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| Calm | What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
 
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Hi Guru's,
What make & model of sedan would you recommend for your family car? You're a family of two and have 2 grandkids. Occasional four persons per trip. You'd probably want a 4 door to access the car seats for the grandkid(s). My wife bought a 2009 Ford Fusion SEL AWD and likes it.....but is starting to think about replacing it in the next year or so. It's ok for fits/finishes and optioned out.....but I really don't like driving it myself. Feels like a compact to me, although it's actually a fair sized car by todays standards. I was thinking of a BMW.......but after reading Jeff's thread about his VW and german engineering etc.....I'm beginning to wonder, you know? Wife loves watching Barret-Jackson and often comments about the beauty of the cars......but I know she would never go for a classic. She appreciates the beauty of car lines, so I'm trying to find something that looks (and drives) nicer than her very average Fusion. So......what should I suggest for her? -Rod |
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 21:52
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| biggrizzly | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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2011 Memorial Day Car Show Winner!
 
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Personally, I love our 2009 Chevy Malibu. It drives like a larger car, gets great gas mileage and with the LTZ trim feels like a much more expensive car inside. Its not BMW, but neither is the price tag. They are worth test driving. If you have not test driven a new Chevrolet its about time you did. ( I tell everyone this, so don't take it personally ) It's just that I run into so many people that are quick to dis American car manufacturers that have not even driven one in fifteen years.
My 2cents |
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 22:02
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Don Haller Corvette Club of America 94Coupe, 383Stroka, PeteK Trans, 3000stall, 3.54rear, Konis and bigger sways. |
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| TommyT-Bone | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Chair-man of the bored
 
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 22:44
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| DaleD | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
 
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The guys I take my cars to, love the BMWs, but they're rear drive and very pricey to repair.
I mentioned the CTS, they liked it, but said there's a computer module for everything on those cars. Again, pricey to maintain. I went with the Acura TL. Nice feel, but it doesn't feel like a big car. If you want a big car feel, not sure what I'd suggest. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 22:55
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Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart". |
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| 1Fast04Vert | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
 
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Ford Escape is worth a look.
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 23:00
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2004 Vert. 475hp. Built by Vengeance Racing |
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| Jeffvette | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
 
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I've gotten tired of the Corvette hoopla and other BS, I've been looking around and the next one will definitely be Euro. The E39 M5 is a work horse. Solid car, 400 hp, handles great and has good looks as well.
But in regard to the belt, you don't buy a compact car and expect to have oodles of room to work in the engine bay. But if you are looking for comfortable room for 4, you are in a 5 series. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 23:07
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
 
