Yahoo Autos I Want an Affordable Luxury Car for Around $15,000! What Should I Buy?
Andy is in the auto salvage business and his fleet of cars is made up of the values that he comes across in his job. His wife has a 2007 Mazda5 and he wants to get her something nicer with some luxury features. However, he still has a modest budget of about $15,000 what car should he buy?
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Here is the scenario:
I’m in the auto salvage business and over the years my wife has always driven inexpensive (i.e. cheap!) Vehicles that I’ve purchased from tow yards or insurance auctions. She’s finally ready to step up to something newer and nicer than her current 2007 Mazda5. It’s been great but I’d feel better with her in something a little safer. I love the little van and have kept my eyes open for an affordable stick shift one with no luck. My 10 yr old daughter says “no low cars!” I like cars better than SUVs but maybe I can be swayed. My wife is much more flexible however. I would like the car to be fun to drive and if it was a stick, that really would be nice (but not a requirement) my main concern is reliability as I have enough of my own beaters and work trucks I’m forced to work on. My experience with older German cars makes me shy away from anything without a warranty. I don’t want to spend more than $15,000.
Quick Facts:
Budget: up to $15,000
Location: Louisville, Colorado
Daily Driver: Yes
Wants: Luxury, somewhat reliable, safe
Doesn’t want: Anything German
Expert 1: Tom McParland - Cruise With Class and Style
I’m of the opinion that the words cheap, reliable, and luxury don’t really belong in the same sentence, and you toss your preference for three pedals in there and we are really hunting for a unicorn. If you remember, Jalopnik once achieved this feat with a manual Lexus ES300. Granted this was a $600 car, but it did not turn out the way our friend Raphael had planned.
The obvious play here is to stick with an upscale Japanese car, my go-to brand for “cheap luxury” is usually Infiniti since you can avoid the super high miles that you will find on most Lexus cars in this price range. If you do target the fancy Nissans go after the ones with the durable and powerful V6.
Here is a nice FX35 which is one of the earliest coupe-like SUVs to start that trend, but unlike some more recent offerings from Europe, the styling on these have aged fairly well. This example is well-appointed and is on the lower end of the six-figure mileage mark. It has a regular service history and is being sold by a respected dealer because you really need to be careful about the cheap luxury at those corners used car lots.
