Germany, shmermany ... tell us about the car

Well, if you insist.

We've been talking about replacing my current car when it comes off of lease for a couple of reasons. The Infiniti G35x has been a great car and drives in the snow like no other vehicle I have owned. It is a terrific tool for those limited days where all wheel drive becomes important here in Northern Colorado ... those days might total 5 out of the whole year ... maybe 10 on a bad year. So, while I've been very insistent on all wheel drive for our vehicles, my tone has softened somewhat on BOTH vehicles having this feature. For harsh winter conditions or mountain trips, we'll use the Acura MDX. This car is for the remaining 355+ days of the year.

So, lets start with the not-so-good reasons to renew our investment in automobile depreciation curves:

• I would really like to have a convertible
• Newer electronic systems do cool things like integrate bluetooth phones
• Those little nib things are worn off of the tires of the G35
• The chocolate milk stains might never come out of the rear carpet

For less vain reasons to go car shopping:

• Infiniti screwed up the brakes on the '04 release. Total rebuilds at 20K miles ... not cool
• The front passenger airbag cannot be disabled. Shame on me for even buying the car with small kids around
• The shifting system on the '04 was not set up well and apparently not fixable. The cars shifts very slowly and very hard between 3-4 and 4-5. Not good for a sports car and has me worried about reliability
• The only Infiniti dealers in our area are 45 minutes minimum away from the house
  

So, my basic assumption was that I'd trade this car back in and buy or lease the new G35 vert coming from Infiniti. They've been tight with details, but this seemed like a good answer to most of my wants/needs. Reliability is good, safety is good, performance is decent, price is decent.

However, Inifiniti seems to be in no hurry to get the car to market. They've moved potential delivery twice and continue to not put pricing out. I really dislike this crap by car companies. At this point, I'm apparently supposed to wait, hoping they will release the car in Summer, hoping that I can get one when it comes out and hoping that it will be at a decent price point for the quality of their product. Meanwhile extending the lease on a car I do not intend to own. Bad business IMHO.

My buddy Nadim kept poking me about taking a test drive of the BMW 335ci ... hardtop convertible. I dawdled for a long time because I mistakenly thought BMW did not represent the reliablity and safety that I've come to demand from my vehicles. I went anyway for a long lunch just to hang out and talk cars. You can guess the result -- I was completely blown away by all aspects of the 335. Acceleration, braking, handling were all significantly better than the G35. Shifting was smooth even under heavy load. This car was a total blast to drive, even stuck in country traffic around Boulder.

A few days later I dragged Pam to the dealership and we test drove the M3 ... 335's big brother. The 335 boasts twin turbos which can help with the loss of horsepower at altitude, but the M3 is a short block, high rev V8 monster. If you're a car enthusiast that likes technology and the roar of a V8 engine, this car is a dream.

As for shifting, the machine is loaded with a huge techology dual-clutch semi-auto system. The shifting of the DCT was so smooth that I could only tell it was shifting by watching the tachometer. Amazing.

And, if you like to be a little more on the select and unique side, car fans everywhere will recognize the BMW M brand as a special class of car. These vehicles are hand built in a special factory, limited in distribution and have a cult like following lasting 3+ decades.

Buying a BMW was set after the test drive and then some research to reveal top ranks for reliability and safety. Pam and I talked about the two different vehicles, focused especially on the $15K price difference and decided ultimately that we wanted the M. Part of this process was understanding the the depreciation on the Ms is less than on the 3ers, making the 5 year value of the cars still about $15K different. In other words, if we needed to sell the car, we shoudl get most if not all that $15K back at any point in this process.

So, what we ordered is a 2009 BMW M3 Vert (E93) in Space Gray and Fox Red leather interior. This vehicle will be loaded up with everything BMW can do to it, except for 18" wheels instead of 19" and we skipped the "extended leather" package at $1100 to put leather on the dashboard.

BMW's new iDrive system is very impressive and part of this package, of course. Full iPhone integration complete with a docking/charging cradle as well as Google attached data (email from your real email account in the car!) and uploaded Navigation routes are just the tip of what BMW apparently plans to roll out over time ... much more on this route uploading business to come.

TTFN

... next chapter ... One car - 10 days - 1,000,000 places to visit