Journal damn_registrars's Journal: 275hp, AWD, 60k, All The Goodies, 8 years old, $9k ? 14
I didn't realize until recently just how depressed the used car market is. I know someone selling a 2002 VW Passat with the W8 engine (only about 500 of these four-headed monsters were made for the US) in excellent condition. They just looked up the blue book and it came in at anywhere from $9 - $11k retail. The original sticker price of it was something like $45 or so back in 2002.
Part of me really wanted to make an offer on this sleeper sedan. I thought through the pros:
Part of me really wanted to make an offer on this sleeper sedan. I thought through the pros:
- Powerful
- AWD (VW 4Motion)
- Very quiet
- Very rare
- Very subtle
- Pretty much every conceivable option circa 2002
- Redline at 6,500rpm
- Silly amounts of power even at low engine speed
- Super-smooth 6 speed automatic transmission
- Carries the balance of an extended warranty
Although then I considered the cons:
- Requires 93 octane fuel
- Requires full synthetic oil changes
- Said oil changes are a massive PITA
- Very rare means parts are not always easy to find
- Current owner told me the battery on the car is halfway under the windshield
- It is so damned nice looking I feel under-dressed just looking in the window
- There was no option for a standard transmission in that model year with the W8
- German drivetrain, Mexican assembly, "world sourced" components
I think for now, I'm going to have to pass on it. My 15 year old coupe should have a few more years left in it before the wheels fall off; at which point I'll put the wheels back on and sell it on the merits of the engine. Besides, I haven't found a decent VW dealer in my area who I would trust the maintenance of the W8 to.
Around here for nine grand (Score:2, Interesting)
For nine grand I could get used and still serviceable: a motorcycle (new if I wanted a chinese bike), an atv, a pickup, a sedan, and have enough left over for a passable used compact tractor with the attachments. A little more upscale in price, I could get a cherry dune buggy all tricked out, a really nice datsun 4wd pickup that has been completely restored and customised, and then almost but not quite enough left over for that yanmar compact tractor.
All at once..for a sedan..hmm..performance, I'd look for
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I mention it only because I enjoy unusual cars. And while a Passat is a very common, pedestrian sedan, with a W8 it is a very different animal. Every once in a while I find a car that surprises me, and this one fall
Rarity does not imply value (Score:2)
One of the most valuable cars of the 60's is the Mustang, and yet they made a million of them. Roughly. Rarity does not always equate to value in the automotive marketplace. The W8, while vaguely interesting offered little or nothing in exchange for the complexity it carried. It was a Rube Goldbergian Audi brain fart. Sometimes you get the VR6 from VW group, and sometimes you get the original Corrado.
The car didn't sell when new except to a few iconoclasts. You've picked a horrific sample of one from which
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When your car looks like sex on 4 wheels, like the Mustang, absolutely. Apart from the Dodge Charger, and some of your better 50s vintage cars, there's no icon quite like it.
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One of the most valuable cars of the 60's is the Mustang, and yet they made a million of them. Roughly. Rarity does not always equate to value in the automotive marketplace.
Not always, although it often helps. For example, amongst late 60s Mustangs the big-block V8's included 427, 428, and 429 cubic inch engines, with the 429 being the most common, and IIRC the 428 the least. If you can find an intact and documented original complete 428 car, you have a rare gem that is worth quite a bit more than its 429 brethren.
For that matter, at auto shows most people showing cars like to do a full break-down of the order sheet so they can say "this car was 1 of only 318 cars made wi
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Yes, the Veyron is a Rube Goldbergian brain fart. It may be the fastest, but it adds little or nothing to the automotive state of the art. How will the Veyron change cars? Answer: it won't. It doesn't make the achievements any less spectacular, but I haven't been interested in so-called supercars since I was about 14. Just not my thing. (FWIW, I feel similarly about the Tesla cars. Making a few dozen at nutty prices? Nifty. Mass producing them to a level of fit and finish that will please the public? That w
random thoughts (Score:1)
* Interesting, a smallish (4.0L) 8-cylinder engine, that's not laid out as two I-4's bolted together in a V configuration, but two V-4's bolted together in a V configuration.
* autos.msn.com has the weight of the W8 version of that car as being more than 400 lbs heavier than the next one down with the 2.8 6er. That sounds like one heavy mofo of an engine.
* Their specs vary from your provided a little (where the auto tranny is 5 speeds instead, hp is 270, redline at 6000, MSRP of $38K). So your acquaintance m
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That said:
* autos.msn.com has the weight of the W8 version of that car as being more than 400 lbs heavier than the next one down with the 2.8 6er. That sounds like one heavy mofo of an engine.
That isn't a big surprise. The idea of the W engines was to fit more cylinders in less space, without concern for weight. Considering you have twice as many heads, twice as many exhaust manifolds, and three times as many timing chains, it doesn't surprise me that the engine adds signifi
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Wandering a bit off topic myself here but I'm not personally a fan of the S197 mustang myself. [...] Otherwise I would prefer a 1998 GT.
I'm actually not much of a fan of the Mustang at all. Beyond the 64 1/2, and Steve McQueen's car, I had always thought they looked like ass, up until I saw the styling refresh for 1999. With the sharper angles of the hood and side scoops, it looked a helluva lot more masculine than before. I hate the SN95's weak side scoops, the stupid little "nostrils" on the sides of the
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I had always thought they looked like ass, up until I saw the styling refresh for 1999. With the sharper angles of the hood and side scoops, it looked a helluva lot more masculine than before. I hate the SN95's weak side scoops, the stupid little "nostrils" on the sides of the hood, and slats over the taillights
I think the S197 was a love-it-or-hate-it redesign. You seem to love it, and I hate it. Personally I thought the S197 was far too Japanese in appearance, almost like they were trying to make a new RWD Celica instead of a new RWD pony car.
However, it appeared that the Mustang needed a redesign to continue on for a bit longer until the 2005 all-new car was ready.
FWIW, I was at the Ford Centennial celebration in Dearborn back in '03 and snapped some pictures of the then-prototype 2005 Mustang. I also h
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Okay, we can disagree on all of this, but if you don't agree with me at least that slats over tail lights is a styling abomination, I'll have to foe you. ;)
p.s.:
I personally think the best looking 'vettes were the stingrays from the 70s;
Like the Stangs of that era, those "coke bottle" Vettes don't typically get a lot of love, but I like 'em too. If I were rich I'd have an 8-car garage and one of each generation (with room for the next two) -- I wouldn't turn my nose up on any era Vette.
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How is it a sleeper with that lousy power to weight ratio?
And for a good long time, VW was utter shit. Well, at least the vehicles not built in der Vaterland. The Pennsylvania ones were so bad they closed the factory and it took a decade for the Mexican ones not to be a joke. Couldn't tell you if they've improved over the past couple of years or not, but the 80's and 90's were filled with poorly built (by North Americans) VWs. Not engineering or design; build quality.
2005 Phaeton W12 (Score:2)
Twice the price.
More than twice the car. That's a Bentley Flying Spur in drab coachwork. The wood is still pretty nice, inside the cabin.
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Indeed, 414 - 444 bhp [wikipedia.org] puts it almost in the fire-breathing monster category (if you can find one). I do see one on ebay for $20k [ebay.com] with 4 days left and the reserve not yet met.
If I had the money - and to be extra verbose, I do n