Re: OK: What have you owned besides BMW's (LONG)?

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: You asked for it. In order of appearance in my life (since 1986 when I got my license) are the following: : 1986 Dodge Colt Premier Turbo Sedan: Fun little car that really zipped. I remember the fabulous seats, gi-normous silver buttons on the stereo, and the "Turbo Specs" printed on the space age grid on the steering wheel. : 1986 Acura Integra RS 5-door: Awesome car that took me through high school in Iowa. I think it was one of the few foriegn cars in Iowa at the time! Drove it 2 years. Got it w/6miles and traded it at 80,000 miles. Only repairs: 3 new sets of tires, 1 set of brakes, and 1 clutch. Then it went downhill with.... : 1982 Volvo 240 DL: It was biege. It was a two door. It was painful. : 1988 Chrysler LeBaron GTS Turbo 5 door: After the Volvo, this high-tech K-Car seemed wonderful. Infinity Sound, Rich "Corinthian Leather", Computer dash board, etc. Broke down a lot, but looked almost european with the big alloys and hatchback. Almost. : 1986 Volkswagen Quantum GL5: After a while in the LeBaron, I ached for something less "shiny". The 5 cylinder Quantum was definitly that, and besides having a 3 speed auto trans and some electrical maladies, not terrible. : 1988 Honda Accord LXi 3 Door: Excellent car that I acquired when it was only 1 year old. Black w/tan interior & 5speed. Fun car that was taken too early in its life when an 80+ year old lady in a 12+ year old Dodge Diplomat took the front end off. : 1989 Mazda 626 LX 5-Door Touring Sedan: Great replacement for the Honda with power oscillating vents on the dash! 5 speed and 2.2 liter was a willing companion. Unfortunately, 3 days after I picked it up, a sorority chick in her boyfriends Dodge Daytona ran a stoplight and inflicted $8k damage to my new baby. After 2 months in the shop, I got it back, drove it for 4 weeks, parked it on the street overnight, and came out the next day to find it (and 10 other cars on the block), had been the victim of a hit and run drunk driver in an early 70's Monte Carol. Poor 626. : 1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Quadrifoglio Verde: Yes, if you know Alfa's, you know that this is the Milano sedan with the big 3.0 liter V6, Recaro seats, and cool "telephone dial" alloys with 50 series performance tires. So beautiful, so fast, but the insurance for a 20 year old driver?!?! Egad. Had to sell it because I couldn't afford to insure it. At least it was uncomfortable on the freeway. This led me to the WORST automotive purchase of my life.... : 1990 Dodge Daytona ES V6: Had to sell the Alfa, and the only place in Des Moines, IA (where I lived at the time) that would give me any $ value for it (Alfa, what's an Alfa. That some kind of Fiat?), was the local Chrysler/Alfa Romeo Dealership. The ONLY car's they had on the lot to choose from that I could make a good deal on were Dodge Dynasty's and Daytona's. The next Alfa insurance premium was getting close, so I settled for a Daytona. The Mitsu V6/5-speed combo was pretty good, but the rest of it was so embarrasing. God forgive me. By the way, it was totally unreliable. : 1990 Dodge Spirit ES Turbo: Due to overwhelming embarrasment and hatred for the Daytona, I had to get rid of it. Once again, the only place that would give me any $ for the Daytona was a ChryCo. dealer, so I settled for a 1 year old Spirit ES Turbo. It was attractive in it's all black monochrome paint scheme, and fairly quick. Shame that when you selected MPG Read Out on the trip computer that it would activate a rear power window. That thing was haunted. So, it was going back to college time for me, and in the interest of no car payment and low insurance I got... : 1986 Buick Skyhawk Custom: 2 doors packed full of naff GM 1980's engineering. Enough said. When it blew up (head gasket), I was moved by my parents into another wonderful college car... : 