Another what car thread...

ignorant wrote: Legacy GT wagon.. 6 speed 250 hp 250 lb ft

Bingo-bango!

Great looking car, too.

Travis_K wrote: As far as I know neither CTS-Vs or B-body impalas/caprices are known for long transmission life. Just for that I would tend to avoid them.

B body Caprice/Impala uses a 700R4 (or it may have been a 4L60 by then). No worse than any other automatic transmission. Cheaper to rebuild/hop up. They're not a bad transmission.

The B body is (IMHO) a superior car to the P71 in every way except looks and interior quality. I've driven both, and the Caprice with some suspension goodies is a fantastic DD. OTOH, you definitely pay more for a clean one, assuming you can find one. Not many 9C1 Caprices left that aren't ragged, and everyone with an Impala SS (and there are quite a few out there) knows what they have.

As for the CTS, I can't say much, other than they are berkeleying sweet. I have ridden in one when I was working at a dealer. They'll put you in your seat, that's for sure. Kinda doubt they'll be great at autocross, though...just too heavy.

The 9C1 is worlds better than a P71, except for price I wish I had been smart enough to keep mine all those years ago or at least picked up an Impala SS before they started increasing in value again.

The CTS-V is the closest thing to a "modern" Impy SS.

Are X Eight.

P71 wrote: The CTS-V is the closest thing to a "modern" Impy SS.

Uh... Marauder?

Marauders are SLOOOOOOOOW.

My car dusts them and I think mine's a pig.

And OMG, how did I not think of the RX8? I must go pay penance to my rotary now.

sachilles wrote: stroller fits in my wrx wagon just fine. What sort of monstrosity of a stroller do you have?

I also would like to know this, just how big is your stroller?

My first suggestion would be for a SAAB 9000 Turbo, you can fit almost anything t=in the back of them and still have tons of interior space, but they aren't exactly competitive ( at least not in my hands).

I would second the MazdaSpeed3, so far the one racing locally is 2 for 2 in tire PAX class.

E36M3?

ignorant wrote: Legacy GT wagon.. 6 speed 250 hp 250 lb ft

only came turbo and 5spd in 05, so it'd be getting up there in miles. the 4spd auto was a bit of a dog, but you're much more likely to find an auto than 5spd. they also had a tendency to eat the transfer case bearings somewhere between 50 and 70k. when i was looking at them, the dealers didn't like replacing those parts (they tried to say the cars were abused) when in reality the bearings just didnt like highway miles much.

other than that, they're great cars.

The B-body uses a 4l60E, and while some of them do last longer, you cant really plan on them lasting more than about 100k miles. If you can afford $1700 for a new tranny if the need arrises, then thats fine, but I dont think I would buy one without budgeting for a tranny replacement.

pinchvalve wrote: Are older Audi S4's coming into that price range yet?

I have a friend who has been trying to sell his very nice 2004 Audi S4 for a while now. I would bet that for a little over $15k you could get it from him.

I haven't looked at the prices of WRX's lately. I don't like the base Impreza seats, but the WRX has different seats so I should check that out. Also I like the idea of the RX8. I would need to check the trunk sizing and back seat room, but the idea of driving using magic spinning triangles may be too good to pass up.