So, the Boxster book is complete (almost been a year now!), and the wifey doesn't really drive the Boxster too much any more. We have to park it outside (other cars like the 959 are inside
), so it constantly collects tiny leaves from my PIA jacaranda tree which clogs the drains and then gets the carpets wet. In other words, it's probably time for it to go. Besides, I have the super Boxster (3.4L 996 engine, Brembos, PSS9s, etc) for when I want to drive a Boxster. Took it to the Mercedes dealership today, where they mentioned they would take it for about $7K on a trade in. I'd probably rather do that than selling it, as I don't want it to come back to haunt me in the long run if I sold it to someone here on the boards. There's too much at stake with my and Pelican's reputation to sell the car, only to have it blow up or something unfortunate like that (knowing my luck indeed). I've also looked at Carmax too, I think I might take it there over the weekend.
That said, I took my wife out to look at other cars last week to replace this Boxster. Here's what was concluded:
- Mercedes E-Class: mother-in-law owns one - too much an "old person's car" ($30K)
- Porsche panorama: way too pricey at $100K new and I just don't like the looks
- BMW 5-Series E60: I still can't get past Chris Bangle's design, sorry Jose.
- Lexus / Acura / Infiniti: She won't even go look at these.
- Audi: The A4/A6/A8 all look like the same car, and the A4 is a UCLA student standard issue. Not high on her list
- Maserati / Aston Martin / Jaguar: Mentioned briefly, but rejected as too exotic and expensive to maintain.
So, the conclusion was that she didn't like anything she saw. So, she basically told me to go buy something and she'll drive it, or drive my older E39 BMW 5-Series (which I love). So, I'm thinking about the Mercedes CLS55 AMG (2005). You can pick these up for about $35K. It's a one-year only model with the supercharger, before they went to the 6.3L in 2006. I've never been a huge Mercedes fan and I don't really like anything I've seen on the entire Mercedes lot, with the exception of these CLS class cars. Plus, we're doing a *major* push into the Mercedes area over the summer here at Pelican, so it seems timely to pick one of these up and get more familiar with the marque, etc.
I've got my eye on a trade-in car with 25,000 or so miles on it for $35K at the local dealership. Should be ready next week. With 469 HP, it has more horsepower on tap than the 959!
Thoughts?
-Wayne
