This. After a quarter of a million hard miles, the A/C and the window regulators tend to go bad - and the digital speedo on the Grand Marquis, too - but the engine and the transmission are literally tough to kill.

But that's assuming all of the cars on the list HAVE to be high mileage cars to fit in this price range. Do you know how many estate sales in Florida, Georgia, and Texas have Crown Vics / Grand Marquis (or Buicks, Lincolns, etc) that sell for $5K with under 50K miles?

Would you sell your '03 5-Speed Manual for $5000 or less? The inclusion of the IS on this list is a joke considering that every clean, manual example out there (with a clean title and decent miles) sells for MUCH more than that.

Except instead of getting pop-up head lights - you get something that doesn't look it belongs that yellows over time. Oh, and the FRC C5 is still lighter weight.

I haven't driven a C7 (yet), but I've owned a C3, C4, and C5 - and driven the other generations. There is nothing that the C5 doesn't do better than the C4. It looks better, it drives better, it's competent and easy to work on, etc. The "disco era" C3's were painfully slow, but I can't hold that against since…

There are other options, like the inexpensive "UJM" as transportation in warmer climes. You can still pick up a reliable older smaller displacement motorcycle for about $1500 and get 50-60 MPG.

Not after a certain point. Historically, this was at about the 8-9 year mark - but that has been stretched to about 12 in many cases. The nice thing about the Internet is that I can read comparisons from 2003-2005 car magazines all the time and cross shop with Autotrader and Edmunds to find the best private party /…

Not as noticeable as you might think. There is a point of diminishing returns somewhere (for the street at least).

Totally agree. I'm just as big of an asshole in my meager 240 HP 328i 100K mile sedan as I am in the (much faster) Corvette.

It doesn't. It never did. Smart money now is to find an old base model XK8 coupe (mostly Ford internals and easy to work on) with low miles driven by some old woman in Florida and park it. They stopped depreciating a few years ago.

Just add the word "four" before the word "wheels" and you're correct. I offer the almost unrideable "Boss Hoss" motorcycles as a counterargument to V8's improve everything.

The RC F is both hideous, and gelded with a slush-box only.

Overcoming Fail Wheel Drive is going to take a lot more than a slight power-to-weight ratio advantage.

THIS. That 280 HP Civic will beat an average C4 and keep up with a (base) C5 from a roll - but anything else, especially from a dead start - is hyperbole.

Very fair comparison - do you know how hard it is to find a clean, manual V70R? Clean, 100K mile examples on Swedespeed are offered at about twice this cost. Manual, performance wagons are a rare bird.

THIS. The best iterations of the GTO are an 05-06 with spoiler delete and the '04 hood. It's understated, sure - but it's 85% of a BMW M6 for 30% of the money.

Or learn to wrench on it yourself. You save money and you'll feel like a man.

Really, I wish Honda would sell ANYTHING with stick shift and RWD. Sedan, coupe, roadster - anything. Until then, I'll deal with my crappy resale and higher maintenance costs from BMW.

Funny, I tend to like the "old school types" - at least I feel like I've gotten a good deal after we've beaten each other up for a while. I bought a Saturn in the 90's (no haggle pricing was their "schtick" - and I contend that it helped kill the brand) and it just felt...incomplete.

But they still have to deal with "all the bullshit in between" - with you, don't they?