been in the market for the last few months for a luxury car (used) to get me back and forth from montana to utah. was eyeballing cadillac, beemers, mercedes, audis and the such in a sedan. i can pick up a decade old one in good shape for a good price, however... ive been thinking more and more lately about a gen3 monty. not to build up, but to get me from point a to b in luxury, plenty of room and reliability. what are the pros and cons of the gen3 (besides the usual lack of aftermarket support or parts availability)? what are the best models of gen3 to go after? what is the towing capacity?

2 door or 4 door?
Preferred gas mileage?


I'd go for an older Lexus car.

Cadillacs and european cars in general are not very reliable.

has to be a 4 door... lots of room for roadies with my minions. ive been looking primarily at the early 2000's cadillacs (primarily sts), audi a6, 5 series and above beemers and a few mercedes and vw's. havnt been looking much at the asian market, sure ill get what im looking for but i dont like what im looking at. any of the ones that im currently looking at, they havnt radically changed the design every other year so they basically look the same. i know any of them will have their issues (lexus included), but i want all the bells and whistles in a automobile that looks good and not outdated. hence me looking at the gen3... i dont know much about them, but from what i do know it would seem that it would fit the bill. milage wise, im willing to sacrifice some fuel economy for luxury. btw, whats the mpg on a gen3 at hwy speed? what about at 80mph? mid/high 20's would be sweet, but im not going to cram myself and minions into a metro to save couple bucks on a 1000 mile roadie. always had a soft spot for the gen3... its big and has all the ding toots. just a little concerned about potential issues the model may have.

I have a 2009 Jetta Sportwagen TDI and it is great for roadies. The Sportwagen has lots of room for extra stuff and you can easily mount a carrier on top of it if you need to. In the 25 months I have had mine I have put over 82K miles on it and I have just preformed the routine maintenance. I regularly get 45 mpg on the open road at 70mph and 40mpg at 80mph. Another nice thing about the new TDI's is you only have to change the oil every 10-12K miles.

JSW long term report


2009 JSW



Another option you may want to consider the Volvo V70 Wagon. My neighbor has a V70 and he loves it. He owns a lot of really nice cars, like a Maserati, Ferrari and Range Rovers, but a V70 is his daily driver. He is kind of a car whore but aren't we all.:D On the open road he gets about 32mpg. An other nice thing is they have really cool built in booster seats and a rear facing 3 row that allows for 7 passenger seating. These are great cars as well.

Volvo V70

[quote] He is kind of a car whore but aren't we all.:D /quote]

What you talking about, Willis? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

I wish it wasn't true, but I am a car whore. They say the average person owns about 10 cars in there lifetime. I have personally owned 15 in the last ten years. At this rate I will own over a 100 cars during my lifetime. The sad thing is I would trade in my Jetta in a heartbeat if VW came out with a new Passat wagon with the TDI engine.

The next purchase will be number 64 for me, seriously. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

I bought my daughter a 1999 Subaru Outback, and she LOVES it. Had to spend $2300 a few months ago to replace the head gaskets, and while they were at it, they had the heads resurfaced and replaced a bunch of other things (water pump, t-stat, various gaskets, timing chain/belt, etc). So it'll be good to go for another 200K.

With where you're at and the back and forth driving you anticipate doing, something with AWD or 4WD would be highly recommended. I actually like driving her Subie, very comfortable, safe, solid, lots of ground clearance for a wagon, etc. I've been told the '99 is a good model to get, because it has the DOHC 2.5 flat four, with the bottom end of an STI.

Good luck with your search!

thanks guys. ive looked at a few of all mentioned... the only one i really liked (right color, ding toots, fuel economy and price) sold quick. vw wagon... only thing i didnt like was the size, it was a little small. it seems either they want more than it books for, somethings wrong with it (that they didnt know about <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />) or theres something about it that i cant live with like color. so i decided to expand my search into luxury suv's... can pick up a 8yo escalade pretty cheap, but its a little bigger then i think i need and a little more of a gashog then i want. hense the looking at midsize. btw, i keep finding myself more and more interested in early to mid 2000's 300m's... not the intrepid or concorde, just the 300's.