Author Topic: Luxury cars from early-mid 90s (Read 530 times)

1K3 · « **on:** October 23, 2006, 02:17:10 PM »

I'm thinking about buying a luxury car that wont hurt my pocket that much... especially on maintenance.

When it comes to early-mid 90s 4-door luxury cars, which car do you think i should buy...

Mercedes E or S Class
BMW 5 or 7 Series
Lexus LS 400 or GS 300
Cadillac Seville or Deville
Acura Legend

?

nirvana · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2006, 02:55:05 PM »

Maintenance probably the Cadillac or Acura and maybe the Lexus. BMW parts need to be imported from Germany unless you go to the dealership, so maintenance is generally more expensive, might be the same with Mercedes, I don't have much experience with them.

I'd go with the Acura or BMW.

nuchpatrick · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2006, 02:56:34 PM »

If I had a choice, a DTS (upscale Deville), or a GS300. All depends on what you want reliablity can be hit or miss with any car.

If you have the funds, look at Certified used cars. We get my dad 2 year old Escalades with the 100K 6 year warranty. You pay almost half of what the car costs new and you get a nice bumper to bumper warranty.

I know BMW, Lexus, & Benz do the same.

Example, we just got 5 months ago a 04 Escalade 20K on the odo and got it for 38K.

You just have to find the good deals

J_A_B · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2006, 02:56:34 PM »

I owned a 1990 Cadillac Sedan deVille, and I know several other people who owned Cadillacs from the same time period. It was an excellent car--my favorite one I've ever owned--but it needed a lot of maintenence, and parts weren't cheap. Don't get me wrong, it was a reliable car in the sense that it wouldn't leave me stranded somewhere, but it always needed something or another done to it. If that specific issue doesn't bother you too much, buy a 1991-1993 model; they have the larger 4.9 litre engine which offers more power at basically the same fuel economy. Avoid 1994 and newer Devilles, as they gained a lot of weight for no improvement in interior space (sales plummeted like a rock, too). Sevilles started becomming decent around 1994 or so.

I don't know much about the Mercedes from that timeframe. At 15 years old, I figure they'll probably have maintenence issues of their own, and being a Mercedes means parts aren't going to be cheap. The Lexus was basically a cost-reduced Mercedes clone. If you're buying a 15-year-old car, you might as well buy the real thing. The Acura is much the same.

Do not buy an early 90's Lincoln Continental (it wasn't on your list, but it's also a luxury car from that time frame). Their engines were plagued by head gasket failure.

Also not on your list were a couple pretty decent cars. The mid 90's Chevy Impala SS and Buick Roadmaster (1994 to 1996) have the LT1 engine if you want something with a bit more pep, and are built on a traditional frame which makes most maintenence work easy.

If you're staying strictly to what you posted in your list, I'd say go with the Cadillac or the Mercedes. The Mercedes should have stiffer handling, while Cadillac will give you a more traditional luxury car feel. They'll both like to be pampered.

J_A_B

Skuzzy · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:02:26 PM »

Assuming they were all maintained in like manner, I would rate the above as follows:

1) Acura Legend
2) Lexus LS 400 or GS 300
3) BMW 5 or 7 Series
4) Mercedes E or S Class
5) Cadillac Seville or Deville

I would also add an Infiniti I30 to the mix. I owned a 1995 model for 10 years. Put 135,000 miles on it. Outside of normal mainenance (tires, battery, and oil changes), I spent $635.00 on it for a new starter and battery cable.
The engine was running perfectly when I sold it. Sounded and ran like new.

The reason for my rating the above. It is generally accepted, by most, the Japanese luxury cars have a tendency to cost less to maintain. Between the two Lexus models, the LS is the better choice. The GS300 was built on a fairly flimsy chassis from the Toyota Camry.

I put BMW above Mercedes as Mercedes has not been the company they used to be here of late. My Wife has several clients who have been disappointed with thier newer Mercedes, citing minor annoyances with them.

