Mercedes and BMW's are nice, but realistically, who's would pay the insurance? (17 year old + high end luxury car = big $$$$!) Secondly, you have to look at the fact that a three year old car typically won't have warranty anymore. Thirdly, you have to look at something that you can get serviced locally, i.e. your local fixit shop won't be able to fix some foreign cars, and if the nearest BMW dealer is 40 miles away, you have to pay for towing.
If I were you, I'd look at something NEW (2004), there is huge rebates and discounts for the year end, and for the money you can find a lot of decent cars out there, with FULL warranty, and then you also won't be buying someone elses problems.
Personally - I recommend Mitsubishi, they have a hell of a warranty and the cars seem to never need service work, unlike most US cars.
