Beating yourself over the head for not getting an Acura NSX, a BMW E30 M3, Porsche’s 993 / 928, or a Toyota Supra Mk2 back when you could still afford one?

Well, join the club, but don’t fret, as there are still some potential classics out there that have yet to appreciate to unobtainable (for most of us, at least) levels.

The key word here is ‘obtainable’ and not overall ‘affordable’, because there’s no such thing with used luxury or sports cars, unless you’re focusing exclusively on the sale price and, purposely or not, turning a blind eye on how much it will cost you to maintain said vehicle in the long run versus a new car at the same price.

With that in mind, here are our top six contenders that we think, have already started or will begin to appreciate in the coming years, and which, with some proper online probing and the necessary patience, can often be found for around $25,000, sometimes even less, these days.

Of course, the lower the mileage and the fewer owners a car has had, the more desirable and expensive it becomes, so a lot depends on whether you see them as a potential automotive investment or as a car from the past that you just want to regularly drive and enjoy.

What are your picks from the 1990s?

Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Nicknamed the King of the Hill, the 1990s Corvette ZR1 was the most powerful yet civilized Corvette of its generation, being developed with the help of Lotus. It has a thundering 5.7-liter LT5 V8 that develops 375hp in the 1990-1992 models and 405hp in the later 1993-1995 MYs, both paired exclusively to a 6-speed manual gearbox from ZF. If you keep an eye on the classifieds, you can find examples with less than 60,000 miles under $20,000 like this one on eBay.

BMW 850i / 850Ci

The only 12-cylinder model in our list was the first of its kind to be offered with a six-speed manual gearbox. The 5.0-liter engine makes 296 horses in the 1990-1993 manual models, which are the ones to gun for now that you lost the train to $30k 850CSis. If you don’t mind the absence of a middle pedal, go for the even rarer 1996-1998 850Ci with the 322hp 5.0L V12 paired to a five-speed auto, which is the second fastest E31 after the 850CSi – but hold your horses and don’t go racing against any modern day 3-Series. The 8-Series has already started to appreciate in prices, so if you find a low mileage example of any of those two aforementioned 850is in good condition for under $25,000, jump on it quickly. There’s a 1997 850Ci on Autotrader with 99,500 miles for $18,500, but we’ve occasionally stumbled on much lower mileage cars for around $20k

Nissan 300ZX Twin-Turbo

Nissan’s second-gen 300ZX, codenamed Z32, edges closer towards a GT than a true sports car, but the 300hp 3.0-liter twin-turbo version has enough power for grown-up style thrills. Plus, it still looks good today in a Japanese Murcielago-kind of way, and the interior is pretty well made if you don’t mind the mundane design even by 1990s standards. The pictured 1990 model has just 14,723 miles and is priced at $24,990 or ‘Make an Offer’ on eBay.


Mazda RX-7

What many consider as one of the best sports cars to ever come out of the Land of the Rising Sun, the third-generation Mazda RX-7 remains brilliant and relevant today, combining a timeless design with a great chassis and a screaming 252hp-276hp twin-turbocharged rotary engine. Yes, that same sonorous mill does have some (sometimes treatable) reliability issues, but the rest of the car is pretty much bulletproof if properly taken care of. This 1993 Mazda RX-7 has 25,491 miles and is offered for $23,800 on eBay.

Mercedes-Benz 500E / E500

With BMW’s 1990s-2000s M range being all the rage these days, it’s easy to overlook one of the best performance sedans of the 1990s, the Mercedes-Benz 500E, which was renamed to E500 after the 1994 facelift. The fact that it was developed in close cooperation with (and assembled by) Porsche gives it cachet, but if that’s not enough, the 322hp 5.0-liter V8 paired to a 5-speed auto, its understated yet timeless looks and the reliability associated with the W124 series, should do the trick. The ‘Buy it Now’ price on eBay for this silver 1992 Mercedes 500E with 104,550 miles is $23,900.

Porsche 968

Funny how times change. With the appearance of the four-cylinder Macan and 718 Boxster and Cayman models, the 968 became relevant again, and no one can accuse it of being ¾ of a real Porsche anymore. It has one of the biggest four-cylinder engines ever fitted on a production model with a displacement of 3.0-liters, and while it lacks the top 944’s turbo boost (okay, minus the 16 examples of the Euro-only 968 Turbo S), it makes almost as much power at 236hp. It’s also starting to get the attention of collectors, so you better hurry up if you want to get a deal as less than 4,700 cars were sent to the USA and Canada. This black 1994 Porsche 968 manual with 104k miles does need some TLC, but at $10,200 on Cars.com, it might be worth looking into if you’re a DIY kind of guy.