EDIT: On the Cadillac. Only experience with them is my neighbor. He recently got rid of his telling me he would never own another one. Not sure why, as he did not elaborate. He is also the kind of guy I would never buy a used car from, so take that with a grain.

wooley · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:11:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy

I put BMW above Mercedes as Mercedes has not been the company they used to be here of late. My Wife has several clients who have been disappointed with thier newer Mercedes, citing minor annoyances with them.

What you say about Mercedes is true - some of their models recently have not lived up to their previous standards, but we're talking late nineties onwards for those problems. The early ninties cars the OP is looking at would still come from the 'hewn from granite' era.

A good E-Class would in all likliehood be a sound buy.

eagl · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:19:08 PM »

I know a guy who got one of those "certified" used cars from Lexus... He was very happy with it. It was about 4 years old and cost half of the new car cost. That's probably where I'd start looking if I was looking for an inexpensive way to get a luxury car.

Halo · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:25:43 PM »

From what I read, can't go wrong with Lexus.

From personal experience, I wouldn't have the foggiest. My sole luxury car experience was a 1991 Lincoln Continental that was a great ride when it didn't have problems, which it had too many of by the time I bought it used with 90,000 miles on it.

rob53 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:42:31 PM »

I'd go with the BMW 750IL.....I say this because I own one

V-12 baby!It has 75K on it and it is a '92. It's a cavernous sedan and has the power to show up those wannabe speed demons tooling around in their little stangs, birds, and toooooners.

It's a fun car and can lug 4 golf bags in the trunk without interfering with the subwoofer. The kid's around here hate it because they can't outrun it.

Maintenance on it is a tad expensive. My son puts it through it's paces. Last repair bill was, well.....

and it's starting to show it's age. It's pretty much taking up space nowadays, I drive it now and then just to keep it "wet". It's basically my son's car, who is presently in Fallujah. The car is for sale because he would rather have one of those new stang's, birds, or a toooooners when he gets back.

As far as the quality of the car...it's there!! I'm gonna be a little sad when it goes. It's a good car!

Rob53
The Flying Circus

Debonair · « **Reply #9 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:53:25 PM »

that sounds like maybe a sales pitch - does HTC pick up 4% vigorish?...i see more old Volovos on the road than anything else. dont buy an old diesel benz these days...

Nilsen · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2006, 04:00:34 PM »

My dad/parents have had Mercedes cars since before i was born and changed them like clockwork every two years. I never heard him complain _seriously_ about them but then 2 years isnt that much when you are talking about going further back.

This time instead of trading in the Mercedes at the dealer that my dad knows and have always gotten cost prices when he buys and full resell price when he trades in, I bought it off my dad. My first car... yes im 31 and its my first car

So far im happy with it, but then i knew what i got. If i were to buy a car the normal way i would never have gone for Mercedes tho and would have chosen a used japanese car.

This post went off-topic abit

but i just wanted to voice my opinion on Mercedes. Good solid cars as far as i know.

tikky · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2006, 04:51:42 PM »

I heard 2nd Generation Acura legends were really good ones. It was a serious contender against the Merc S class and the BMW 7 series.

Btw I used to own 1987 1st generation Acura Legend (2-door). It was at the top of its class compare to Euro luxury back in the late 80s. This car served me well for 15 years (sold it in 2002).

I don't know what the Acura division were smoking after the mid 90s but they dropped the Acura Legend line and replaced it with underpowered RLs and TLs. I think the current Acura badge is a joke. They don't even have a car that can be compare against the new Lexus LS and BMW 7 and Merc S:rolleyes:

SFRT - Frenchy · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2006, 05:02:40 PM »

Check CARMAX.com, you can browse their inventory online. They offer additional warranties. I almost bought a 2003 Jag X for 18K, 40,000 miles, 3 years warranty. I found that quite reasonable.

Ball · « **Reply #13 on:** October 23, 2006, 06:18:07 PM »

what about an 8 series? always thought those were pretty cool.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 23, 2006, 06:38:24 PM »

I was shopping online for used cars a while ago. In a large database Volvo made up barely 1 percent of the thousands of cars and trucks that were listed. Of the 20-some vehicles listed that had over 200,000 miles, however, Volvo made up about half. It’s a stretch to call them luxury cars, but I guess it all depends on what features you consider to be luxurious.