There is an MC40 on Ebay with 40k on the clock. Not a fan of the aftermarket sunroof but the car is nice from what I can see. I paid 13k for mine so there has to be some room in their price.

 

I like the R53s a lot and would not hesitate to buy one providing the mileage was not excessive and it sailed through a PPI. They're a little more primitive than the R56s, but that's a good thing from where I sit - for the record I now drive an R55 6-speed, and I'm very pleased with it. I think that when you take on a car like this, you have to do so with the understanding that there are likely to be issues - kind of like living with an old Porsche, or something similar. But the payoff in driving joy has value, so it's an even trade. At least it is for me.


As for the golf clubs, I had this problem with my R53. Well, not golf clubs, but guitar cases. I just kept the rear seats folded down and always managed jam them in, even if it was a pretty tight fit sometimes.

 

Totally agree that the last 2 years of R53 (that's first-generation) models are the ones to look for. From model year 2005 and 2006. They had better headlights and better gearing in the manual transmission, which provided slightly better acceleration, as a nice bonus. Plus, most of the "bugs" had been worked out near the end of the first-gen's run.

My 2004 has been really great for me, (knocking on wood). Definitely avoid 2002's and 2003's... They were significantly buggy...

 

Consumer Reports ...they said JIF tastes more like peanut butter than Skippy. I haven't trusted them since.

Dean.