I just went through the same phase. I know this post is a little old, but I hope you get to read this comment.
I strongly advise you to avoid newer German cars. I was looking at A4s, 323is, etc, for all the obvious reasons. Found a real nice 323i, so I thought. Took it to my mechanic (who is awesome), and after looking it over, he asks, “Did you buy this car yet?” I reply in the negative, and he says “Good, don’t.” Then proceeds to draw up a laundry list of problems with the car, totalling $6000-$7000 in parts and labor, some of which can only be done by a BMW dealer.
He went on to say that the newer German cars are not built as well as they used to be. It seems that their reputation has kept their values high, but they are NOT worth it. Your classy BMW or Audi WILL be a money pit.
He said “Get something Japanese” and I immediately felt stupid for wanting a German car. I realized I was looking for a status symbol more than a good vehicle. I *still* wanted something classy, and I got a 2001 Maxima, immaculate w/80k miles, for $9900. Upscale V6 sedan, decent performance, still a pretty cool status symbol, too. And it’s a Nissan, which means it’ll run forever.
One last point. In “The Millionaire Next Door,” one of the best performing groups in terms of net worth was what they called something like “used car prone”. This class of person buys a car that is 3 to 5 years old, and drives it for many years. They spend a lot of time discussing this class because it is the statistically most likely to have a very high net worth compared to annual income.
I LOVE your blog and I’m learning tons on it. I can’t believe my first post here is to give you advice, but I feel strongly about it. Cars are one of the biggest wastes of money. Don’t get an ugly or boring car, sure, but DON’T get a money pit, and DON’T buy new.
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