I think I'm driving my wife nuts. She bought "me" this awesome M4... but a lot of it was that she wanted a nice 4 seat convertible. She wanted a hard top. She wanted 4 seats. She wanted an wind deflector. She wanted the M for me - because she wanted me to not bitch about the performance - she wanted the BEST one of these things she could get. And then - we got a SUPER nice one... one that was DOUBLE my actual comfort zone to pay for this kind of car.

And it creates an odd dichotomy for me. It is TOO nice. I don't want to put miles on it... I don't want to park it in parking lots or on the streets. I dread wearing down the tires. I dread door dings and cracked windshields and arguing with the insurance company demanding OEM factory glass replacement. I worry about curbing it and getting road rash on the rims. It came with this huge list in a closet of anxieties. 

And tonight, without really thinking about it I said, "Maybe instead of you getting your DREAM car, you should just get me a less *expensive* BMW or similar sports car... an older one - and we'll leave this one "our car". 

That is the other problem. She traded in her car for this, and so, she has said it is "our" car. I really want the personal distinction of HER car and MY car... and I'd be happy as FUCK in a $40,000 used 2012 M or Porsche. And I'd still be WORRIED about all those things above - but I wouldn't be TERRIFIED about them. And... I think that makes her disappointed. She got me my DREAM car... and I'm like... 

"Yeah, but I'd rather have a dream that is a little more practical, and that is distinctly MINE... and let *you* drive around in my absolute fantasy car."

I'm sure that bothers her... but I'm practical. I was raised charity-case poor too. I really still *love* my little Z3. That is MINE. I'm on the title. I bought it. This new one, because she bought it, even though I log into it (yeah, I have to log into it) with MY profile, named Donovan... it *calls* me by her name in all the menus... because it knows who is paying the bill. 

I don't know. I feel stupid to have a 2020 M4 and feel like, "Maybe I'd be happier in a 2012 M3?" And... I can totally see how that would make HER feel like shit. 

But... I want something that is a daily driver for me. 

My friend who bought the Mclaren  kind of had the same reaction... and I think our relative financial positions... the M4 is to me as the Mclaren is to him. 

Then my BOSS - who is less fanatic about motorsports... bought a ZL1 Camaro. 2014 convertible. He thinks it will dust my M4 - but it doesn't. He has read the theoretical numbers - but on the track - it doesn't have launch control, it doesn't deliver what it has on paper. The M4 with competition package beats the Zl1 0-60 and in the 1/4 mile. Barely, but it does. It tops out at 153 MPH, and his is electronically limited a little higher (the hard top has a top end of 187, which is insane). So, if we're on an endless salt-flat, eventually he pulls up and passes me and leaves me behind... but if there are turns, I've got better brakes, better suspension, better handling, less mass and more communicative and responsive steering - plus a host of technology to ensure that I can safely do things on a twisty road that his can't. 

If you took the same exactly driver and put him in both cars, he would generally outperform the Camaro in the M4. I know because this has been done, and that has been the results. 

But - the Zl1 is still an AWESOME car - and he drives it with the same kind of abandon of the actual data that he applies to thinking it will smoke an M4. It is just a car to him. A badass American asphalt eating muscle car that you drive hard and don't think about the consequences. 

So.... maybe he did buy the best car out of all three of us. I suspect he is actually ENJOYING driving his more than our other friend and myself. 

Gee, the last sports car I had that I truly loved driving was the 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto Spyder I bought, slightly used, back in 1967. I loved that car, and drove it to the max of my ability. Got the only two speeding tickets I ever got in my life, and outran cops two other times. The BMW 1800tii was fun, but it was a four door sedan! The VW Karmann Ghias (all three of them) were fun in a different way - I could take them off road and not worry about damaging them. The Gremlin was just for the looks. The three quarter ton Ford with the big slide-in camper was a great long-distance workhorse, and got me to many Fantasy and Science Fiction conventions, as well as camping. . .but the Alfa (and maybe one of the Ghias) was my favorite.

My favorites have been, in no particular order... 

72 Datsun 510 with an L18 engine, weber carb, and 240Z 5 speed transmission. It was hard to maintain and smog, though. 

90 Mazda Miata

90 BMW 325iC e30 - chipped

97 328i e36

97 The Z3 

The M4 still hasn't proven itself completely to me. Right now - it is like a very fancy version of the 97 Mustang 4.6l GT convertible I had. That isn't exactly true. It has proven itself far more than that car. But... it is scary, and bigger and heavier than a car like this usually is. And more powerful. It is a lot to handle. 

I've had a LOT of cars, and a lot of them were very desirable ones. 97 seems to be a sweet spot for me on car years, though. 

