The groovyman maxim that “cash alone won’t make you cool” will always apply to buying a car. The new Camaro SS for 31k is the latest example of this principle. The challenge gets trickier, however, when you have less than 20k to spend. The following list should clear up more than a few arguments while saving you dough.
1) Hottest Eco-Mommy-Car. SAAB Sport Combi Wagon. The “hockey puck” window treatment on the back of this bitchin’ ride is reason enough for ownership. Low emissions, very decent economy and a peppy engine only add to its allure. We also like the rubbery feel of the SAAB shifter (although we’re not supposed to.) Best of all, a low mileage, two-year old model goes for around 13-15k.
2) Best automotive appliance. Nissan Cube. We predict that this car will not sell well because it is simply too different. Essentially it is a direct import of the kind of microcars remain the rage in Japan. You can sleep in the Cube while listening to a great built in boom box with groovy ambient lighting. They advertise this vehicle as a “mobile device.” It really is the first such appliance to be groovy.
3) Best pocket rocket. Mazdaspeed 3. Do we need to cross-reference all the magazines that have appluaded this little beast as such or do we simply need to turn your attention the long-term test in the April, 2009 Motor Trend? With the new 3 model on the market the previous generation is an incredible steal.
4) Splurge Car. BMW Z4 M Series Coupe. Talk to our friends at Sears about this one. It’s better looking than the Boxster and kicks the small of your back with a torque wallop than few cars, in any price range, can match. While it remains a handful at the limit, this is what makes it more fun.
5) Family car. Mazda MPV If they still make this mid-mini van you should buy it for your budding family. While no one knows about these cars, they look great, offer four-wheel drive and can be bought for peanuts.
6) Semi-Splurge Car. Cadillac CTS-V Series, first generation. This car has a few problems. It has a ‘ring-finessed suspension that is harsh on corpulent backsides and it suffers from wheel-hop under hard acceleration. Still its hard to find a meaner four door sedan with knife-edged handling for around 20k right now (with low miles). The 8th or 9th generation Mitsubishi Evos are very hard to find and have likely been driven by boy-racers idiots. The Pontiac G8 GXP will eventually replace the CTS-V in our book but it is still a new car and goes for around 30k (M5 level performance for half the price.)
7) Best truck. Toyota Tundra Truck with the 5.7 liter V8. While even the mighty Toyota has not fully fetted this monstrous engine, this beast trumps all comers. The fact that you can buy one brand new with this engine for about mid-20s makes this a Godzilla-sized great buy.
8-10) Best of the rest. Honda S2000, Lincoln Aviator and well, we would personally buy back a 2003-04 Mustang Cobra for around 14k and start pimping it out all over again if we had the money.
