Yeah I was going to post over in that other thread but decided not to as almost everything I started to type out sounded condescending to that kid. Lol!
First car? 1986 Ford Mustang LX with a 4sp MT and could barely get up to 85mph. Lol! I bought it without even knowing how to drive stick and I taught myself along with my Dad's help from time to time. My Dad helped me negotiate the deal with the seller but I was the one who paid for it. A whole whopping $1,200 bucks, which I worked for over a year as a busser at our local restaurant to pay for.
My love of BMW's came from being a student and lover of history. History was what I got my Undergrad Degree in too. I specialized in WWII history and I got really interested in BMW once I learned about how they made fighter engines during the war. In 2004, I saved up about $10,000 dollars while I was in college (worked 3 jobs and went to school full time) and went on a 3 month backpacking trip to Europe visiting over 17 countries. During that trip I took with me a blue BMW hat with the BMW roundel in the center of it. Everywhere I went people would ask me if I owned a BMW and I told them no, but I will one day. In the middle of the trip I stayed in Munich to go visit the BMW factory and the BMW Museum. In 2004, the Welt wasn't even near completion yet, and at that time the Museum was in a different location than where it is today, but the Headquarters building was still there. I walked through the factory and museum in utter excitement and from that moment on I knew that I would own one, one day.
Just about 2 years later when I was in Flight School for the Navy, I went to my local BMW dealership and put down a deposit on a brand new BMW. It was to be only my 3rd car I had ever owned. Looking back at it now, it was funny because I knew nothing about U.S. MSRP, U.S. Invoice, negotiating an interest rate, none of that. I paid MSRP on a brand new Monaco Blue 330i which was delivered to me in October 2005. I was the first one in the entire state with a new E90 3-Series. Coming from the car I had been driving for the last 8 years, which was a 1997 Chevy Cavalier, the new E90 3-Series was like a spaceship to me. There was new technologies I had never seen before like Comfort Access, the iDrive system, and the TPMS to name a few that just blew me away. I had ordered it with the Sports Package as well, and to me, I had no idea that a car could be that fast and handle that well. It felt like I was driving a piece of the future. I loved that first BMW of mine and to this day I still hate myself for getting rid of it. It NEVER broke, not a single problem with it, I just had to change the tires and oil changes. It treated me so well.
Fast forward 8 years later and several BMW's and ///M cars later and here I am still driving and owning a 2013 F10 M5 after 16 months of ownership. As of right now I don't have plans to get rid of it anytime soon. Sure, I wish it had better steering feel, and the Comp Package, and the Carbon Ceramic Brakes, and the Adjustable Side Bolsters (which even my 2006 330i had!), but it has satisfied me for this long and has not broken down on me, so I'm thinking why get rid of it? Kind of like Monogamy. Lol!
Honestly to me, owning any BMW is a lucky experience. I've been to places in the world where people can barely afford to eat (and I've experienced that too), and it makes me wonder where 16 year old kids get off wanting a $100,000 BMW with over 600hp without working for it.
Having lived in Southern California the past 7 years, I've definitely met my fair share of 18 year olds with Ferrari's, Lamborghini's and such and I always never respected them in my head, but showed them dignity and respect as a fellow human being. Secretly I want any 18 year old with a $100,000 car to crash it and survive so they can learn some sort of lesson, but the virus of affluenza probably will not allow them to learn a lesson.
Anyways, my love of BMW goes pretty deep and although I find myself wanting that 14' 911 GT3 or that Audi R8 V10 from time to time, I know that when the time is right I'll get one of those too and park it right next to my M5.
Drive hard friends.
