How To Get An Exotic For Accord Money

What can you get these days for $30 grand and change?  Well, if you're a sensible sort of fellow, the kind that wears slacks and a white polo daily, you could get a really darn nice Honda Accord.  To be specific, $29,755 (plus destination fee and accessories, etc) will get you a 2012 Accord EX-L with Navigation.  It's got a 2.4L engine that makes some horsepower, leather seats, an electronic map to tell you where to go, and it will without a doubt run flawlessly with 0 issues for 10-15 years.  10-15 years of perfectly predictable, sedate, drama and fun-free motoring.

Seriously!  These cars last forever.  An acquaintance of mine works as a service adviser at a Honda dealer, and they recently got a 2006 Accord in for an engine replacement.  Did it need a new engine?  No.  But it was making a bit of lifter noise, the tensioners on the timing chain were on their way out, and the man wanted to give it to his son as a reliable car to tool around in for another 10-15 years.  Considering that this particular Accord had 335,888 miles on it - that's an average of 67,177 a year! - I'd say it deserved a new engine.

Hat tip to Anderson W for the photo and anecdote

And I can appreciate the reliability and predictability of a car like that.  But dammit, we're CarThrottle not Consumer Reports.  So what sort of insane, ballin' exotic cars can you get for the price of that new, loaded, four-cylinder Accord?  Or even less?  Aren't you curious?  Turns out for 30 grand, you can put all sorts of legitimate exotica in your driveway.  Should you?  Well probably not.  That Accord would be a better bet.  But let's take a look anyway.  Humor me.

Bentley Turbo R

Actually, this one runs from base-model Civic money up to loaded Accord money.  But how tempted are you?

The Turbo R was the sporting variant of the Mulsanne, which went into production in 1985.  This was back in the day when Bentleys and Rolls Royces were really only distinguishable by the grille and badges, so the Turbo R was the first proper Bentley in some time - a car that focused on pleasing the driver more than the passengers.  It used the 6¾L pushrod V8 with a single Garrett turbocharger (introduced in 1983 in the Mulsanne Turbo) hooked to a GM TH400 3-speed automatic (later a 4L-80 4-speed.)  This was back when Bentley didn't quote any specific power outputs for their cars ("adequate"), but it was estimated at somewhere around 300 horsepower and 480lb-ft of torque.  Of course, the Turbo R was a big car - 5300lbs, 208" overall length, ginormous.

This was really the first post-war Bentley that lived up to the brand's storied racing heritage.  In addition to the power, it had bigger swaybars, stiffer springs and shocks, a Panhard bar to keep the rear axle in place, and alloy wheels with wider performance rubber.  It was thirsty as a cruise ship, but it could do an honest 150mph.

Why would you want one?  Well, conspicuous consumption is frowned upon by the Prius set, which is a damn good reason by itself.  But the Turbo R is a combination of attributes you really can't get in any car these days - except for the Mulsanne, which retails for $290,000 and up.  A huge car that's not ashamed of being a huge car, it's something like a Town Car with a massive turbo motor, and a wood and leather hand-finished interior.  Oh, that interior:  Lexus may be relentlessly pursuing minimal panel gaps, but there's something about knowing the cow you're sitting on came from the same country the car was built in, and that one guy spent hours making that seat, and polishing that wood.

Prices for Turbo R's range from $16k to $40k on Autotrader, largely depending on the year.  One thing to keep in mind:  although the purchase price is low, like many exotics it's just the entry fee.  Maintenance costs of an old Bentley are not for the faint of heart, with even basic maintenance parts sometimes costing 10 times as much as logic would dictate, if you can find the parts you need in the first place.  Still, come on: $16k Bentley.

Aston Martin DB7

What?  I can get a cheap Aston Martin?  This is the type of thing most people believe doesn't exist.  There aren't cheap Astons.  Even old ones: a 70's V8 or DBS goes for big money.  A newer DB9 goes for big money.  Maybe one that's been in a wreck?

Turns out, if you have 20-30,000 in disposable income, you can have a bonafide Aston Martin DB7.  Mind you, you won't find many Vantages - the one with the howling 48-valve 6.0L V12 - for that kind of money.  But if you're OK with an early DB7, housing a Jaguar-derived supercharged straight six, you may be in luck.

The DB7 was the first truly "new" Aston Martin in a long time, even though it wasn't all that new under the skin: the underpinnings are a modified Jaguar XJ-S chassis.  Still, the 3.2L 24v I6 with a Rootes-type blower bumped out 335bhp through a 5-speed manual or 4-speed auto, and you had your choice of Coupe or Volante (Cabriolet.)  These hand-built sports cars retailed for $140,000 for the hardtop, and $150,000 for a Volante when new.

Now, they're a lot cheaper.  It's probably due to the six cylinder being replaced by the much more powerful V12, but some six-cylinder DB7's are changing hands for new Accord money.  On Cars.com, there's a '98 Volante, dark grey with only 12k miles listed for 20k.  There are also two coupes - one light blue, 18k miles for $30k; one British Racing Green with 35k miles for $35k.  You can even get early V12 cars for VW GTI money: a 2000 DB7 Vantage Coupe, British Racing Green, V12/automatic with 30k miles for $24,300.

