Yahoo Autos Here's $61,000. Buy whichever (and how many) cars you want
This one should be interesting. The concept is simple: you're getting a bunch of fake money to buy whichever and however many new or used cars you want. Apart from the two rules below, it's pretty darn easy. Well, except that I've kept the budget low. Forking over $600,000 would make for a kick-ass garage filled with amazing classics and exotica, but let's save that for another day. I want to see how creative my fellow editors can get. Why $61,000 instead of $60,000? I don't know, why not? Spice of life.
You could go any number of ways here based on needs and personal preferences for cars and how you like to spend money. You could blow the whole pot on one perfect car. You could spend most of it on a new family vehicle and leave some for a fun used choice. You could go the Costco method and buy in bulk with the most used cars possible. I don't know, let's see what happens!
The rules:
You are starting this garage from scratch. You can't rely on the cars you currently own, though I suppose you could buy them back.
Federal EV tax credits do not count. You're not getting an extra $7,500 to play with.
1998 BMW B10 Touring
2019 Volkswagen e-Golf SEL Premium
2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 4WD w/ 6-Speed Manual
Senior Editor James Riswick: I swear this is just a coincidence, but for the allotted money, I could actually just rebuy the cars currently in my driveway: a 2023 Kia Niro EV Wave and a 1998 BMW Z3 2.8 Roadster. But that would be lazy. I was all ready to go down a totally different route with four cars, when I stumbled upon a jackpot: this incredible 1998 BMW B10 wagon imported for Europe and currently for sale in Florida. It's an absolutely incredible car. First, it's an E39 BMW 5 Series wagon with a six-speed manual transmission and a 3.2-liter inline-six good for 260 hp and 243 lb-ft of torque. Actually, that pretty much covers its awesomeness. Effectively, this would cover my desire to get a fun car with a manual transmission and a family wagon thing with a manual transmission (I was originally thinking M Roadster and FJ Cruiser). Sure, this B10 is imported from Europe and has the equivalent of 188,000 miles, but the seller says everything about it seems like it's really 50,000. Good enough me! What an amazing find. For my wife's car, well, she's getting a downgrade. Sorry dear. I'm going with this 2019 Volkswagen e-Golf with only 16,000 miles for $21,488. I had originally budgeted a lot more, but this seemed like a much better zero-emissions option for around-town errands than the Audi A3 e-Tron I originally found (and she's not as keen on the Chevy Bolt). Because of this choice, I had a lot more leftover than originally planned, so I went with something that was still fun and could be used family adventures that might be iffy for the 25-year-old Alpina. The Toyota FJ Cruiser is one of my all-time favorites, and this one is not only Voodoo Blue, but a manual! Mileage isn't nuts, either for an FJ at 188,000, nor is the price at $9,550. I'm pretty happy with my all-blue fleet.
2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS 6-Speed
2003 Honda S2000
Road Test Editor Zac Palmer: James didn't make this one easy on us this week, but I'm rather smitten with how my two-car garage has turned out. The daily will be a first-gen Porsche Cayenne GTS with its available manual transmission. I need to deal with a rather high-mileage example to get it around the $30,000 range, but considering I'll be piling on tons more miles as my daily, I'm not too upset about that. Since it's a super-rare Porsche, the value won't ever plunge into the sewer either, provided I don't meet any debilitating repair expenses. The one I chose is a beautiful example with GTS Red paint over beige leather that will always look striking and timeless in the driveway.
For the second car, I had to go with a pure sports car, and I had enough cash left over to get my dream S2000. This here is a Suzuka Blue over blue AP1 (first-gen) S2000. Similar to the Cayenne, this will run me around $30,000, getting me in right around the $61,000 price cap. I went with the AP1 because I crave that 9,000 rpm redline and the raw driving characteristics of that version. There were all sorts of other sports cars that I could've picked in the $30,000 range, but the charm of an old Honda and allure of a convertible were simply too much to pass up. Plus, I'm hoping the S2000 balances out whatever massive hole the Cayenne will ultimately leave in my bank account.