Fri Apr 09 2021 12:09:31 MST from "Jerry Moore" <jerry_moore@secure.wallofhate.com>

Gee, the last sports car I had that I truly loved driving was the 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto Spyder I bought, slightly used, back in 1967. I loved that car, and drove it to the max of my ability. Got the only two speeding tickets I ever got in my life, and outran cops two other times. The BMW 1800tii was fun, but it was a four door sedan! The VW Karmann Ghias (all three of them) were fun in a different way - I could take them off road and not worry about damaging them. The Gremlin was just for the looks. The three quarter ton Ford with the big slide-in camper was a great long-distance workhorse, and got me to many Fantasy and Science Fiction conventions, as well as camping. . .but the Alfa (and maybe one of the Ghias) was my favorite.

Ouch, you sold your dinnerware and got fine china. Now you're sitting down to breakfast and Saturday morning cartoons with a bowl that clinks. Sometimes you want a bowl you don't worry about dropping on the floor. 

We seem to have pretty similar taste in cars.

Jerry, I never wanted a car more than the Spyder. It was the first car I saw and said "Whooooooooa."

And a Miata has been my favorite approachable automobile wish since its debut.

My first car was a Datsun 210, but I never got to drop a ridiculous engine in it because, like another of my cars, my father totaled it. He's not allowed to drive my cars anymore. Fool me twice, shame on me!

I loved that Alfa Spyder! Virtually lived in it when I wasn't working.. My co-workers at Sacramento Army Depot nicknamed me "Alfa" and I put a whole lot of miles on it, the year I had it.

The handling on BMW is just incredible, but I'm still in love with the Toyota Matrix I test drove and never got to buy, lol

I'm just way more into something that will haul my groceries and keep my computer safe when I go to a LAN party.  I'm super boring, but it would be fun to be able to smoke someone at the traffic lights.  Usually all I need to pull that off is a manual transmission.  Doesn't work so well on my bicycle, lol

Cars are all ridiculously fast now. I mean - when I was really opening it up, dropping down to the paddle shifters and kicking it into performance mode - I was pretty much dusting everything. But just cruising in comfort mode - Kias and Minivans were cruising faster than me. I figured I'd let them scan ahead for troopers and just hang back, most of the time. 

Sat Apr 24 2021 05:23:08 MST from TheDave

The handling on BMW is just incredible, but I'm still in love with the Toyota Matrix I test drove and never got to buy, lol

I'm just way more into something that will haul my groceries and keep my computer safe when I go to a LAN party.  I'm super boring, but it would be fun to be able to smoke someone at the traffic lights.  Usually all I need to pull that off is a manual transmission.  Doesn't work so well on my bicycle, lol

A little mini-review: 

