Top 10 Used Exotic Cars: Get that Aston Martin for the Price of a Honda
Unless you've been vacationing on a peaceful atoll since, say, last August, you may have heard some news about the economy. Hint: it's not great. There are two ways to look at this. One school of thought says to batten down the hatches and close your wallet, because everything's horrible and the experts who told us our houses were very valuable last year are now predicting that implosion of the concept of money. But savvy investors zig when everyone else is zagging. So maybe what you should really do is buy a sweet used car. Think of it this way—when the economy kept going up, you had to feel guilty about sinking money into a great car, because you could've been using those funds to earn 200-percent returns on timeshares in Boca. Now, you may have less money, but you can feel free to spend it on something that brings you joy, secure in the knowledge that you were probably just going to lose it anyway. So here are 10 ways to stick your thumb in the eye of Old Man Economy with some bargain-priced automotive decadence.
By Ezra Dyer
2003 Range Rover
Original list: $69,995
Target price: $22,000
Power: 4.4-liter V8, 282 hp
Here's how cheap Range Rovers are these days: Cheap enough that you could actually take one off-road and not feel too bad about it. The current Range Rover has the most convoluted back-story of any vehicle on the market--this single generation has seen three different owners of the Land Rover brand. That's good news for the early Range Rovers, because during development of the vehicle the company was owned by BMW. So back in 2003 it still had a BMW motor, the same one found under the hood of the 540i. It also had the same goodies that new ones enjoy--four-wheel independent air suspension, crisp, classy styling and seats that are more adequately described as thrones. First-year production got you nervous? Get a 2004 or 2005. They're not much more expensive.
Our Find: 2003 Range Rover HSE in New Jersey. Black with beige leather. 62,500 miles. Brush guard, Harman-Kardon Logic7 sound system, TVs in the headrests. $21,660
Target price: $22,000
Power: 4.4-liter V8, 282 hp
Here's how cheap Range Rovers are these days: Cheap enough that you could actually take one off-road and not feel too bad about it. The current Range Rover has the most convoluted back-story of any vehicle on the market--this single generation has seen three different owners of the Land Rover brand. That's good news for the early Range Rovers, because during development of the vehicle the company was owned by BMW. So back in 2003 it still had a BMW motor, the same one found under the hood of the 540i. It also had the same goodies that new ones enjoy--four-wheel independent air suspension, crisp, classy styling and seats that are more adequately described as thrones. First-year production got you nervous? Get a 2004 or 2005. They're not much more expensive.
Our Find: 2003 Range Rover HSE in New Jersey. Black with beige leather. 62,500 miles. Brush guard, Harman-Kardon Logic7 sound system, TVs in the headrests. $21,660