The DB7 was never the darling of car mags - they all complained it was too squishy, softly sprung, had too much XJS in it.  At $150,000, sure, these are legitimate concerns.  At $20-$30k?  Hardly.  It's a steal.  Hard to find, but a bargain when you do.  It would be safe to assume servicing and parts costs are astronomical (it's still an Aston Martin), but can you buy much more posing power for that kind of dough?

Maserati Quattroporte

There's just something about the Italian language.  Anything sounds sexier when you say it in Italian.  Take, for instance, the Quattroporte.  It's a name that rolls of the tongue so well, so elegantly, and it means "Four Door."  Could you imagine Ford renaming the Taurus the Fourdoor?  That would be ridiculous.  It's even worse in German: "Vier Türen."  Sounds all clinical and nasaly.  This says a lot about the difference between how Italy, Germany, and the US make cars.  When the US makes a big V8 rear-drive sedan, you get the Lincoln Towncar.  Or the Cadillac STS.  When Germany does it, you get a 550i or an E500.  When Italy does it, you get this big steaming pile of sex on wheels.  Unff, this thing is gorgeous.

The Quattroporte is tempting.  You'd have a stretch your budget a little more, though.  Searching for them on AutoTrader, there's only two at 30k and under - and one's wrecked, the other has 80,000 miles and probably needs a new engine.  But bump it up to $35k and there's 16.  And at 35k, there's a lot to desire.  The Quattroporte has its 4.2L V8 - a Ferrari engine, natch - mounted well behind the front axle.  The 6-speed "DuoSelect" single-clutch automated manual transaxle is mounted in the back, and the Q-Porte actually has a slight rearward weight bias.  By all accounts, it's shockingly fun to drive for a big sedan, and there's also that Pininfarina body and stunning interior.

Of course, it's a big Italian sedan.  So, the opposite of an Accord.  Search Google for five minutes and the horror stories start popping up - the kind of bizarre problems that a 20-year-old Hyundai doesn't have, and dealers that don't know how to deal with them.  Alarming depreciation (to your benefit, at least!)  Terrible gas mileage.  At this price range, you're looking at earlier cars with the DuoSelect automanual - which was replaced with a convention 6-speed automatic in 2008, with some cars getting it in 2007.  While not as exciting in theory, the later automatic is a much better choice for two reasons.  The jerky, clutch-slipping behavior of the F1-style transmission is at home in a Ferrari sports car, somewhat uncouth in a luxury sedan.  Also, those clutches don't last long- some QP owners reporting 10-20,000 miles per clutch with parts and labor replacement around $6,000(!).

Still, if you want the absolute coolest big four-door you can get, with space for 4 people and enough pace and sound to blur the sports car line, something truly exotic with soul, this is your only choice.  Or is it?

Jaguar XJR

The Quattroporte's English counterpart, if you ask me - the XJR is a painfully desirable car.  Some modern Jaguars have been a disappointment - The S-Type was a boring pud of a car, the X-Type was a joke, etc.  But Jaguar has built some fantastic vehicles since the Ford purchase.  While some people love the XK8 Coupe, with it's svelte Aston Martin-like lines, for me the essence of modern Jaguar is the 1998-2009 XJR.  It's got classic Jag styling - that long, low hood that wraps down around the quad headlights, the tight cabin covered in wood, leather, and wool carpet.  Subtly menacing, it's a car that those in the know realize is badass.  And the ignorant just see an old person's car.

The XJR is the sporting, attitude-laden variant of the large XJ line.  It arrived here in 1995, about halfway through the X300-generation XJ's production run.  Power came from a supercharged, intercooled version of Jaguar's AJ16 4.0L I6 - similar to that in the Aston DB7.  With 321 horsepower and 378lb-ft, it was the first forced-induction full production Jag- and the first in a long time that put the emphasis on speed and power.  When the X300 was replaced by the X308 in 1998, it took with it both the AJ16 inline-six, and the long running V12, both replaced by a new 4.0L V8.  Regular XJ8's got 290 horses, and the Eaton-supercharged XJR got a healthy 370 and 387lb-ft, through a new 5-speed automatic.

The choice of them is probably an '03-'06, called the X350.  Although it looked the same on the outside as the previous model, the '03 XJ was all new - most significantly, it was lighter thanks to an aluminum chassis.  The AJ-V8 grew to 4.2L, and power increased to 390 horsepower/399 torque as well as gaining another gear in the transmission.  They facelifted this model '07, not really changing anything substantially but making the front end look particularly awkward - "Margaret Thatcher in Reeboks" is the phrase I remember hearing.

Personality-wise, the XJR sits somewhere between the Quattroporte and the Turbo R on this list.  It's more overtly sporty than the Bentley, but it doesn't have a high-revving Ferrari motor under the hood.  The blown V8 puts out the majority of it's torque at lower RPM (all 400lb-ft come at 3,500rpm), although it still has strong top-end pull as well.  New XJ's have very modern cabins- a mixture of materials and textures, digital this and that, but the old XJ's had none of that.  Just traditional Jag charm - J-gate shifter, wood everywhere, somehow much smaller inside than it looks outside.

