If you’re an SCCA® member, you’re also likely a frequent window shopper in the auto section of Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. You scroll through the automotive listings right before bedtime hoping that someone nearby is selling that car you always wanted to own. Your search is largely one rabbit hole after another – so how about some direction with that search? According to Hagerty, the official insurance partner of the SCCA as well as a company filled with car valuation experts, what you need to narrow your search on are sports sedans from the 1990s and 2000s.
A recent article on Hagerty.com/media dives into this exact topic, with author Eddy Eckart centering in on a few choice selections from roughly two decades ago that collectors haven’t elevated the value on (yet).
“Fast forward to today, and turn-of-the-century cars like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A4, and Lexus IS 300 haven’t taken to the collector world with quite the same gusto as when they initially debuted,” he wrote. “Though many of them, even in base or mid-tier trim, excelled as driver’s cars and wore their manufacturer’s clearly defined character on their sleeves, collectors have largely ignored them until recently, instead focusing on top-line badges like M, AMG, S, or V. The rest can be had for a comparative song (but that may slowly be changing).”
Why might those values be heading north? You and I (the SCCA faithful) might be partially to blame, as we’ve been thinning the herd, making these cars increasingly more difficult to find. “When a driver’s car becomes more affordable, the urge to take it to the track gets stronger,” Eckart noted. “Go to any amateur track day, budget endurance race, SCCA or NASA weekend, and you’ll suddenly discover where all the E36-generation BMWs went. Head to a drift event and you won’t miss the distinctive sound of a Nissan VQ engine generating tire smoke from under an Infiniti G35’s fenders.”
According to Hagerty’s data, some of the most affordable turn-of-the-century sports sedans include the Infinity G35 ($7,321), Lexus IS 300 ($8,374), Acura TL ($9,744), Saab 9-3 ($10,863), Mercedes C-Class ($11,097), Infinity G37 ($11,773), and BMW 3-Series ($12,188). But be warned, as the values of the BMW, Saab, and Acura have been on the rise since January 2021. Meanwhile, the price of the G35 has been in a downward spiral, with the G37 and C-Class also selling poorly.
About ready to re-up your Craigslist search criteria? Hagerty’s article dives into the details far more, so first you should click the button below and read on…
Photo courtesy Lexus