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera Brougham: It had that "international flag" badge below the Cutlass Ciera script. What the hell did that mean on a car with "Brougham" stamped on the B-Pillar. Anyway, after college.... : 1986 Subaru GL Sedan: Cheap car after college in Chicago (my new hometown). Rusty but trusty, and had auto down AND UP power windows. Very fancy. : 1988 Saab 900 S 16 v 4 Door: First "nice" car in a while. Bought it for $3,200, drove it 20k miles, sold it for $4,100. Not bad, and it looked good to boot. : 1989 Peugot 505S 5 speed: Don't ask me why, but I saw it, it was beautiful, it was cheap. Nice highway car, but a money pit. : 1987 Subaru GL Sedan: Another trusty Subaru to fight chicago traffic and winters. If you ever need a cheap run about with typical Japanese reliablity and "surprise and delight" features, get one of these. Kinda fun to drive too, in a "on the limit" at 35 mph kind of way. : 1990 Audi 100 Sedan: Finally, back to good cars again. The Audi was fabulous, if slow with the 5 cylinder. My partner and I moved to SF in the car. Across the US at 80-90 mph with the cruise on. Tight and solid in the best German road car tradition. : 1987 VW Cabriolet: My partners idea. Triple white. Enough Said. Cute for about 2 days, then embarrasing. : 1994 Saab 900 S: Back to a real car, the new style 900 S was a disappointment. Lot's of nice features, but not well screwed together. Did look good though. It was my dissapointment with the Saab that got me thinking, maybe I should sell this thing, and instead of buying a new or very nearly new car, find something cheap but cool. This led to the reason I'm on this Board. My fabulous.... : 1980 528i 5 speed: I wasn't looking for a BM, but saw a photo of it in the Trader Online in SF, and decided to take a look. No lie, it was for sale by the "Older Womens Leauge" of Marin, CA. It was dirty, but perfect, with a lot of work done by it's careful owners (son of the president of the women's leauge). Hardy and Beck suspension, perfect Polaris Silver respray, stainless brake lines, bilsteins, etc. I had to have it. $3,200 to buy, and, over the next 6 months, another $4,000 or so to make it "perfect". Then, we moved back to Chicago, and we drove it all the way across country. Fantastic! I will never sell it (well, maybe for a lot of money!). : 1987 Audi 4000S: Now back in Chicago, I have to put my lovely 528i away for the cruel winters. I couldn't find a good Subaru for the winter, so I picked this Audi. 160k on the odometer, and looks/runs like a champ. Can't wait to see the BMW in the spring. : Sorry that's so long, but, it's true. : WISH LIST: : VW Passat : Audi A6 : Audi TT : BMW M5 : Take care. : Gavin : : : I'm finding this thread very entertaining... : : I'm guessing there is some sort of evolutionary reason we've ended up with an e12 for a reason. It's not the cheapest car, it's not the easiest to maintain, etc. So how did we get here? : : It HAS to havesomething todo with what we've owned before. : : My list, starting from ground zero: : : 1) Briggs & Stratton powered Go-Kart (first ride with four wheels) : : 2) Honda XR75 (still not old enough to legally drive) : : 3) Suzuki TR125 : : 4) '69 Ford Mustang Fastback (250 c.i., enhanced with three carbs later and a B&M shift kit) : : 5) '75 Fiat 124 Spyder, massively altered with a turbocharger. Don't ask, I dont remember. (same color as my '75 2002, Colorado Orange) : : 6) Brand spanking new '79 Vespa P200e, which I totally tricked out. It even had a cigarette lighter. ;) : : 7) '78 Toyota SR5 Pickup. : : 8) '75 Yamaha RD 350 : : 9) '85 Yamaha RZ 350 (faster than every car I have ever owned) : : 10) Renault LeCar (same color as my '75 2002, Colorado Orange) : : 11) Ford F100 Pickup (454 Motor, Canadian, stump puller) : : 12) '93 Subaru Impreza (this one only had two wheel drive. My Fiance owns it, but I drive it all the time. Kicks ass)

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