Best/Coolest car for $6-7k

[Bill 84 318i]

I'd stay away from any Audi's if you're looking for something that won't nickel and dime you to death.

If you want reliability, buy the newest/lowest mileage Civic you can find.

Saturn

My older brother found a LS200 for about $6000. He likes it. He's had it for about a year and no problems. I drove it and was pretty nice and solid and decent power for a four cylinder.

[KenC]

The early 90s MBs just look too old... that's my only beef. They feel like you're in an early 80s car.

[325iCabrio]

The Lexus ES300 is a nice car for that money. And you probably won't ever have any problem with it.

Have you thought about an early '90s MB 300E/E320? If they're well taken care of, they'll be one of the best cars you'll ever own. The one rule is there is no such thing as a cheap Mercedes; buy the nicest one you can afford, and it'll be good to you. If you want more info about them, shoot me a PM--I did a lot of research about them when I was looking to trade in my E30.

If you want to stay away from German cars, obviously Lexus and any of the Toyota/Hondas are good cars.

[KenC]

I'm looking for a DD that I can keep for a while. I want something reliable with half-decent gas milage, and something that's not going to nickle and dime me to death. NO suvs.

Any thoughts?

mid 90s ES300?
96-97 A4 (poss 96 FWD)?