Give me some ideas

[Al]

Stay away from Selespeed Alfas.

[tsoob]

ive driven one of those alfa's they handle well and go pretty good.. but at 150ks your gonna need to do shocks pretty soon and im sure there will be some other maintence coming up

[Al]

BTW as long as the E38 BMW isn't a long wheel base model, it will surprise you, they aren't as barge like to drive as they look.

IMO the E38's look a ton better than the E39 5 series.

[touge_ae101]

haven't thought about one of these?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 297441.htm
can imagine it would go pretty well + have LOTS of practical space.

newer RS4 stageas are avaliable for quite good money also. none on TM atm but were a number on there last week.

[THA SHZ]

those alfa selespeed boxs are mud , and when the shite themselves and note i did say when not if , then you will be up for moonbeams
that sorta money and keeping family in mind id be inclined to look towards Lexus GS300 or legacy wagon , they arent as bad as people say and as long as you keep up regular maintenance they will last you good

[soopachargen]

Never even though of one of these before, look quite smart, especially in black

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 127703.htm

my cousin had one, they are pretty much scania's version of a legacy

[spencer]

jzx100? 1jzgte VVti go mint, and they can be pretty nimble for a land barge. Aristo's eat up the Km's and are awesome on the open road, had one with coilovers again it was nimble enough for a whale

[rollaholic]

for the love of god do not buy an alfa if you want a car you can drive more than once or twice a week. you'll have spent the purchase price on maintaining it within 12 months. speaking mainly of the newer ones here, havent much experience with the older ones. build quality is horrendeous, (we had a pair of brand spanks breras here last year, each sub 500kms - both had various bits of trim falling off, one you couldnt open the bonnet and the other flattened batteries for no apparent reason) selespeed is a chernobyl (and $&#$% gay to drive quite frankly) the four cylinder engines are notorious for wearing lobes on camshafts (at $1500ea secondhand), the 6 cylinders are notorious for ruining their fragile gearboxes... do i need to say more?

all that being said, they ARE quite fun to drive, particularly with a proper manual gearbox. personally i would only own one of someone else was paying for it, and i didnt have to rely on it for transport.

avoid saabs like the plague, particularly if they have come from singapore.

[FLAWLES]

jzx100? 1jzgte VVti go mint, and they can be pretty nimble for a land barge.

agree

[Timmo]

With a bit of haggling or a slight increase in budget (or simply finding a good deal) you may be able to get into a JZX110 Mark II IR-V

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 922420.htm

[Looonie]

JZX110 Mark 2 IR-v or JZS161 Toyota Aristo would be my two choices.

Both will suprise you with the handline, even better with merely swaybars (and lowering springs if you wanted). 1JZ-GTE and 2JZ-GTE will happily leave anything else for dust.

If you're happy with an auto, even better.

Superb comfort and features which is always essential for a family hack.

IMO these two make up the quintessential performance family sedan and are stupidly good money when you can find them. AFAIK they can still be imported from Japan as well, but somebody may be able to confirm/correct that?

If it wasn't for my need of a tow hack (therefore hilux) I'd be grabbing one of these when we buy a house.

[thornz]

They do like quite nice those aristo/mark 2 sedans, definitly something to consider.

Am also loving these at the moment, Subaru Blitzens,

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 627386.htm

Anyone know how these auto's go? Would probably prefer a manual, but if the autos are all good, I could get over it.

[metal_sean_head]

The spoilers on those make me spew.

Everyone is right about alfa's. Dads one with some retarded electric manual gearboxy thing was always getting fixed.

[Heylin]

+1 on the Legacy B4. Great performance, nice sound, roomy, all the mod cons and they they look good as well.

Weve had ours for 4 years and nearly 90,000 kms of driving and the only 3 things we have had to do is a valve cover oil leak, a knock sensor needing replacing and a CV Boot.

[maddog]

+1 for the Legacy too.

Maybe look at Volvo S60 2.4T? A little down on power considering but seems like a practical and safe car to get around

[Leon]

I'd be mega wary of the Euro cars, they tend to specialise in wallet lightening. There is a reason why they start out *massively* expensive as new cars, then once they reach a certain age (typically about ten maybe fifteen years old or so) that they become almost "free with your cereal" level prices.

If they were *that* good, they'd still demand premium prices at ten years old. Some things like Porches do ... almost everything else depreciates like they're on fire and filled up with dead bodies.

Disclaimer: I'm well known for not being keen on the Euro cars, so I'm as biased as a biased thing that needs a wheel alignment.

[edwagon]

Too late for mine as it sold a few weeks ago, but would recommend a jzs160 shape gs300
http://forums.toyspeed.org.nz/viewtopic.php?t=80527

Not hard to make them look the part, and supremely comfy. The performance isn't breathtaking without a turbo, but the vvti 2j and 5spd auto do a pretty good job and they go really well. I didn't really throw mine around a lot, but they handle pretty well too. And getting cheaper by the week at the moment!

[dnalunchie]

They do like quite nice those aristo/mark 2 sedans, definitly something to consider.

Am also loving these at the moment, Subaru Blitzens,

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 627386.htm

Anyone know how these auto's go? Would probably prefer a manual, but if the autos are all good, I could get over it.

They go very well, get a warranty and youll be right, good bang for buck

[Snoozin]

Buy my CL1 Honda Torneo Euro R. 12k, comprehensively modded with quality parts. Over 2l. Spacious, huge boot, good fuel economy, hell it's even run a 14 flat quarter. 142km. Super clean. Or even just a cheaper Accord or Torneo Euro R. Typical Honda performance bargains with an entertaining chassis.

[Lith]

OMG, how has a Honda Accord/Torneo Euro-R not been mentioned here? As a skim over I'd take one over pretty much everything I've seen so far, especially as a practical/frequent use car.