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Tag: touring

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Wagon Week: 2008 BMW 328xi Touring

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While we certainly all love the idea of the pavement-stomping, Bahn-burner muscle wagons, sometimes that just isn’t practical. Yes, I dream of RS6 Avants, smile at the many E63 Wagons in my area and fanboyishly took tons of iPhone pictures when I saw an M5 Touring (with foreign plates), but those crazy longroofs are as expensive and rare as they are awesome. For the family-man enthusiast, a spruced-up standard model can be a more achievable dream. Today’s E91 fits that bill perfectly, accentuating the sharp, long lines of this generation of 3-series wagons with an M3 front bumper and very low coilovers. The OEM+ look is continued with 19″ Style 95 wheels off a 7-series, while the car also comes with blacked-out 5-series rims as well as the originals. The clean look is continued inside with a gorgeous brown leather interior. It may not be the craziest performer, but it’s a beautiful and useful wagon that will make trips to school, the grocery store, and sports practices a little more special.

Click for details: 2008 BMW 328xi Touring on eBay

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2002 BMW 325xi Touring

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.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 BMW 325xi Touring on eBay

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2008 Mercedes Benz E350 4Matic Estate

 

I am officially dubbing this week “Mercedes Week” for myself. The majority of my recent posts have been BMW’s as that is mostly what I am in the market for but since the universe sadly does not revolve around me, I figured I best mix it up. What spurred this line of thought was a friend who suddenly found himself in the market for a new vehicle and asked for my help finding one. He wanted a wagon, preferably one with AWD as he lives up a particularly nasty dirt road in Vermont and his budget was about $10k. As with most folks in my native state, his first choice was a Subaru Outback and he found a couple solid examples right away. However given that he wasn’t completely married to the idea of having a Subie, he asked me what else he could get in the same price range with similar functionality. A4 wagon prices have stayed strong, particularly on the manual ones but the E-Class wagons, well those have depreciated significantly despite being a rather reliable rig. I found a few of these in his price range and a few that were decidedly not, clearly this one is the later.

At first glance I didn’t much care for this particular example, I’m not a big fan of tan interiors or light woodgrain accents. I much prefer a nice alcantara or perforated leather wheel, subtle dark wood trim if wood at all. However the more I scrolled through the pictures the more I began to appreciate the vibe this car is putting out.  It conjures up images of trucking kids to private school and neighbors in a freshly minted subdivision waving to each other in acknowledgement of their mutual success. While that might not sound all that great I think it perfectly captures why this car is a solid option for the enthusiast with a family, ultra sleeper status. Nobody expects they grey wagon with a beige interior to be a fun drive anymore than they expect the Inquisition. A set of sticky tires, upgraded sway bars, bushings, and CAI would make for an entertaining and very incognito daily driver indeed.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Mercedes Benz E350 4Matic State

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1989 BMW 320i Touring

I promised myself I’d switch it up this week and not write up another BMW but then this rig came across my desk and I couldn’t ignore it. Royal Blue over Tan leather is one of my all time favorite color combos. It looks good on nearly any vehicle and the E30 Touring is no exception, it just works so well with the design and vibe of the vehicle. I have to say the replica BBS wheels are not for me, but the bright silver polish on them does pair nicely with the blue. I look to swap them out for a 5 or 10 spoke wheel if I was going to go with an aftermarket set, otherwise I think some E46 M3 wheels would look excellent here, though I’m sure many of you will disagree.
I think that one of the most attractive things about all E30’s is the variety of ways they can be modified (or not) by their owners. There are so many different paths one can go down, full Euro-spec, engine swaps, “Stanced”, rallye or just restored to stock. Each genre of E30 has its own vibe and I think this one would be best lightly modified but kept visibly simple. Blue/Tan is a pretty classy color combo, one that evokes thoughts of clean European cities and tidy country homes. What I’m trying to say here is this isn’t a model I’d like to see turned into a hotrod with a Thule rack and bunch of stickers on the windows. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t want to replace the sway bars, control arms, end links and all the bushings because I certainly would. The beauty of an E30 is that it’s a relatively slow car that you can drive fast if you know what you’re doing and enhancing the handling capabilities will only enhance that experience.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 BMW 320i Touring on eBay

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1988 BMW 320i Touring

The E30 Touring I wrote up last week was a fine example but not for me as it was a.) Red and b.) a RHD model. I quickly moved on from that vehicle and wasn’t really giving the E30 Touring much thought, that is until I came across this beauty on eBay.

Certain cars just catch my eye and immediately I feel a connection to them. Such is the case with this 1988 320i Touring that currently resides in New Jersey. The overall condition of the car looks to be quite good for its age and living in a state that still thinks it’s ok to use road salt. Most people think silver is a boring exterior choice but here, I think it works splendidly. The blacked out kidneys are a nice touch, something I would have wanted to do myself. It’s such a minor detail but one that really makes the car pop given that the window trim is also black, not of that chrome garbage. The 15″ BBS mesh wheels also look to be in good condition, some scratches and curbage are present but not so much that I’d take issue with their condition.

The interior of this car is what really sells me on it, no tears, cracking on the dash or droopy headliner. The grey cloth seats are wonderfully simple and the grey door cards only add to the clean, elegant vibe of the car. It’s getting harder and harder to find BMWs with appealing interiors, whether it’s the condition or the color choices, that makes this car even more of a rarity in today’s market. I’d go so far as to say this is the most lust inducing classic BMW I’ve come across in over a year of carefully watching the used market, that includes M variants as well.

Click for details: 1988 BMW 320i Touring on eBay

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