Doesnt your brother dabble in a few? Be careful though mate as I went down the mature sensible path and bought a Lexus IS200. Its nice to drive around but just boring. Mine always got me from A-B which was the primary reason I bought it. I was sick of it after 3 months and then it took a furthur 9 to shift the thing. I ended up losing a lot of $$ on it.

I just sold a diesel ML270 which has taken 6 months and it was terrible on cold start but ok once it going, purely from an A-B perspective. It was like a road going boat.

If its something modern and reliable you are after, look for something that fits your personality mate and as much as I hate to say it, Evo's and Scoobies will give you more grin factor than a diesel Merc. Pop over and drive my Evo, see if that changes your mind