Which M should I buy?
Pick what the car is for, your budget and how much repair risk you can live with. You get the three cars that fit best on that list, each with its cost to own a year and its chance of a big bill.
The chance of a repair bill over $10,000 in the first five years, for a car bought without service records.
Your shortlist: grand tourer and luxury, under $75,000, low risk
- 81Guide Score for 2023Excellentabout $3,231 a year to own
- Why it fits
- It scores 98 for this purpose, 2nd of 20; its strongest parts are drive feel (73) and analog connection (69). Best year to buy: 2023.
- Cost to own
- About $3,231 a year ($2,100 to $4,976)
- Chance of a bill over $10,000 in five years
- 3.3%
- Typical price
- About $72,444, the middle of 5 permitted prices ($44,998 to $99,900)
- 66Guide Score for 2019Goodabout $3,031 a year to own
- Why it fits
- It scores 86 for this purpose, 7th of 20; its strongest parts are drive feel (70) and ownership (68). Best year to buy: 2019.
- Cost to own
- About $3,031 a year ($2,033 to $4,565)
- Chance of a bill over $10,000 in five years
- under 0.1%
- Typical price
- About $44,153, the middle of 3 permitted prices ($43,000 to $56,500)
- 92Guide Score for 1988Exceptionalabout $4,205 a year to own
- Why it fits
- It scores 50 for this purpose, 20th of 20; its strongest parts are analog connection (100) and drive feel (82). Best year to buy: 1988.
- Cost to own
- About $4,205 a year ($3,013 to $6,246)
- Chance of a bill over $10,000 in five years
- 0.2%
- Typical price
- About $65,995, the middle of 11 permitted prices ($20,900 to $127,990)
Of the 20 cars on this list, left out: 11 with no permitted price yet, 4 whose typical price is over $75,000, 2 over your repair risk.
Where the prices come from
The typical price is the middle of the asking and sold prices we recorded from sources whose terms allow this use (bonhams.com, classiccars.com, driveway.com, enthusiastauto.com), read October 27, 2026 to October 28, 2026, with 11 auction results sold between 2015 and 2023. A car fits a budget when its typical price is at or under it. 43 of the 69 generations have 3 or more such prices; a car with fewer shows “no permitted price yet” and is left out once you set a budget. Asking prices sit above what cars sell for, so treat a car near your line as a stretch.
Each list is ordered by the Guide Score’s parts weighted for that purpose (method v5-final.14), so a car can lead a list with a lower overall Guide Score; the score shown beside each car is its overall one. It is an editorial score, built only from permitted, sourced data. The cost to own is for a car bought at five years old, or its own age if older, kept five years. How it works.