Coming form a previous 2nd gen Touareg owner, and experience with a family member’s second gen Cayenne. I’d just buy a Rover and have a little extra money set aside to fix it.

Agreed 100%, or even an extremely well kept LR3. If you can swing the cost and the repairs, which let’s face it, he has a 996… a refreshed L322 would be even better.

The nicest CLK or SL 500, 550 or 55 I could find would 100% be my first thought for this situation. They’re great cars for exactly this purpose.

E46 M3? More relaxing than a base 996? I’d disagree.

Carmax offered $40k for my Grand Cherokee Trailhawk with 14k miles. Paid $36k for it with 10k miles about 8 months ago. It now has a few... scratches and extra skid plates, since unlike a lot of owners I actually use the 4WD Low button, so I’d have to clean it up to get the full amount. I only really quoted because…

I’d assume I’m pretty much the target market for the new 2er.

Seriously, the Travis County tax office barely got my plates and reg for the E46 to dealer before the temp tag expired. Literally one day to spare. Lucky for me, I had other cars to drive over to get them, so I didn’t have a meeting with officer friendly.

Agreed, at the $70k+ price range it’s Rover or bust, even if you have to settle for a year or two old CPO. The domestics don’t even come close.

*shrugs* I’ve done fine with the stock ~31s (I guess, I’ll admit I haven’t even done the math) that came on my Grand Cherokee. Yes, I know bigger tires are helpful, but still I don’t get the tire size arms race for a hybrid rig, other than “look at how beefy I am”.

Yeah I’ve had good experience at most of the German dealers I’ve worked with. I had a heck of a time trying to order a 228i after graduating college. They were still pretty new, so likely just a supply thing. Worked out for me since I found a used 335i locally that was spec-ed exactly how I wanted anyway.

Ugh, I bought my E46 at a BMW dealer about a month ago. I know, not the best idea but I didn’t want to deal BaT/online auction prices and shipping.

The (I believe) Alpine system in my Trailhawk is awful, way too quiet, and then bassy if you crank the volume. Although that may be specific to CarPlay. Pretty sure the bass on my EQ is all the way down and it’s still too much. The mids and highs are almost non-existent. The HK systems in my BMWs weren’t great for…

The proportions are better on the two row, that’s for sure. Still not as good looking as the ‘17+ WK2. Too many screens and piano black trim in the TH as well. As improved as the interiors are, they still don’t really compare to the Germans in “feel”, let alone a Land Rover. Overall, if I ever need to replace my WK2,…

These are pretty reliable, supremely comfy, and drive pretty well even without a huge amount of power. Not a bad buy at $5000 in this market if there’s no rust or major leaks.

Agreed.

“There have been very few really attractive BMWs. You buy them for the drive, not for the looks.” 

People also didn’t particularly like the design of the 1er when it first released either. Now it’s “one of the all time greats” or whatever phrase BMW enthusiasts say these days.

I mean it’s basically an A8, which sold better, but never well compared to the 7er, let alone S-class. 

Let’s see... It’s almost my birthday... and I’m in NY until the end of July. So, if I win the raffle, I can pick it up and have a nice drive back home to Texas. Yeah, I think I can support this. Going to have to boot a car out of my garage though.

Yup... AZ had what they called a “Vehicle License Tax” in addition to the regular tag fee, emissions fee etc. that you paid yearly.