Unlike the Bentley, Maser and Aston there's a relatively large number of XJR's available.  A search for XJR's under $30,000 nationwide turned up 104 cars on Cars.com, and 177 cars on Autotrader.com.  These range from older model (6-cylinder) XJR's in the 3-8,000 dollar range, up to '05-'06 XJR's with reasonable miles for around $28-29k.  Again, with these cars reliability is a concern, at least moreso than a mainstream family sedan, but they're not nearly as much of a Lucas-smoke-filled nightmare as you'd assume.  Mechanically, they are fairly tough - it would be good to keep an eye on coolant levels what with the air-to-water intercooler, but the V8 and the six are both robust.  Electrical issues are still something Jaguar hasn't entirely worked out, so keep a wary on on obnoxious stuff like airbag lights, power windows, ignition switches, etc.

Still, that's a lot of cache for not a lot of cash.  However, if a big wafting sedan isn't your thing...

Acura NSX

How about getting your hands on one of the most important supercars of all time?  The sports car that showed everyone else exotic and driveable weren't mutually exclusive terms?  The car which Gordan Murray used as inspiration for the McLaren F1's chassis, the first production car with VTEC, the first all-aluminum production car, and (so far as I know) the only road car with chassis input from Ayrton-freaking-Senna?

It's a testament to the unending desirability of Japan's first supercar just how expensive they still are.  It's sorta nuts - these cars cost $70k new in 1990, and there are only a handful that dip below the $30k range, most with really high mileage.  Still, if you want to live the exotic dream, you have to pay to play.

I'm sure you all know the specs by heart- this is the NSX we're talking about - but Honda's aluminum wondercar didn't change much over the years.  The car came out in 1991, with a transverse-mounted DOHC V6 (Honda's only DOHC 6 to date) behind the seats equipped with variable valve timing, cranking out 270bhp and 210bhp of torque through a 5-speed manual.  1993 saw the addition of cupholders and a passenger-side airbag, a change from R12 to R134a refrigerant, and different alignment settings to reduce tire wear.  The manual transmission was revised in 1994 to reduce gear whine, but 1995 was a big year: it saw the introduction of the targa-roofed NSX-T, as well as power steering becoming standard.  The engine changed to throttle-by-wire and gained OBD-II compliance as well.  1997 was the NSX's only engine update, with displacement growing from 3.0L to 3.2L by way of an increase in bore (now 93mm, instead of 90mm).  Power and torque rose to 290bhp and 224lb-ft, and the new engine was complimented by an extra gear in the manual transmission.  By now all regular NSX's sold in the US were Targas, with the hardtop being special order only.  1999 was the year Acura sold the Alex Zanardi NSX, a limited edition lightweight model with a fixed roof, somewhat similar to JDM NSX-R's.  The last big update was 2002, when the NSX switched to fixed Xenon headlights and got 17" wheels all around.  Not that you would, but you could also get an NSX with an automatic transmission - they're pretty rare, understandably - that had the 3.0L engine detuned to 252bhp.

The NSX is a purist driver's car, relying on balance and agility rather than brutal turbo power (like many other 90's Japanese sports cars), making it a satisfying track tool.  It's also a totally reasonable daily driver: comfortable interior, good stereo, even reasonable gas mileage - you might look kooky commuting in an NSX, but there's no reason not to.  And being a Honda, reliability concerns are few and far between.

Both the C30A (3.0L) and C32B (3.2L) V6's use timing belts to spin the camshafts; these need to be renewed every 6 years or 90,000 miles.  Most NSX's don't put 90,000  miles on in six years, so it's a good idea to change it to be safe - it's an interference engine, so failure of the timing belt leads to wrecked heads.  The water pump should be done at the same time, as it's driven by the timing belt as well.  Early cars (1991-1992) had an issue with a snap ring in the transmission; most have been fixed by now.  Minor things like window actuators can go bad, but they go bad on any car, so I won't bitch.  Unlike a Ferrari, which needs an engine teardown every 30k miles to keep it healthy, there are people out there with early NSX's breaking a quarter-million miles having never even removed the cylinder heads - these are reliable cars.  Other minor things include the O-ring on the VTec solenoid failing, cam plugs, and clutches wearing out early.  The biggest issue: that all-aluminum body means a huge bill if your NSX ever gets into an altercation with a stationary object.  Audi A8 drivers feel your pain.

Below 30k, your choice of NSX's are mostly older and higher mileage - fixed-headlight NSX's go for new Corvette money still.  Cars.com showed 8 below 30k, with the cheapest being a black hardtop '93 with almost 100k on the clock for $22,500.  AutoTrader had more hits, with 27 cars - the cheapest of which was still $20,000, a 1991 with aftermarket modifications and 80k miles.  The best advice on an NSX - find one that's been well cared for.  That stack of dealer service receipts is worth it's weight in gold.  Otherwise, the toughest part is finding one the owner's willing to get rid of!

So, if you decided to take the plunge, which would be your choice?  Did you feel I left something out?  Leave your comments below!