The reason for that is also simple: it was ridiculously expensive. In fact, the 2013 Golf R started at $35,000 with shipping for the 2-door, or $36,000 for the 4-door — and that’s before options. And I’m talking about options you might want, such as a sunroof.

So the Golf R was rather pricey as a new car, which led most people to remove it from their shopping lists. But here’s the thing: it’s starting to be a great deal as a used car.

For proof, I turn us to noted warranty company and occasional car dealer CarMax, who happens to have four Golf Rs at various locations around the country. The cheapest one? $29,000, for a one-year-old 4-door with only 15,000 miles. In other words: the market has spoken, and these things are getting down to a more reasonable price point.

And that’s a good thing, since these cars have a lot to offer. Think 256 horsepower, 243 pound-feet, and standard all-wheel drive. It’s like a GTI STI. And there’s also that neat touch about including a manual as the only available transmission.

So, remember this, ladies and gentlemen: the Golf R. It’s cheap now, and it’s only getting cheaper. Just make sure to buy it with a warranty.

For those of you who don’t remember the Astra, let me refresh your memory. It all goes back to the 1990s, when Saturn’s entire car lineup consisted of the S-Series, a compact front-driver offered as a coupe, a sedan, or a wagon. Eventually, the S-Series was redesigned, and then turned into the Ion, which lost some of the high-quality charm found on the earlier models.

It was around that time Saturn was expanding its lineup. They first added a midsize sedan, called the L-Series (and later, the Aura), followed by a compact SUV (the Vue), a minivan (the Relay), an SUV (the Outlook), and a sports car (the Sky). Unfortunately, all this meant that by about 2007, Saturn was just another GM brand with a lineup full of rebadges.

Enter the Astra. Intended to replace the dated Ion, the Astra was sourced directly from the European-market Opel Astra. It was offered only as a 3- and 5-door hatchback, and it came out for the 2008 model year.

Unfortunately, the Astra was too little, too late. Saturn was basically finished, and the Astra lasted for just one solitary model year. The brand died off shortly thereafter.

So why is it a good idea? Well, the Astra was a neat car. It had distinctive styling, it handled well, and the interior was reasonably nice, if you got past the bizarrely buttony stereo. Plus, it was unique to the Saturn brand — and it gave people the opportunity to actually own one of the European hatchbacks that journalists are always clamoring for.

If you’re in the market for a used hatchback, the Astra is worth adding to your shopping list. Parts will remain available, and the Astra is probably a little cheaper than it should be. Assuming, of course, that you can find one.

The car in question is the Lexus LX450, which was sold for only two model years: 1996 and 1997. The reason I’m reminding you about the LX450 is that the Lexus is completely identical to the Toyota Land Cruiser in virtually every way. In other words: when you go searching for a used 80-series Land Cruiser, don’t forget to check the listings for the LX450.

Under the hood, the LX450 used the Land Cruiser’s 4.5-liter straight six, which made 215 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque. It’s no dragster, but then again, that’s probably not why you’re considering an LX450.

Inside, the LX450 was pure Land Cruiser in every way, though Toyota says there’s more sound deadening. It was the same story outside, where the LX450 used styling that was every bit the same as Toyota’s, except with a little more body cladding.

I’ve heard a few people say the LX450 was “softer” than the Land Cruiser, and, in terms of suspension, that may be true. But it’s important to remember the LX450 also offered a crucial Land Cruiser option: locking front and rear differentials. Find one with this feature, and you can do anything the Land Cruiser guys can do.

In later years, the Lexus LX became more differentiated from the Land Cruiser. In 1996 and 1997, it was just the price: the LX carried a $7,000 premium from new. These days, they cost the same, which is why I’m reminding all Land Cruiser shoppers not to forget the LX450.

For those of you who don’t know the LS 600h L, allow me to explain. Take a normal LS 460, then stretch it (now you have an “LS 460 L”), then add a hybrid motor, and it becomes the LS 600h L. I’m not sure how they arrive at “600” considering it’s a 5.0-liter motor, but I do know it involves a lot of spaces in the model name.

So why am I bringing this up? Obviously the LS space 600h space L is a heinously overpriced luxury sedan, considering it starts at something like $121,000. Who would buy that? The answer is: no one. And that’s why it’s a great used car.

Go to AutoTrader.com right now and look for used L S 60 0h Ls. Even though they use a hybrid V8, they follow the same depreciation curve as V12-powered Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series models. The result is that you can pick up a 2008 model – that’s still the current body style – for something like $45,000. Some high-mileage ones are in the thirties.

Not only is that a good price, the car isn’t so bad either: it’s got 440 horsepower, you can lie down in the back seat, and the EPA says it gets 20 mpg combined and up to 23 mpg highway. By comparison, the S600 gets 19 mpg highway and only 14 mpg combined although, to be fair, you can still lie down in the back seat.

The result: if you wanted a luxury car, you could get a new 3-Series. Or you could be just like your favorite environmentally conscious hotel and buy a five-year-old L S 6 0 0 h L.

Yeah, I’d pick the BMW, too.

For starters, some background. We all know the first-generation Ford Focus, because it came out in 2000 and lasted for like a decade, as if it was a Mercedes SL-Class. Well it wasn’t an SL-Class, and anyone who drove one knew that. But the SVT was kind of cool.

Here’s the deal on the SVT Focus: it came out for the 2002 model, initially as a 3-door hatchback. In 2003, a 5-door SVT model was added. And 2004 was the final year, which means these things aren’t really that common.

In a world of hot hatches, the SVT Focus was pretty cool. Power wasn’t exceptional, at just 170 horses, though I’m sure people all over the rural South are putting down “two fifty to thuh whuls.” But it was the manual-only transmission, the sweet (and very subtle) bodykit, the unique wheels, and that gorgeous blue color that made the SVT Focus really stand out. The fact that you could get it in five-door was icing on the cake.

You never see the SVT Focus anymore, likely a result of the fact that a) it was unreliable; b) it was pretty rare, even when new; or c) you don’t spend enough time at rural dragstrips. But they’re out there, somewhere, a reminder of a rare bright spot during one of Ford’s darker periods. Some might even be that gorgeous blue color.

But there’s another beautiful sedan that I think way too many of us forget about: the Mazda Millenia S. I’m not referring to the first-generation model, which a lot of people wrongly believe is beautiful, but rather the second-gen Millenia, which is actually beautiful. It included gorgeous lines, gorgeous wheels, and general gorgeousness. Part of this gorgeousness was likely derived from its two-tone paint job. I’m a sucker for two-tone paint jobs.

Of course, the Millenia is an example of Mazda’s typical product strategy, which is: Get everything right, but don’t tell anyone. The “get everything right” bit here refers not only to the styling, but the interior and – most importantly – the engine: a supercharged V6 that made a muscular 210 horsepower (muscular for the time, mind you) despite inexplicably being just 2.3 liters in overall size.

Sadly, the Millenia was a little big, or maybe a little expensive, or some other excuse Mazda North America gave Mazda Japan for why yet another model failed to take off. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame, as the Millenia was the most handsome car on the road in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Except, of course, for that 1995-2001 7-Series.

For a little background, let’s discuss the 928. This was a front-engine, V8-powered sports car that was initially intended to replace the 911 before everyone realized it was rather ungainly. So rather than replace the 911, Porsche decided to keep the 911 going, largely unchanged, and keep the 928 going, largely unchanged, for as long as possible.

The result was that by the late 1980s, both the 928 and the 911 sported designs that were more than a decade old. Porsche’s other car, the 944, was just as long in the tooth. So Porsche did the only thing it knows how: it started building special editions.

While the 911 and 944 got their own neat run-out models, the very best of these was the 928 GTS. It came to the states for the 1993 model year and used a 345-horsepower 5.4-liter V8, which must be one of the largest engines ever to grace a Porsche outside the Carrera GT. To me, the best part is actually that the bodywork somehow managed to make the 928 look like a modern, 1990s vehicle.

The 928 GTS only lasted a few model years before it faded into oblivion. And Porsche didn’t sell too many, largely because the thing had a six-figure sticker price at a time when you could get an M5 for a price that started with a “4.” But on the used market, it’s still one of the coolest Porsches in existence.

Enter the C36 and C43 AMG.

These were the first AMG cars (as we know them now) that ever came to the US: they carried a two-digit number rather than the three digits of other Mercedes models, and they used subtle modifications to display that they were, in fact, faster than normal.

The C36 came first. It used a 276-horsepower 3.6-liter straight six, which meant it could do 0-60 in less than 6 seconds. And while it was automatic only, it offered 36 more horsepower than the E36 M3.

Not content to stop there, Mercedes released the C43 AMG in 1998. This time powered by a 302-horsepower V8, the C43 could really haul – even in comparison to its predecessor. Once again, the C43 was automatic-only, though apparently the later models offered Mercedes’s (bad) manu-matic shift mode.

I’ve always loved the original C-Class AMG models because of how damn nice they looked. Those silvery wheels, the subtle body modifications, and the fact that you could get the seat centers in white. It was the high-powered fist-thumper to the E36 M3’s svelte athleticism.

Sadly, reliability issues plagued a lot of these cars (surprised?) and it’s hard to find a really nice C36 or C43 around anymore. Those who do won’t be rewarded with the latest technology, or the most avant-garde styling. But they will be comforted to know that it’s unlikely they’ll ever run into a fellow W202 C-Class AMG.

Before I get into detail, a little background. When the CL came out in 1997, it was possibly the dullest (it’s a word) two-door vehicle ever revealed to the automotive buying public. That year, two models were available: the 2.2CL, with 145 horsepower, and the 3.0CL, with 200. Unfortunately, the only way you could get a stick was the 2.2CL, which meant basically everything about the CL was a rather numb, leisurely driving experience.

The CL was redesigned for 2000 with only one engine: a 3.2-liter V6 with 225 horsepower and 217 pound-feet of torque. While that may sound meaty, the CL also gained a ton of weight; it now tipped the scales just shy of 3,500 pounds. That, coupled with the fact that the CL remained automatic only (and that the automatic became known for tremendous reliability issues), meant the CL struggled to find a following. Regular people bought the TL instead. And enthusiasts didn’t want an automatic, or front-wheel drive.

Fortunately, there was a savior: the Type-S model. On sale from the car’s launch in 2000, the CL Type-S boasted 260 horsepower and 232 pound-feet. But it was still automatic only.

That changed in 2003. Acura finally fitted a six-speed manual to the CL Type-S, delivering a model that remains the high point of Acura performance outside the NSX and Integra Type-R. Of course, Acura being Acura, the CL Type-S six-speed only saw that one model year. The car was axed by 2004, never to return again.

The truth is that the only reason those European cars manage to get 226 miles per gallon, or 470 miles per gallon, or whatever those people claim to their friends, is that they have about 47 horsepower and do 0-to-60 in the same amount of time as a tug boat.

Seriously: Just a few years ago, I rented a Ford Fiesta in Europe with an 81-horsepower four-cylinder engine. This thing had the passing power of a musk ox. And I returned home to discover it wasn’t even the least powerful model they sold. There is actually a fifty-nine horsepower version of the same car, which would probably lose a drag race to a Vespa hauling a file cabinet.

I bring all this up because the 2004-05 Passat TDI is one of those rare cars they tried to bring from Europe for boosted fuel economy. Most people don’t realize there was a diesel version of this car, but it existed after Volkswagen customers insisted they wanted better gas mileage.

So Volkswagen brought us the Passat TDI, all 134 horsepower of it, which was 35 horses less than most four-cylinder midsize sedans and 100 horses below most V6s. The result? A respectable 27 mpg city and 38 mpg highway… and a 0-to-60 time of 10.5 seconds. Naturally, no one bought this car, and the diesel didn’t live to see the Passat’s 2006 redesign.

But the ’04-’05 Passat TDI certainly exists, and you can still buy a used example. Just don’t complain about the acceleration.