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Packard.
In all honesty, though, I like the Honda Accord. Get the EX-V6 and it is a sweet ride with great performance. I agree with Don's comment about the Malibu. That impressed the hell outta me, and I was only driving the I-4 version! Very smooth, very refined. You may want to look at the new Buick Regal, too. There is supposed to be an AWD/6spd manual/turbo version in the pipeline. It is based on the new Chevy Cruze platform, which is an Opel platform. I don't know about how pricy it is to maintain the CTS. If it has a pot load of computers, I am betting all higher end GM products have the same issue. The question is, do those computers fail? My former manager has a 2004 BMW 325i. LOVELY car. Devine handling, but TIGHT in the back. However, the drivers power door module component thingy broke, to the tune of $720.00!! Another car to check out, again, if you can afford maintenance, is a Mercedes-Benz C350. A friend just got one, late model used (2007?), with like 35k miles on it for about $24k. Nice car, lots of room (more then BMW) and drives very luxurously. So far, he hasn't bitched about major problems with it, either. I did a battery replacement over the summer, that's it. Check the Toyota Avalon or Lexus ES350, too. Not so much drivers cars, but smooth and realiable. All prices listed about are in US Dollars. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/4 23:12
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| zoe6 | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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Happy New Year Gurus. I'm looking to replace my 07 Ford Fusion I-4 with 82K. I travel a lot. The Fusion has been great, excellent mileage, solid, and above all reliable. I started last week to look at other brands, C series MB, Toyotas, and Lexus. I was very impressed with the Chevy Malibu, and the Ford Fusion Sport with the 3.5 litre V-6 with the Mazda 6 speed auto/select shift.
Still up in the air what to buy. Kinda entrenched in buying American. I test drove the new Buick Regal, NICE car, excellent driving experience, handles like a BMW. Excellent throttle response and great fit and finish. Take Care Guys! Erin |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 0:14
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Owner of a great Vette! Totally stock ZO6 |
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| TommyT-Bone | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Chair-man of the bored
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Yesserie folks, We're talking four door sedans on a Corvette Forum. Hows that for diversity development?
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 1:29
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| Calm | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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Vacuums too.  |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 2:56
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| TommyT-Bone | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Chair-man of the bored
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I'm just sayin ........ We don't live in a vacuum.
 Most of us here are car guys. Cars come in all shapes and sizes. I'm just as interested as the next guy (or girl). |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 3:38
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| JeffK | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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My friend bought his wife an '08 Hyundai Sonota with the V6, leather, all the options you could want. It is a really nice car. I used to make fun of Hyundai's but not anymore. Plus they now offer a V8 I think.
Mom just bought a new Altima, she loves it. My step-mother is on her 3rd Altima, she puts a lot of hard miles on a car. I have always wanted a BMW but the repair $$ are scary. If you're buying it new, they offer free scheduled maint. though I think. Wonder if that includes belts? LOL Jeff - In response to buying and working on small cars, I didn't expect the engine to be easy to work on. I leased the car for 40K miles and never wanted or expected to be under the hood other than to wipe off the plastic engine cover when detailing the car. I have had some other stupid issues with the car and have received terrible customer service from the service department from the start. Throw-out bearing makes noise, 2 window regulators have crapped out the replacement of one ended in a month long stay at the VW body shop since the gorilla that worked on my car f'd the exterior of the door up and broke the door handle. Oh and the $200 oil changes because they "clean" the sunroof drains everytime. So maybe that's why the belt replacement irked me more than it should have. It still only took me about 30 minutes. If I could afford it I would still buy an Audi tomorrow...with a maintenance agreement ;) and from a different dealer than the one that I bought my VW from. What about that new Chevy Cruze? I am not sure what sort of interior room it offers though. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 13:01
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| BillH | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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The Stig Moderator
 
