boatload.”
The E46 M3 is a car that truly needs no introduction which is nice because I can get right down to brass tacks. The market for this car is a very curious one to follow. On one end of the spectrum you have high mileage examples with aftermarket parts and evidence of having spent many a weekend at the track. These cars are tempting for many an enthusiast who has always dreamed of hunting apexes with a high revving inline six and doing so with a bit of style. At the other end of the spectrum you have cars like this one that are very clean and are either stock or have been modified with OEM approved parts. These examples come at a premium and I’d say that’s fair given how desirable these cars are when well taken care of.
Having covered only 48,000 miles in 11 years on the road, this particular M3 appears to be in fantastic condition. The Carbon Black over Cinnamon Leather combination is a very sharp look for this car, classier than the usual Silver or Grey over Black. I drove an Emerald Green over Cinnamon Leather model earlier this week but the leather had been poorly cared for and had cracked badly in many places. However even in that rough condition, that interior really made it stand out in a sea of other postings, so much so that I drove an hour to go see it. Makes me appreciate the fine job this owner has done maintaining these seats and the interior overall. Almost completely makes up for the bird poop damage on the roof.
Age, as they say, is but a number. And so it goes sometimes with cars that we come across here at GCFSB. We’ve seen some vehicles with well over six digit mileage that stagger the mind with their immaculate condition. Such is the case with this 2004 BMW 330i ZHP for sale in Massachusetts. This car has passed the 150k mile mark but looks as crisp as when it left the showroom. Chalk it up to one fastidious owner who follows the folks over at ZHP Mafia, a site dedicated to the performance package offered on E46 sedans, coupes and convertibles for a few years.
Edit: Thanks to several readers for pointing out several details that prove this Cayenne is a Turbo, but not a Turbo S. Only 450 horsepower, then!
It’s been a few weeks since my last 10K Friday entry, and I wanted to get something together for the impending snow New England is once again expecting. To remind us of the terms of the comparison, I’m looking for themed cars around $10,000 (give or take, we’ll see later). I try to generally find the newest cars possible, figuring that for many these will be a daily driver. In this case, I was looking for performance all-wheel drive cars that offered year round practicality with a touch of sport. So lining up the best I could find from Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche gives us an interesting amount of diversity for your hard-earned dollars. Today we have two sedans, a hatchback, a wagon and a S.U.V. to contemplated; which is the winner?
