A short essay: 'Wreaking serious havoc on the hierarchy of needs'

[mikeinsf]

Great story Nikki! Your obsession with your car is obvious.
I can totally empathize with your test drive experience. These cars evoke emotional responses for sure.
I can also empathize with your feelings on the trip back home from picking up the car. My purchase involved a one-way ticket to Las Vegas, an overnight in West Hollywood, then a return up the 101 to SF. It was the first time I'd ever driven the 101, which I'd heard was a better route than the 5. It took up me on scenic freeways up near Santa Barbara, then turned inland to tall rolling green hills with glimpses out to the ocean here and there. Sweeping high speed turns and very light traffic. And no semi trucks like there are on the 5! It was a perfect ride home.

[Nikki]

Thanks everyone for the compliments and feedback. It's also really nice hearing everyone's comments on their own experiences. I submitted the story so I'll let you guys know if I have any updates.

[Nhopkins1394]

Neat story, Nikki!
Let us know the reactions you get from your associates at work.

[Walkurie]

Well done prose and terrific photographs, Nikki. This is what sports cars are all about, the experiences. Relating them to others and appreciating what othes say about their experiences makes it all the more fun.

[bucko521]

Great feature!! Awesome words!

[SmartBastard]

Great write up, love it!

Sepang Bronze FTW!

[Phishman]

Do you work for a car magazine or something? Nice summary like others have said. I don't know why all the reviews I've seen in the press are so bad.

[Loogey Clapp]

Your words paint a beautiful vision!! Pictures are great too!

[Z4maniac]

Great work Nikki, I'm sure most of us here can vouch for the plethora of pleasures that the Z4 offers.
But I must say that as much as I enjoyed your write up (which is a LOT), I felt a cringe as soon as I saw the Z4M for sale link - thats a Bummer. I guess someone lucky is going to be very pleased with your M coupe and I hope that you'll enjoy your roadster as much as you enjoyed the M coupe.

[DaveL--2mnycars]

Thanks Nikki! Well written.
My wife found her Z4M roadster with 900 km on it. Perfect. She brought it home. Incredible car. I had a health issue. My wife dealt her M on a Vette coupe, surprising me with it! Quite a surprise. Well the Vette morphed into an M3 Cab/SMG/Dinan that she drove. We needed a back seat.
Lately we have looked hard at MCoupes. We're concerned about issues with these motors. I have a Miata that we're driving a lot. She has a 335cab with wind deflector, now the back seat isn't needed.
You'll find me looking at Mad Maps, and checking on the internet for motorsickle roads, then heading out the door going for a drive.
Great Cars+Great Roads=Instant Therapy

[Nikki]

Thanks again for the comments. I've been away on a little roadtrip for a few weeks, which I'll probably post about soon.

Originally Posted by Phishman

Do you work for a car magazine or something? Nice summary like others have said. I don't know why all the reviews I've seen in the press are so bad.

Thanks, yes I work for Edmunds/Insideline but not in editorial. This is the first time an opportunity has presented itself to write something up; and it couldn't have been a better subject for me.

[SevenJ]

Nice!

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by Nikki

I've been away on a little roadtrip for a few weeks, which I'll probably post about soon.

O RLY??

[zubydafa]

great writeup!

my quest for a z4mc took me 2900 miles away to seattle, WA!
drove across the country in 3 days back to good old philly, PA.

some people don't understand where the lunacy stems from. i guess you do lol.

[krnnerdboy]

good job nikki and congrats on the opportunity! you're definitely an enthusiast in the truest sense! now sign up over here and enjoy it some more!

http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthre...7#post10369627

and this time don't sleep in

[zgood4u]

Excellent write up Nikki. I had the exact same experience at the dealer with mine, my exact words were...Don't let me drive it because I'll buy it. One of the best things I've ever spoken in my life.

[Gary07110]

Great story.. Beautiful car. I feel the same way about my 3.0SI roadster.. For now.

