Name your car.
 

Ok, I checked, and the 330i is about $37k MSRP with delivery, so you do have a lot of space to get some nice options before you hit $45k. I was wrong about that. The engine's still too weak for a vigorous driver, though...

Name your car.
 

No way you want stick, mucho horsepower and front end weight to a car pushing out that much HP to the front wheels.

The buy issues: you buy an Acura or Honda because of long-term reliability.

Name your car.
 

All good questions, but I asked what you would buy at those price points because I think you get better advice that way. I think I know everybody's fake personality well enough to translate to Daddicus.

In case you're curious, though, he's still a couple of years from retirement but is in a position where he does a lot of three-hour freeway trips for work-related stuff. (Hence, my panic that he was thinking of getting an SUV, which is just plain dumb.) Not the kind of guy who'd go for a Sunday drive in the twisties, but when he's in the car he likes to feel like he's driving --- not a Mercedes or Jaguar type. Also, he's in a line of work where an M or J or 7-series would be inappropriately immodest among his professional peers even if they all have the dough for it. But a 3 or a not-pimped-out 5 would not raise eyebrows.

I'll tell him to consider test-driving an A6. If he falls in loooorve, I'll intervene to keep him from doing something stupid financially.

ETA: Audi doesn't make a manual A6?!? WTF?!?

Name your car.
 

A pimped-out 3 series will be a lot more car than a stripped down 5 series. 530i msrp is $47 something stripped. Which means he'd end up with a 525 which is slow as crap. OK, not slow as crap, but no match for a pimped out 3 series. Tell him to drive both. The ride is nicer in the 5 series, by far, but that 2.5 is, in my opinion, inadequate for that car.

TL is not a bad second choice, but the ride is a little more boaty.

Name your car.
 

Dude, I have a 530, and I'd say its pretty fuckin vigorous. The 3.0 BMW engine is bulletproof, and the fucker cruises at 100 plus with ease. I fire it up on a stratightaway heading toward my house and it jumps to 80 mph fast enough. Sure, I'd rather have the 540, but what the hell would I do with that? I don't see any purpose to having a superfast engine unless you can use the fucker. For the standard buyer, even the standard buyer with a lead foot, the 3.0 BMW engine is more than adequate.

Name your car.
 

E39 or E60?

Name your car.
 

The only problem with the Audi is its shitty resale. It doesn't hold up nearly as well as a BMW or Benz. BMW has the best financing and the best warranty and service package.

Benz is becoming more Chrysler every day. I drove a new CLK last weekend.
Utterly unimpressed. Cheap, Chrysler gadgets inside. All the old school, heavy Benz materails were replaced with cheap American-feeling lightweight crap. Wickedly overpriced.

Name your car.
 

Wow. Suckalicious.

Although it's probably more accurate to say that Audi doesn't export a manual version of the A6 to the US market.

Name your car.
 

Wonder if you could get one through European delivery.

I always thought that would be a fun way to buy a car.

Name your car.
 

E39. I won't buy another. The new body styles are horrific. The 97-2003 7 Series was beautiful, particularly the sport package. The new 7 is awful. Its so fucking buly and doesn't have a clean, smooth line on it. The new 5 and 3 aren't as bad, but they're not nearly as pretty as they were.

The prettiest of them all is the A8L. That is a fucking magnificent car. I was parked next to a black one with all the windows open at the market yesterday. Damn. I was checking it out like I'd normally watch a chick's ass on the beach.

Name your car.
 

To each his own, I guess, and it really depends what tune that engine is in. The 2006 5er gets a bump to 255 hp for that engine, and I'd like to drive it like that. BMW has always been pretty conservative about how much they push their motors, and there are available many tuner chips to get a lot more HP out of many of their motors, mostly with simple and safe stuff like more aggressive timing and ignition settings.

I had the 3.0 engine that's in the 2005 and lower 530i in a 600lb lighter car for a year, and it just didn't have all the power I wanted. Sure, it is silky and smooth and sounds amazing, but that engine in 225 hp tune is rapidly getting left behind with current engine technology.

Like I said to Atty, it depends on what his old man wants. For many, the little (2.5) 6 will do just fine for them in the 5er (although I think it's woeful); they want it for the fit, finish, reliability and (commonly) the prestige of owning a BMW. That's fine. For others, like me, more power is always better and 9 seconds is too long to get to 60mph. Those people, in a 5er, are going to go for the V8, which also provides all sort of low-end advantages. The 3.0 is a nice compromise for some.

The sensation of speed is enhanced in a larger, heavier car because of the increased momentum; I know that you think that you are "[jumping] to 80 mph fast enough," but others want it faster. That's why BMW makes M versions of those cars.

Name your car.
 

Unless things have changed, no manufacturers are offering cars through European delivery that you can't get by ordering one from the U.S. dealer. It's just that you pick it up and drive it before they ship it over.

Name your car.
 

I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd rather have the 540. I looked at it, and I could have grabbed it for a only 5k more than I paid for mine (I bought the 530 used, as I have evry car I've evr owned). But then I thought, "Where could I really let that fucker out?" I drove a 740i for a summer in the mid 90s and thought it was overpowered in that big body. The 540 has the same engine and 500 less lbs. What do you do with that? Unless you live in the desert, what do you do with a 911 in suburbia? I see these cats with 911s everywhere and think they must either be pussies who buy it purely for status, or very frustrated people, since they can never use their cars as they were intended to be used.

Name your car.
 

You really have no imagination.

I used to do 100 on the Dumbarton every day when I worked in Palo Alto. No cops, no lights - wide open road. And that was in a 325i.

Getting on the freeway is a lot more fun in a Porsche. You just have to find the right roads. There are lots of places they call "east of the mountains" (between Canada and Mexico) where you can let the fucker out of it's cage. Bu tmostly it's getting on the freeway for your daily fun. If you can't hit 100 by the end of an on-ramp, you're just not trying.

Name your car.
 

I think Audi has been working to move the A4 into the A6 niche anyway in order to introduce the A3 line. New A4s are substantially larger feeling than my 2001 A4. So if he's looking at BMW 3s and 5s, the A4 will be around the right size. I've never liked the styling of the A6 for some reason.

But if you are or he is anti-Audi anyway, moot point. I have nothing else to ass.