One of my first cars was a Datsun 510 with 240z 5 speed an L18, and the obligatory Weber carb. Along the way I've owned a Miata, an e30 325i Cabrio, an e36 328i saloon. I've also made some missteps along the way, like the 97 4.6l Mustang GT convertible that I was willing to sell upside-down to get out from under. The 510, e30 cab, and Miata are among the favorite cars I've ever owned - and I have regrets about selling each of them. I've had friends who owned an e36 M3 and another with an S4 (chipped) from the same generation - and drove both of those. I found the Audi to be a fantastic performance car - but while it had incredible AWD handling, performance, and stopping power - I felt disconnected from the joy of *driving* in it. So, your warning about "cars with soul" vs. "technical precision" resonates with me. We recently purchased a 2020 F83 with ~1200 miles on it with the competition and executive packages. Just last weekend I had an opportunity to drive it from one desert Southwest town to another and back again. Prior to this trip, I had stepped on it a couple of times, but hadn't really pushed any limits. Just outside of town, I ran into a 550i. At highway speeds, as I passed him on the left, my front wheels at his rear, he punched it, and I followed suit. I had to make a quick lane adjustment. I felt nothing twitchy in the rear end with the sudden acceleration, and changing lanes was as effortless, communicative and confident as I remember similar driving being in the e36 328i. I was in comfort mode. On the way up, through the various grades and curves - I felt that it had a lot of understeer going into sweepers at high speed. I just felt like the inertia of the car wanted to move OUT into the curve and didn't feel as settled and secure as the previous BMWs I've driven. Along heavily trafficked 2-lane portions north of two small towns in between I was confidently able to drop into sport mode and accelerate to overtake long lines of cars, darting back into small spaces between traffic and braking from high speed safely to avoid oncoming traffic. This being my first major trip in the car, I was pretty conservative about my driving - certainly not pushing the car to its limits or mine during any of these maneuvers. My wife might not have the same perspective. On the way back, though - I had a blast. I felt much more confident, dropped into sport mode, made more use of the paddle shifters - and with far less traffic, pushed the limits on myself a little more, although nowhere near what the car is capable of. To put it in perspective, I and an Infiniti QX55 were trading off being "forward scouts" among a small pack of travelers trying to shorten the travel time. There was even a Silverado in this little cluster of Highway Single-Serving friends. Once we got into the mountains, everyone else fell off and I was driving for the experience, not to save time or in quick sprints in response to "challengers". I understand the complaints about the steering, and even the difficulty in launching smoothly in stop and go traffic (or even trying to park the damn thing in my garage). I understand not liking the way park works. There are some rough edges on the F92/93 - even in the final year of this generation. I did test drive a new 2021 M4 coupe before deciding on this one, also. But there were some emotional reasons for the decision - obviously. I love a convertible, and still own a 97 Z3 2.8l. So, right off the top I knew I was paying some penalties for being able to drop the top. My wife really wanted a hard top. I prefer a ragtop. She really wanted the automatic 7 speed. I would have preferred a manual transmission - even though I understand the auto is faster running through the gears than I'll ever be. I *like* being able to modulate the clutch during engine braking and feel more confident that I can pick the right gear coming out of a turn with a manual. When looking at *all* the vehicles in this broad class that offer a convertible - the M4 is actually nearly the only actual choice that was able to compromise on everything we both wanted. Eventually I realized that for daily in-town driving for my wife, the automatic made the most sense as well. I think a lot of the complaints about the M4 come from people with experience driving other BMWs that are far more settled. The e30 rear end on the Z3 is notoriously skittish - and I don't think there are many cars as ready to betray you as the Mustang GT. So - my thoughts... If you think that the M4 has uncommunicative steering, find a 2007 era S4 and give it a spin. If you think the rear end is twitchy and feels loose and unplanted, spend a week in any live rear-axle Mustang GT - or heck, a Z3. The brakes bite *hard* and I never felt I was anywhere near feeling them fade (but I wasn't honestly driving THAT hard)... and the lower gears do seem to lurch and clunk in slow traffic. I hear the Zl1 is an easier car to drive hard, and it is obviously faster in a sprint 0-60 or the 1/4 mile... which is counter-intuitive to me. It probably has more *soul* than the M4 in this regard - it is probably more *fun* to drive. But I suspect it isn't as rewarding - especially in the kind of spirited driving I like to participate in. The head to head challenges I've managed to track down of the two, the M4 barely edges out the Camaro on track courses with the same driver - the ZL1 beats the M4 on a drag strip or from one traffic light to the next. But I suppose that is the problem. Back during the era of the E36 M3 - there wasn't a production Camaro that posed a threat. Now there are a whole stable of cars out there that can challenge, and beat, the M4. I don't think that will change with the new model year. The M4 doesn't have *all* the soul I'd like from an M. But I think a lot of its critics have been too harsh to it. My right brain may never love it as irrationally as I loved my 510 or e30... but my right brain certainly makes a strong and logical argument that it is the most thrilling and competent car I've ever owned.

So, where do you think Lewis Hamilton learned how to so effectively execute a police high speed pit maneuver on opponents trying to overtake him? Do you think law enforcement hires him to teach his techniques? If he gets out of F1 racing, that might be another alternative career opportunity for him. 

Sun May 02 2021 22:42:16 MST from ParanoidDelusions <paranoiddelusions@wallofhate.com>

So, where do you think Lewis Hamilton learned how to so effectively execute a police high speed pit maneuver on opponents trying to overtake him? Do you think law enforcement hires him to teach his techniques? If he gets out of F1 racing, that might be another alternative career opportunity for him. 

 

I don't know who that is, but one time I fell asleep on the freeway and my car drifted right and did a pit maneuver on the pickup just ahead of me, and he fishtailed, overcorrected, and rolled his truck 3 times.  I was sure I'd killed him but he came out okay (relatively speaking) and now I refuse to drive tired.

I've only driven once where I was so sleepy I felt afraid of falling asleep at the wheel. Ended up driving with the windows down in pretty cold temps and got there - but it was not a good feeling. Especially because I was on winding mountain roads.  Fortunately, it was late at night, so I probably only would have killed my passenger and myself. 

Lewis Hamilton is an F1 champion who drives for Mercedes. He is very soy. Anyone who doesn't like him is "racist."
7th picture, 2nd row
and
2nd picture, 4th row... 

I don't in particular like his "little black orphan girl rag doll" dreds - but what the hell was with the boy-band look in that one picture? 

He is a great driver. But - he acts like he is a saint - and in my opinion he has done a lot of shitty things on the track - including pitting this one driver *twice*, both times when the other kid had a chance at the podium.