Driven

Nov 13, 2008 - Searching for "the one"

Any car enthusiast can spend an eternity trying to find a car tailor made for their needs. Many do this by endlessly car hopping: expensive but allows for the owner to experience many vehicles in-depth within a short period of time. Others own multiple vehicles, trying to specialize each for their needs. Maybe a truck, a family hauler, and a sports car. The benefits are obvious....the sports car doesn't have baby vomit and spilled milk, the family hauler isn't asked to clip an apex, and the truck doesn't need to haul the family to Aunt Milly's holiday re-union 12 hours away.

But many of us don't have space for 3 vehicles (or the garages needed to properly house and service them). Many of us have spouses who object to the idea of insuring 3 vehicles before being much wealthier than current bank statements suggest.

People like that (me included) search for the "one". The one car that can do it all. Schlep clients in comfort. Look sharp cleaned up. Perform family duty with admirable ease. Haul stuff. And Ass. And yet provide great steering feedback, a firm push in the back when desired, a great sound at start-up. Great seats, a friendly manual transmission, a controlled ride, satisfying handling. Decent fuel economy a plus.

Maybe a few luxury touches? Power memory heated seats. Leather. Quiet highway cruising. The equivalent of a business class international flight.....when you leave, you feel refreshed (or drunk).

The car that's currently meeting these specifications for me is the e39 5-series. That's the 1997-2003 BMW 5-series. Pictured above are examples of a silver 2003 M5. The interior shown is of a 2001 M5 with caramel leather. How gorgeous is that? How unique?

Why the e39? It's in my price range. It's look is classic and eloquent and never overstated. It offers a 4.4 liter v8 putting out ~290 HP and ~320 TQ, combined with a 6-speed manual. 4-doors with real-life spaciousness....the car is very appropriate in size standing next to it. It's right-sized.

The germans did crazy stuff like filling door cavities with foam to reduce resonance and noise on the road. Tuning the chassis to resonate at a different frequency than the engine and tires....so that they don't amplify each other and annoy passengers. The chassis was actually so stiff it remained un-changed when BMW launched the 2004 5-series.

But falling in love with writings about a car is different than loving a car. You need to drive it. So I did. And everything they said about it was true. Satisfying each need I placed upon it, performance wise and comfort.

So my search for the e39 for me has commenced....it might be a few years, and that's fine. I'll bide my time and drive the hell out of my 06 Civic SI 25,000 miles a year.

So what's is your "one" car? What drives you? Or how many cars have you gone through without finding satisfaction?

I accept the fact that I might buy an e39 5-series one day and find myself longing for something else...but at least it will have already depreciated.

Joe

8:49 am | Categories: Permalink | Alert Administrator

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