Fogey1

I may get a lot of static, but ...

If you want fast, cheap to buy, maintain, repair and upgrade, safe and room for all your buds, you can't do better than a state highway patrol car. All the states auction them at 80-100K miles, usually several times a year, though you might have to go to the capital. Call the patrol.

Maintenance histories and inspections are available. Interior upgrades are available in junk yards everywhere.

Cool is as cool does.

Nicole

...and as an added benefit, everybody is going to move over from the fast lane when you come...

Parnelli Joneser

I'd endorse the cop car idea. Along that line you can also source government cars that are being cycled out of service but not front line patrol units.
-from The Blues Brothers:

Elwood: It's got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant, it's got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks, it was a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. Whaddya say? Is it the new Blues Mobile or what?

Jake: Fix the cigarette lighter.

What better endorsment could that be, huh?

SharkSkin

Actually, I had one of these once upon a time. 1978 Dodge Monaco 440 Interceptor model. Beat the p!55 out of that thing, and it was always ready for more. Bought it cheap, sold it for more than I paid.... even with a good 1/2" of melted rubber lining the rear wheel wells.

If you go this route, most states will have a few with the 460CID motor(assuming you will only find Crown Vics; for Impalas look for 454 versions). Keep an eye peeled for those. If you're going to drive a wallowing pig, you might as well drive one with some power.

And Nicole... my experience was, people would think it was a cop bearing down on them at high speed.... and they would freeze up. Invariably, I found that people would just freeze where they were relative to other cars on the road, doing the speed limit or lower, afraid to speed up to get out of the way. It became very annoying. I was tempted to make use of the push bar more than once...

Fogey1

They can be made much less wallowing with new shocks. Even pigs can be made athletic and nimbly ponderous. Look at NFL linemen. ;-)

My interstate experience was similar to Sharkskin's, you can become your own rolling speed limit clot in the flow. I didn't have push bars and it was worse on the cars with spotlights than on those without, but I was tempted to re-install lights behind the grill. It's the worst part of the ownership experience. Nicole comes from Germany, and maybe traffic doesn't fear cops the way they do here.

H2

My Camry only requires gas, oil, license, and insurance. My 928 requires all that plus a special budget for maintenance. A few people have 928s that are daily drivers without a lot of expenses but, eventually (and this varies from car to car) there will be some mind-blowing, wallet-racking expenses. But the ride definitely is nice. I'm not a "vette fan but you can get one about as cheap and the wrenching is easier and the parts are cheaper. Both cars pick up chicks.

Harvey

tammons

928's are great cars but a mantenence nightmare and parts are very expensive. I noticed you said this....

"not a big hassle"

928's can be the biggest headaches of anycar on the road, if you get one with bugs. If you get lucky and get a good one, its possible it might be trouble free for a while.

IMO the 83-84S cars are better than the early cars and much simpler then the later 32V cars. I drive an 83S right now. In 92 I bought a 84S and drove ti for 3 years everyday, with little maintenence, but even that little maintenence added up to around $300 per month including tires.

You have to remember rotor pads and sensors are high. Radiators are $1000 etc etc. Rad hoses are +- $40 each. Leather interiors are through the roof.

If you can handle the expense of parts and work on it yourself I would say go for a well maintained low milage car with records.

Else you might be better off buying something else.