Congrats on the promotion Chris!
I am with Johnny on my guess.. BMW 335i.
I'm not a fan of this car at all and find the styling horrid. Two people at my firm already own a 335 and multiple others have newer Bangled 330's.
Not only that but $50K on a car with the interior dimensions of a Civic is not my idea of a bargain. I'm still focused at retiring at 45 so I'm going with a modest luxury sports sedan.
Dealer in Houston has accepted my offer, I have my plane ticket and my loan is almost finalized. I've ran the car-fax and have the car insured as of July 20th. 1883 mile drive home puts me in on Sunday or Monday. All is based on the car being in "as advertised" condition.
It came down to the Mazdaspeed 6 or a Saab 9-3 Aero.
The MS6 is loud, peaky (turbo on/turbo off), prone to failures (see rear diff & clutch issues) and was just not a good looking car IMO. The Mazda 6S prior to the redsign looked a helluva lot better than the MS6.
The Aero gets me a longer warranty, more luxury, scheduled maintenace paid for and is much better looking in my opinion. Another plus is the rarity of the car. Few know it, but in 2006 Saab started using a 2.8L V6 and slapped a turbo on it. Engine made Ward's magainzes top ten list as well. Car is fully loaded with only 2-options missing. 6sp automatic trans & Nav, both I did not want.
I'm settling as this is not the car I really did want but I also want to maintain my retirement goal and need a car that seats 4 for client related crap. I really needed this car about 2yrs ago for the client stuff but resisted.
Here is a pic of the car:
