Only the Lexus LS460, Mercedes CLS500, and the 7-series are RWD. Everything else is either 4WD or AWD. I go to school at CU Boulder but my family is from Breckenridge so I do drive up there in the winter to go skiing and visit. I have been to countless "safe" driving school along with the American Driving Academies formula driving school, so I now have an SCCA license. The AWD would just serve as a nice feature and also be a nice insurance cut since the policy will say it is a mountain car. They are not actually buying this car outright, it is going to be a 36 month lease that will end right around my college graduation, at which time I, like my brother and sister before me, will receive a new car. Out of the list I have been getting feedback from my friends that the A8, 7-series, and LS460 are not the right image for an 18 year old; I believe their words were "70 year old man." I test drove an SRT-8, and it moves in a way something that weighs 5000lbs should not, but the ride is terribly harsh. The new S6 is hovering in the 70's, and same for the RS4 which is about 68-74k. Then miraculously I saw an amazing sight today; a Lexus IS-F and a Mercedes-Benz C63 all in one day. A new IS-F costs very similarly to any of these other cars to lease and lists for about 58k with great residuals; it is fast (416hp, 371ftlbs), luxurious (touch screen nav, heated/cooled seats, Mark Levinson Sound), comfortable (smooth 5.0 V8, 8-speed automatic, deep bucket seats), and other than the strange bulge in the hood it looks the part. I would say same goes for the C63, but it seems a bit over the top and slightly chintzy on the interior; not to mention an even more inflated price tag.

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