[jrich4411]

Very nice writeup Nikki.. I had a similar but different experience. I certainly am ok with coupes (my first sports car was a '76 Mazda RX-7) but ultimately I've been a roadster kind of guy all my life - I've owned many Brittish roady's, including a 3 MGs and 3 Triumph Tr-7's. (keep in mind i've never had the $$ to purchase what I really wanted). I fell in love with the TR-7 'vert from the day I saw my first, but hated the 2.2 litre dog it was fitted with. So on my second TR-7 I did a Buick V6 conversion back in '93. In my current Tr-7 I dropped in a Chevy smallblock 350. Lots of fun & great looks for cheap $$$. I still have her, very unique.
When the Z3 came out, I was intrigued. I have a friend with a '97 that I've driven often. Very much like my Triumphs - built for looks, not performance (no offense to you Z3 owners with better versions!) But when the Z4 came out, I knew that some day I would have one. Like my Tr-7's, I fell in love with the looks from day 1 - again, very unique.
SO.... 2 years ago I agree to upgrade my wife's horse trailer - 38' long with living quarters, shower, bathroom etc. THEN I have to trade in the Ford F-250 for an F-450 to be able to tow it. When all was said & done, I started thinking - I just spent OVER $100 grand on her #$%@!$# horses - what about me? It's time for me to buy my dream car. I'm gonna get me a Z4 3.0si - Black on black, lotsa factory options. I'd love an ///M, but they were running about $6 grand more for similar miles/options/warranty, and a bit out of my price range (I got heavy payments on the new truck & trailer, you know!). I spent 2+ months looking at autotraders, craigslist, ebay & any/every site I could find. I could tell you where every Z4 si or ///M for sale within 300 miles was. The nearest BMW dealer is an hour and a half way, and they have both an SI as well as an ///M. The SI is black on black, but the ///M is silver. OK, but not perfect.
There is another dealer with my dream car - ///M black on black with every option available short of premium leather 125 miles away. I call their internet sales guy and get his best price, based solely on internet pictures. Then I head to the "local" dealer to test drive their 2 Z4's. Keep in mind - I've never driven a Z4, and have not yet spent the hours on this and 2 other BMW user sites that I now know intimately. I get in the ///m first (naturaly) and I don't even make it out of the parking lot before I stop the car and head back to the salesman - "there is a popping sound coming from the engine bay". Of course the salesman has no idea what is causing it, and drives it back to service. I soon learned of the loose strut housing nuts, but more importantly, I lost any faith in their "certified" pre-owned vehicles, and I've still yet to experience an ///M.
I did drive the si they had for sale - felt great, looked great. Steptronics transmission. I made an offer. They counter offer. I won't budge. They tried the usual car salesman bullshit "if you deposit $1000 more your payment will drop by $40 a month to get to where you need to be. I know the sales drill - they try to trick me into lowering my payment by borrowing less by ME putting more money down. They won't deal more. In the end, this dealership's "bottom line" price on the si was exactly $5000 less than the ///M. I offered them that if they took off another $500 I would sign the papers right then. They said no. In my mind $5000 was the decision point - the ///M was worth exactly that much more even if it was over my budget.
I looked to my wife and she said to me - "It's your car, It's ultimately your choice, and you are worth it". She (my wife) is expensive, but she's a damn good woman. I passed on that deal. The next morning I called the other dealer & said I'd be down the next day - get the papers ready, I'm buying the ///M. When I get there, the F&I guy is hesitating, delaying, etc, so I start getting agitated. What the 'F" now!! I'm thinking. BUT, he comes back with BMW attractive financing that now includes used ///M's. So, after all was said and done, my ///M (after paying interest) cost virtually the same as the SI was going to cost me (OK, maintenance etc will be more). But the bottom line is, Nikki - damn good for you for coming to grips with what your dreams are worth to you and congrats for "investing" in them. We only get one lap to run on this earth - make it a good run.

Nikki - Damn good decision!

[fernbrake]

Originally Posted by Nikki

So I was asked to feature my car on our blog here at work. It was only supposed to be a paragraph but I got a little carried away. This is the result. Let me know what you think and any suggestions to improve:



BMW Z4 M Coupe: Wreaking serious havoc on the hierarchy of needs.



I purchased my first car out of college in October 2008 – a 2007 BMW Z4 3.0si Coupe. I loved that car so much and I made a promise to myself that I would keep it forever (which, for me, is more accurately defined as “about a year or two”). I also made a promise that I would never drive an M Coupe, for fear that upon driving one I would make the irrational decision to buy one on the spot. This was a healthy fear. Luckily for me, the M Coupe is a particularly rare car (they only produced 1,815 to be sold in North America over the three years they were built) so the opportunity to see one, let alone drive one, never came up over the years.