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That's OK, you've got 4 Corvette doors. I can't be of any help to Rod, in all these years, I've never owned a 4 door car. I did drive many of the old style Taurus's as company cars but my opinion of them would violate forum rules.   |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 14:11
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Every man dies but not every man lives. |
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| Calm | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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My Aunt had a CTS I drove for a few days. NOT impressed in the least. That car was, in my opinion, an overpriced caddy symbol on wheels.
When shopping for my wifes car in '09 I called the local Hyundai dealer to check pricing on a loaded sonata.....same cost as the loaded Fusion except the fusion came with MUCH more. (V6, AWD, leather, sunroof, nav, wheels, etc.) Wasn't going to pay the same for less options on a 'probably good car'. In '08 I bought a 60th. Anniversary F150. Wife liked it so was 'pre-disposed' to Ford (plus they didn't take bail-out bucks). I tried to suggest a mustang gt but the salesman beat me to it by saying the stang is awful in snow, which it is, of course. The prick. (We get like 2" of snow about once most winters....and if/when we get this 'snow' she makes me drive her everywhere anyways!) Then I suggested a loaded taurus but wife didn't like the size (only about 8" longer than the fusion). Then she saw this overpriced fusion and was stuck on it. 38k. Groan. I've always liked Buick. In my opinion well optioned buicks are basically cadillac quality for chevy prices. But because her dad always drove buicks, wife thinks buick is 'an old mans car' and refuses to have one. Too bad. I'm still thinking Beemer. My nephew has a BMW repair shop locally, which is handy for down the road when it's off warranty. He used to work for Lou Gigliotti. In fact, before I found CF (and therefore C4Guru) Lou was my long distance guru! That's back when I honestly thought my '95 LT1 was a basic SBC with tons of smog stuff. (Took me 3 weeks to find the distributor!)  I like to believe my insane calls to Lou compelled him to get into politics. Now he'll have an unlisted # and secret service detail. -Rod |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 16:15
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| JeffK | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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The new Sonata Limited with the 2.0T starts at $27k.
 If you have a hookup on the Beemer maintenance then go that way! |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 18:51
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| Vetron87 | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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Rod you should really take look at the Buick Regal. Erin, my daughter was test driving a new Regal last week and brought it by the house. Nice car drives and handles fantastic. Regal was about the same price as the Fusion Sport. Both are nice cars. My nephew has an 07 M5 BMW and has some serious problems with its reliability and performance. Its left him stranded a few times in Truckee Cal. on the back roads with bangos in the background.
The Sonata was to small for her and costs about the same loaded. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 19:12
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
Oreck. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 19:37
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The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw Education is the best tool to overcome irrational fear. - me |
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
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Quote:
Your wife has some serious preconceived notions to work through... Disses Buick because her dad drove them? Won't own a 'Stang because it snows one an ice age? Come on... one does not spend their life planning for the odd ball, one plans their life for normalcy... I am surprised she let you buy a house, the damned things do burn down from time to time, or even get married, you know how many folks get divorced... If you have an inside track to reasonable service on a BMW, the base vehicle is fine. Just be ready to pay out the ass for specialized BMW only parts. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 19:44
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The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw Education is the best tool to overcome irrational fear. - me |
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
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The M5 is a service PIG. A colleague had one... man... it would lose a quart of that Castrol/BMW 10-60 every time he took it to Willow for HPDE day's. He had it for about a year. He bought out the prior owners lease... best of both worlds. He got to try out a near exotic car and didn't have to go broke doing it. But I don't think he will do it again. I have to admit, I loved the seats in it, but the automated manual transmission left a lot to be desired. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 19:46
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The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw Education is the best tool to overcome irrational fear. - me |
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| Calm | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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Quote:
LOL What you need to understand better.... Until 12 years ago she was a stay-at-home mom to our 4 sons. Then she decided to go to school and earn her teaching degree. That took 7 years (and cost me dearly). 4 years ago she started teaching full time and SUDDENLY had her very own paycheck every 2 weeks! Until then I always provided her cars.....with my preference always prioritized. (best value, classy looking, comfort, easy to work on, etc) So when she pronounced "Time I choose my own car, Rod" I realized my opinion would be of little importance to her. All she asked me was "Is Ford a good make?" I answered by saying "They were the only company not to accept a gov't bailout!" Which really speaks little about how good a 'make' Ford is, of course. So this fusion was bought by Liberated Woman. During us wandering around the car lot she did the looking and choosing while I was biding my time.....When we finally got in the business office closing the deal, I thought "Good.....now I can negotiate....now I can show my stuff and step up to protect my woman." ONE frickin' minute into it my wife asked me to leave. ONE MINUTE! |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:16
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| Matatk | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Webmaster
 
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What's your price range?
If I were looking for a 4 door for reasonably priced luxury I'd be looking at the Hyundai Genesis: http://www.hyundaigenesis.com/sedan/ Matthew |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:17
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
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And you came out poor. Yup. My Mom should never have been allowed in a car dealership. She was a smart, educated female, but knew NOTHING about cars and the car business.
She got screwed soooo many times... |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:19
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The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw Education is the best tool to overcome irrational fear. - me |
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| Calm | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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Ron, How many Buick badges are on a Regal? I'm thinking if I re-badge it with Ford........... |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:20
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| Calm | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Senior Guru
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Quote:
Matthew, For whatever reason, Hyundai is way overpriced here in Canada. The Hyundai seems to have very few 'additional' options available yet their 'loaded' models (basic options only) are the same price as a 'FULLY loaded' North American car. -Rod |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:27
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| JeffK | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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Quote:
Dyson, it has the ball! |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:29
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| Jeffvette | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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I'm not sure what went wrong when the E60 M5 came out. The E39 prior generation was a stout car with very little in the ways of problems. They be getting real cheap now as well. Sub 20k. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:31
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| JeffK | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Elite Guru
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How about ...
 Wife's niece and her husband just bought one. They love it. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 20:34
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| bogus | Re: What would you buy? | ||
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Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah
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I think they went too high-tech. I agree, the prior gen M5, with the V8, was a sweet ride and bullet proof. The V10 was just way over the top. |
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Posted on: 2011/1/5 21:00
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The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw Education is the best tool to overcome irrational fear. - me |
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