What powerful luxery car, less than 2500cc and 3k?

[wolfy1988]

Well after putting a deposit down on a 2003 Saab 95 Aero and them pulling out at the very last minute it has left us wondering if there's anything we've missed?

The Criteria:

Petrol
Fast
Luxurious
2500cc or under (Tax reasons)
Lots of toys.
TBH the Saab is still my first choice. But what would personally buy?


Over to you...

[Mustard]

E39 525i

V70 Volvo

S60 Volvo

Would be my choices

[R300will]

Not quite sure what your definition of luxery is but what about Jag X-type?

[PUA]

R300will said:

Not quite sure what your definition of luxery is but what about Jag X-type?

but OP maybe consider a Lexus eg IS200

[V8Wagon]

The interior on the 7th Gen Honda Accord is quite a nice place to be, can be had with a revvy 2.4 up front.

[joesmoe]

E39 without a doubt

[tomtom]

Powerful, but <2500cc. Luxury, but <3k.

Hmm.

[McSam]

tomtom said:

Powerful, but <2500cc. Luxury, but <3k.

Hmm.

This means a fairly old turbo barge. Such things are rare, as turbocharging larger engines is a recent phenomenon, so if you want it to have any poke at all then the 9-5 Aero is probably a decent bet.

I'm not convinced I'd go for any small-engined E39. Wonderful cars, but not up to much when you say less than 2.5 litres.

[The Flying Ox]

Mazda/Eunos Cosmo? (if you can find one)

[Mustard]

McSam said:

tomtom said:

Powerful, but <2500cc. Luxury, but <3k.

Hmm.

This means a fairly old turbo barge. Such things are rare, as turbocharging larger engines is a recent phenomenon, so if you want it to have any poke at all then the 9-5 Aero is probably a decent bet.

I'm not convinced I'd go for any small-engined E39. Wonderful cars, but not up to much when you say less than 2.5 litres.

I agree when your tailing 2.0/2.2 but the 2.5 is more than upo the job (same bhp,as your 28i) , it's more a luxury car than an all or nothing Aero and as nearly as powerful as a 2.3t

[wolfy1988]

Problem Is finding a decent 525i over here in the ROI.

I have a soft spot for the e39 but the Saab seems to be ticking all the boxes atm

[wolfy1988]

tomtom said:

Powerful, but <2500cc. Luxury, but <3k.

Hmm.

250bhp is powerful to me, coming from a Mivec FTO and a 1.7 Puma.

Luxurious enough for me, again coming from a Puma!

[HustleRussell]

I really want to like SAAB, but unfortunately I know that under the skin it's a Vauxhall Vectra. I know there's lots of Vauxhall-bashing on here, and I'm not an especially big fan of the marque, but I honestly would struggle to chose a SAAB over a E39.

[Tuvra]

Volvo S60 T5?

[Google [bot]]

Leftfield and half price; Lexus Soarer twin-turbo.

[wolfy1988]

Google [bot] said:

Leftfield and half price; Lexus Soarer twin-turbo.

Good shout!

It's just the age that puts me off.

And the fact that I do 26k a year!

[Mr E]

Personally, we bought the Saab as it did everything we needed it to while being bloody cheap.

HustleRussell said:

I really want to like SAAB, but unfortunately I know that under the skin it's a Vauxhall Vectra.

Actually it's an Opel vectra / vauxhall cavalier (GM2900) platform. It's no delicately balanced driving machine.

[bint]

We went from an Alfa 156 V6 to the 95 Aero as we wanted a similar luxurious pokey car. The leather seats are better in the Saab, it munches motorway miles and as effectively as the Alfa, pulls like a freight train through the gears and you can easily overtake on the motorway without changing down from top.

We looked for BMW equivalents, ideally a 5 series, couldn't find what we wanted, did find a 3, and put a deposit on it. In my heart it didn't have the same je ne sais qua (pardon the rusty French) and I was quite glad to find that replacing the cracked headlight would be £900 (which the dealer wasn't willing to do - suspect profit would have been lost), so we pulled out.

I then found the Saab and fell in love with the Swedish Moose mobile.

[900T-R]

Mr E said:

Actually it's an Opel vectra / vauxhall cavalier (GM2900) platform. It's no delicately balanced driving machine.

That was the old-gen 9-3 (nee GM 900, 1994), which had a torsion beam axle at the rear.
The 9-5 is loosely based on a stretched and stiffened Vectra platform.


All else being equal, I might choose an E39 over a 9-5 (just). However the 525i is ratyher feeble compared to the storming Aero, you'd have to use all the revs to get anywhere near which isn't really 'luxury'. For a barge, the 9-5 Aero is not a bad steer at all, it's not very sophisticated but rather satisfying in a point and squirt sort of way.

[Mr E]

900T-R said:

Mr E said:

Actually it's an Opel vectra / vauxhall cavalier (GM2900) platform. It's no delicately balanced driving machine.

That was the old-gen 9-3 (nee GM 900, 1994), which had a torsion beam axle at the rear.
The 9-5 is loosely based on a stretched and stiffened Vectra platform.


All else being equal, I might choose an E39 over a 9-5 (just). However the 525i is ratyher feeble compared to the storming Aero, you'd have to use all the revs to get anywhere near which isn't really 'luxury'. For a barge, the 9-5 Aero is not a bad steer at all, it's not very sophisticated but rather satisfying in a point and squirt sort of way.

Yes, sorry you're of course correct. Wiki tells me its a GM2902. In any event, there's not an awful lot of Vauxhall left....

I wanted a E39. In fact, I specifically wanted a 530i touring with a manual box. I couldn't find one in the condition I wanted for the money I had.