Happy Black Friday everyone! At the encouragement of @deemo319, I'm going to try and provide a bit of the story behind my recent purchase. Perhaps this will provide something to read for those of you who may be following your significant other around shopping today...
First a little background on me. I'm a certified car nut. My wife and I have been through over 40 vehicles in 22 years of marriage. Here's a quick idea of roughly the past 6 years 😳:
2012 Acura MDX
2013 Audi S4
2015 GMC Sierra
2006 Lotus Exige
2009 Porsche Cayenne GTS
2006 Porsche 911S
2014 BMW X1
2016 BMW X3
2005 Mini Cooper S
2016 VW Tiguan
2016 Alfa Romeo 4c
2016 Toyota 4 Runner
2005 Maserati GranSport
2017 VW GTI
2006 BMW Z4MR
Unfortunately, I can't afford to
accumulate cars. So, there tends to be quite a bit of turnover (as you can probably tell). Over the past 18 months our kids have both become college students, and we finally completed our well over budget custom "empty nester" home downtown. Things had to change on the car front; and quickly.
We decided to keep the girls' rides (X1 and Tiguan), and my wife's X3. I picked up a new GTI in an effort to have an inexpensive solid all-rounder that was still somewhat fun to drive. The research and hunt for what is next never ended, though! So after making it almost a full year, I talked my wife into letting me pick up a weekend convertible for us to enjoy.
I've always wanted to experience an M3, but finding one that wasn't SMG or obviously beaten on pretty hard was difficult. Focus shifted to the Z4M. I love the looks of the coupe, but we ultimately wanted something that provided the option to experience some open air motoring.
My search led me to a very low mileage car (11k) in Chicago at a small specialized dealership. After a few emails back and forth, I was definitely interested but the fact that the car had obviously been sitting there for a long time was a bit of a red flag. Still, the benefits of ESS Supercharger, Eisenmann exhaust, super low miles, etc. were outweighing any doubts. D&M Motorsports also were great folks to work with throughout the process. They provided lots of background documentation and were very accommodating when I requested the car be taken for a PPI locally. When I made some comments about the fact that despite the miles the car was definitely due an oil service, they took care of it for me along with supercharger fluid and a new battery! I'd highly recommend them if you're looking for something interesting in the Chicago area. They focus on Vettes, but there were very clean Porsches, Ferraris, Audis, Lotus, etc. available as well.
Here's a link to the ESS Supercharger install that they forwarded me from the original owner while we were negotiating:
http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthre...ht=IND+Z4M+ESS
Once the deal was solidified, I planned to pick the car up on my way back home from a business related trop to Minneapolis by hopping off in Chicago during my connection and driving straight home to Fayetteville. Earlier in the week the weather was looking fine. By the time I landed in Chicago on Thursday around 11:15, it was snowing heavily. Great. Looks like I'll be spending an evening in Chicago and driving home the next day... But by the time I got out to Glen Ellyn, the snow had basically stopped and the temp had remained high enough that nothing was really sticking. The transaction was quick and smooth once I arrived at D&M, and I was willing to at least give the drive a try.
Based upon the way the storm was moving, the typical route through St. Louis was pretty much out of the question. So at about 12:30, I headed out west towards Des Moines and then down through Kansas City. This route added at least a solid hour to the trip, but it was definitely the smarter decision. I rolled in right at midnight with zero issues, zero CEL's, and a solid appreciation for the car!
Now it's time to do the typical updates. I've already done window tint, CDV delete, clutch stop, ZHP shift knob, and stubby antenna. Apex ARC8's and new tires have been ordered as well as some reflector decal covers. Now I'm consolidating an order for belts and fluids. I look forward to learning from all of you and eventually being a contributor myself.
Adding a few pics of memory lane as well as the Z below: