What car (wagon) thread - with rules

A buddy of mine is on a search for a used car for his wife, now that she gets a car allowance rather than a company car. She wants a wagon but one with sporting pretenses. Even though she now gets a car allowance, the company puts some rules around the car she can drive.

• Within 5 years of date of manufacture
• Sticker could not have been over $40k when new

They really want a 5 series wagon, but the original sticker price counts it out. There are some 3 wagons that squeak in, but only stripper models. She evidently is enamored with A4 wagons. So what else should they consider?

Volvo V50?

dyintorace wrote: A buddy of mine is on a search for a used car for his wife, now that she gets a car allowance rather than a company car. She wants a wagon but one with sporting pretenses. Even though she now gets a car allowance, the company puts some rules around the car she can drive. - Within 5 years of date of manufacture - Sticker could not have been over $40k when new They really want a 5 series wagon, but the original sticker price counts it out. There are some 3 wagons that squeak in, but only stripper models. She evidently is enamored with A4 wagons. So what else should they consider?

• legacy GT
• forester XT
• WRX
• caddy SRX with Northstar
• Hemi Magnum

WRX wagon? Forrester XT Turbo? Speed 3? Or does she have a thing for Germans?

AngryCorvair wrote:

dyintorace wrote: A buddy of mine is on a search for a used car for his wife, now that she gets a car allowance rather than a company car. She wants a wagon but one with sporting pretenses. Even though she now gets a car allowance, the company puts some rules around the car she can drive. - Within 5 years of date of manufacture - Sticker could not have been over $40k when new They really want a 5 series wagon, but the original sticker price counts it out. There are some 3 wagons that squeak in, but only stripper models. She evidently is enamored with A4 wagons. So what else should they consider?

- legacy GT - forester XT - WRX

40k makes that WRX an STI.

EDIT: Argh! Did I just break the formatting for everyone, or is it just me?

Throw a 3 series badge on a 540 Touring?

You broke it for everyone.

$50k max sticker of the particular car in question or the base price of the car when new? I'd think it would have to be the latter - I don't have the Monroney for any of my used cars.

Magnum.

mazdaspeed 3 all the way

AngryCorvair wrote: - legacy GT - forester XT - WRX - caddy SRX with Northstar - Hemi Magnum

Legacy GT would be a great idea. Is it available (within the past 5 years) with the sweet turbo motor?

pigeon wrote: $50k max sticker of the particular car in question or the base price of the car when new? I'd think it would have to be the latter - I don't have the Monroney for any of my used cars.

$40k is the limit, and the way my buddy was talking (he's a car guy too), it sounds like it applies to the actual car, not the general base price. You're right though that it would be tough to know for each car what the original sticker was.

dyintorace wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: - legacy GT - forester XT - WRX - caddy SRX with Northstar - Hemi Magnum

Legacy GT would be a great idea. Is it available (within the past 5 years) with the sweet turbo motor?

I believe it was available right up to the redesign with the EJ.... but it was only available in 2004 and 2005 with the manual.

Why the 40k rule? A 5 series would be ideal. We LOVE our E46 wagon, but that breaks the 5 year rule.

3 series wagon

Almost anything volvo

SAAB 9-3 or 9-5 SportCombi (cutting it close to the 40k though)

Subaru Legacy, Forester, Impreza

Chevelle......

What is your flavor i guess.

The Saab wagons are great values now, provided you're willing to risk buying something from an out of business car company. As much as I dis' on Saabs, they really are a great wagon.

Volvos are expensive to fix. We like our Subarus, but the Forester is a pretend SUV that needs to be lowered to be sporty, and the Impreza's aren't really useful wagons (too small with the sloped rear window). The Legacy is a better choice but finding a turbo version isn't easy. I'd go with a BMW wagon no matter which one it is.

dyintorace wrote: Legacy GT would be a great idea. Is it available (within the past 5 years) with the sweet turbo motor?

You bet! Your choice of transmission too, though manual wagons are pretty rare.

njansenv wrote: Why the 40k rule? A 5 series would be ideal. We LOVE our E46 wagon, but that breaks the 5 year rule.

It's a rule her company imposes. I guess they don't want something too "flashy".

LGT wagon was only manual in 05 IIRC

How about TSX Wagon? Even the new one can be had for less than $40K. It got favorable reviews everywhere plus it's reliable since it's basically a Euro Accord Estate..

Magnum or Off lease CPO Jetta TDI.

Also look at an A3

ddavidv wrote: The Saab wagons are great values now, provided you're willing to risk buying something from an out of business car company. As much as I dis' on Saabs, they really are a great wagon. Volvos are expensive to fix. We like our Subarus, but the Forester is a pretend SUV that needs to be lowered to be sporty, and the Impreza's aren't really useful wagons (too small with the sloped rear window). The Legacy is a better choice but finding a turbo version isn't easy. I'd go with a BMW wagon no matter which one it is.

Not sure I totally agree. I have an '02 WRX wagon- lots of room behind the rear seats for a family of four camping. We did add the roof rack and a yakima box for the bigger trips, but its been a great car- tow an HF 4x8 utility trailer with anything else you'd need too. I'd compare it favorably with a full size truck in usefullness.

How late did they make the Lexus IS300 SportCross? I kinda want one of those.

I loved the IS300 SportCross but they didn't have it in an AWD at the time so my wife got an Outback Sport instead. I can attest that it has enough room to take a family of 5 with 3 kids age 2 - 7 and all their luggage for a week in Disneyland. It's really amazing how much you can get in there.