I second the Porter Cable 7424XP, I own two of them...I have one that I use 6.5" pads for the car, and the other I use the 3.5" pads for my Harley. The Harley is black and that polisher has no problem removing scratches using 3M products.

I have Porter Cable 7424XP and rarely use it to apply wax,nothing beats Makita for real polishing after colorsanding

I just got my Makita with a carrying case and two wool pads from Amazon direct for $185 or so with the super saver free shipping last month, still showed up in 4 days.

I had been using an identical one for years borrowed from a buddy, but I finally decided I needed my own to finish my car. I put over 50 hours into it before the CC show last weekend and I'm only on stage 2. It looks fantastic and took out my 800/1200/2000/3000 Trizact grit scratches. Slow and steady yields good results.

As guys have said, I've got more into my compounds and pads than the buffer. Maybe $300 in that stuff, all 3M. Two black and two blue ultrafina pads, a couple of foam cutting pads, and a wool one that came with the Makita. It'll last me a lifetime.