yupididit wrote: Um some of these cars are never terrible ideas, like the w126 560SEL. Are the e38 and e31 with V8's really that bad?
the E38 V8 and V12 cars, from '97-01 are actually pretty decent cars. OEM parts are not expensive and quite avaialble, the cars are easy to work on if you have to, and the typcial factory problem areas ahve well researched fuixes for them, in order to make them reliable There's quite the community of owners for them, too, over at E38.org and my own site, midatlantic7s.com. I lived with this car for 5 years with only minimla repairs and normal maintenance, which took me from 143k when I bought it, to 185k when I sold it:
The V12 cars are actually even more robust than the V8 cars, with fewer cooling system issues (which are the achilles heel of any BMW). Best ones to get are the '01 Sport models, either in V8 or V12 form, as they have all the latest updates and the better suspension bits (though the V12 and V8 long wheelbas iL Sport models are primarily an appearance package).
As for the Range Rovers, the later P38s are the best. Like Porsches, buy the newest you can afford. They were pretty well sorted by '00/01. I posted the pic of my '01 P38 HSE. It was a great rig, and again, rather eay to work on (though doing the spark plug wires was an ordeal, it can be done in the driveway). At 100k miles, I replaced all 4 airlift bags due to age cracking of the rubber on the originals. Took about 15 minutes per corner with basic hand tools and cost all of $100 per corner.
It was a beast in bad weather:
and it towed our travel tralier all over the east coast and out to Ohio:
THe P38 was the replacement for our '95 County LWB that had a coil spring conversion, and had been the previous tow rig:
Which was in turn the replacement for our $800 beater '88 Classic:
I loved all of them and only had problems with the $800 beater, for obvious reasons. And even then they were minor and never caused it not to run or get me where I was going. I'd have another one (early classic SWB Range Rover) with a painless wiring kit and just manage the rust issues.
VW Pheaton
996 era 911
Limited edition Mercs
Domestically, this thing: 
" 2 for $900 they run ,,,1976 lancia scorpion , same as fiat or alfa - $900"
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/cto/4796816661.html
