Need suggestions on car purchase

Me | Me

[Treeless Branch]

Sorry for the vanity, but I do respect the opinions of the posters on this board, who also possess a great wealth of information. With that said, I am in the process of buying a car, and wanted your advice.

Here is the deal. I am a young attorney at a large corporate law firm. I have about $40,000 to spend. I need something that I can drive clients around in, yet hopefully is fun to drive, reliable, and that my estemeed colleagues will not view with disdain. I am not opposed to buying a used car, and would prefer not to lease.

I am not a car guy, so any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[infidel29]

I'm not a "Ford guy", but I have to agree with this one, the new(old design) Mustang is a very good choice.

Although it depends on where you live, weather has to play a part in your decision. Rear- wheel drive cars are BAD in snow.

For bad weather areas, front wheel or 4-wheel drive cars are the way to go.

[DCPatriot]

A "big" BMW 7 series??

The person is a YOUNG attorney, not a grandparent.

M5 is the only way to go.

If you offered me 7 assorted Lexis or Vettes or Mercedes over the course of a week, I STILL wouldn't give up the M5. And the owners of all those 7 wouldn't want to give it back to me at the end of the day, so...I guess that plan won't work. ;^)

[SWAMPSNIPER]

$40,000.00? You could buy all the cars I've had in the past 50 years.
Do you want a car, or do you just want to spend money?

[Shawndell Green]

Just spent a couple weeks at the plant in St. Louis where they make those beasts. Good looking trucks.

[Searching4Justice]

Definately get yourself a Jeep Grand Cherokee LIMITED 4X4 ....if you want to save some bucks get a used one (a 1996 on up will run you less than 10G and they all look the same basically, and the older ones perform really well. If you want to impress your clients with your sense of investment and practicality, get a restored station wagon of the 60s. It will bring back old memories and be a good investment which will be worth more everyday, unlike a new car that will depreciate every day. If neither seems exciting enough, get yourself a CORVETTE (new ones are 400 + horsepower), and after a few burnouts you will have them listening to every word you have to say !! You might even get change back from your 40G to go to McDs !!!

[Shawndell Green]

"save your money."

Yes, and thereby impress them with your prudence.

Cars depreciate. Putting lots of money into cars to show off is foolish.

[dakine]

deluded Freeper...?

[dakine]

deluded Freeper...?

[Shawndell Green]

And then lay on your back getting greasy replacing the clutch after a mere 55 thousand miles, eh?

[Enterprise]

[SShultz460]

Chevy Impala. Seats 4 adults comfortably and is fun to drive

[mollynme]

NEW start at $86K.

Good grief! That's $22K more than I paid for my house!

[Eagles Talon IV]

Infinity, Lexus (used) or Avalon (new). Depending on where you live you may be able to get an off lease vehicle, 3 years old with only about 25-30,000 miles on it. Nothing touches the Japanese cars when it comes to reliability. Best advice is to buy new, if possible and keep the vehicle maintained (oil changes every 3000 miles) and it should easily last you for 200-250,000 miles with no major repairs. Tires, brakes, belts and plugs will most likely be all you will have to replace.

I spent 25 years in the business in Northern NJ (Bergen County) and because everything is so convenient, as far as proximity to shopping, we often took cars back off lease with only 7-9,000 per year on them.

[Roses0508]

BF bought a Maximum (2005). The first month he got 2 speeding tickets. Looks like a sedan, behaves like a hotrod and gets great gas mileage. With leather and seat warmers and moon roof and all the toys. There are a bunch of addons to soup it up also. BF keeps adding - like he needs more horsepower! The first week he had it, he left every stop light like a teenager. So much power to the wheels on takeoff that you can lay rubber for blocks.

[dakine]

nice, ah, bike...

[IYAAYAS]

My wife and I have been looking for a new car in about the same price range for a few weeks now. She now drives an '03 VW Passat we bought new, I hated that car when she first looked at it but she had to have it. Now that she/we have had the VW a few years I hate it even more than I thought I would, so does she.
Anyway we've looked at the BMW 325, Infinity G35, and the new Lexus GS300. After looking at and driving the Lexus GS300 there really is no more shopping left to do as far as I'm concerned :) .
Since we have no kids and she doesn't have to drive clients and we're in that price range anyway...I've convinced her we should at least look into a new Corvette. My evil plan is coming together, we're going to go test drive a new 'vette this afternoon! YAY

[tubebender]

How about a nice late model Ambulance?

JUST KIDDING!!!

[Smokin' Joe]

Sheesh! $40,000 could have bought the motorcycles, too! (That includes two harleys!)

[thoughtomator]

I'd take a ride on that.

[F16Fighter]

Stay away from Ford Pintos and Chevy Vegas.