Fast forward two years to October 2010. I visited my local BMW dealer to test drive the new Z4 hardtop convertible; mainly out of curiosity. I drove the sDrive30i and 35i. Without getting into too many details, neither car was for me. I just didn't feel connected to the car and the road like I did with my Z4 Coupe.

Feeling reassured regarding my decision to continue enjoying my current Z4, I thanked the salesman for his time and made my way toward my car. I made a final visual scan of the sea of cars assembled on the dealer lot – and there it was. It could not be unseen. A shiny Black Sapphire M Coupe was sitting pretty, just calling out to me, just begging to be driven. My eyes widened. It was a twin to my car – same color, year, mileage. It was too perfect. I finally caved. I had to see what all the fuss was about. I turned back toward the showroom and asked the salesman if I could take it out.

That test drive cannot be summarized with words. I remember giggling upon starting the car and hearing the 330hp 3.2L I6 engine rev up. I also remember the first redline from first to second and the first apex around the winding desert road. My giggle quickly transformed into a maniacal laugh accompanied by a silly grin that never left my face (I later noticed that this permanent joker-style grin is actually listed on the Z4 forums as a ‘common issue’ with the words ‘Solution: None’ printed beside it). During the middle of my test drive, the salesman asked me politely if I could pull over to the side of the road so he could have a turn driving it. His reaction was similar to the one I described above.

Several rev matches and sweeping corners later, I dutifully brought the car back to the dealer and let out a deep sigh as I got out. I knew what had to be done, but my practical, fiscally responsible side was eating away at me. I glanced hesitantly at the window sticker and winced in disappointment when I realized the dealer was asking at least $5k over Edmunds’ TMV. It was already decided in my mind. Maybe this one wasn’t the one, but I’d have my M Coupe soon enough. I began scouring the internet for all M Coupes for sale in the US. I was willing to drive anywhere to find the perfect one.

And that’s when I ended up in Moline, Illinois. A month after my enlightening test drive, my friend Lauren and I left sunny Los Angeles on a Friday afternoon via LAX on a quest to the sub-freezing Midwest. Our bounty: a 2007 Sepang Bronze M Coupe. I remember the first time I saw it in the dealer showroom. It was perfect. It was perfect and it was mine. The only thing left was the 1,863 mile drive back to Los Angeles, which by the way, had to be accomplished within two days in order to be back in time for work on Monday.

Challenge accepted.





If you’ve ever driven on I-70 through Colorado and Utah, you’ll know exactly why I would consider the drive back from Moline in the M Coupe to be one of the best experiences of my life. For those who aren’t familiar with the route – imagine driving down a wide open, freshly paved highway, with smooth banked corners cutting through mountain and desert backdrops that resemble the sets of old Western movies. It really was a conquering feeling. I thought about how the early pioneers had crossed this very same route in covered wagons led by oxen nearly 200 years ago and I felt a deep feeling of gratitude. It’s pretty amazing really – looking at how far we’ve come since then – and it made me appreciate my current method of transportation that much more.

I’ve had my M Coupe for almost a year now and each day I grow even fonder of its impressive handling, eye-catching styling and sheer power. For me, it’s the whole package. I recently found an M Coupe poster for sale online that contained a simple, yet effective statement:

‘BMW Z4 M Coupe: Wreaking serious havoc on the hierarchy of needs.’

Ah, truer words couldn’t be spoken. Of course I purchased the poster and it’s presently waiting to be framed and hung on my wall. Now only one question remains – the dining room or the living room?

It seems to be written good. I loved it. I found something interesting in your writing. The way you have presented your story is good and appreciable. Keep it up.

[chickdr]

If that isn't digging up the dead.... 10yrs later....

[meh92]

Excellent write-up, thanks! My first Z experience was a 9 hour club drive through the hills of mid-southern OH in my friend's 2007 black Z4M Coupe. I LOVED it and knew I had to have a Z4. However, the M's ride was a bit too harsh and the sport seats didn't do my tailbone any favors, either. A club member let me drive his non-M and that settled it for me that very day. I bought a black and red 2007 3.0si manual with the sport package and haven't regretted it for one second. It's my fair-weather driver and occasional track day toy.

[wdb]

3.0si with M Sport suspension may as well be an M car ride-wise. (I’ve had both both, at the same time even. Call me crazy.) Maybe it’s the seat?