What should I go test drive?

[SlimKlim]

i think the bigger problem is your budget. the cars you want just require more money to stay in driveable shape. if you want to commute in an aircooled 930 or an E39 M5, you gotta have twice the car's worth to back up the repairs.

wait, save up more, then buy what makes you happy. i doubt the E36 is going to get that much worse in the meantime.

alternatively - do what Channing did and DD a classic. you could probably buy a Tii or an MGB or something for less than the price of your current car, and it'll feel like you're commuting at the speed of sound.

I could handle the maintenance on a GTI, E46, or probably an Audi even though I'm fairly certain I don't want a car with 18 control arms. The reason I'm looking for a $10k or less car is so I can have a DD with a tiny payment, and a relatively wide cash stream that isn't previously committed to anything. That way on a monthy basis I could decide to do a little something with the M3, or throw a chunk of money at the car loan, or use it to fix the daily (or have it fixed), save it for responsible adult things or spend it all on hookers and blow if I feel like it.

But really, the reason I'm looking for stuff in this price range is so I can do what I want with the M3. If something happens to the daily I can fix it out of my M3 budget and push back some project on that a little bit, nothing will happen fast on it anyway.

Obviously, just because i can doesn't mean I should, and that's why I'm not going to buy the totally awesome E34 M5 with 80k-something miles for sale on Bimmerforums right now. I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around what the reliability of some of these cars really is to get an idea of what I should expect if I bought one them. Not what the stereotypes are or that one thread where the DSG trans fell out of the car in the middle of the night and killed the dude's family.

But as previously discussed, that information is really hard to find because you either have crazed enthusiasts doting over the things or furious owners of broken heaps cursing everything that manufacturer ever made ever to the 6th layer of hell.

And yeah, I could've kept the miata if I wanted to go with the Channing Theory. Driving that bitch on the highway at 55mph felt like a car chase scene in a movie every time.