Nice view

"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
06/06/2019 at 13:50 • Filed to: What time is it?, It's time for lunch!

Think I’ll stay here a bit...

DISCUSSION (19)

CaptDale - is secretly British > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 13:56

Not bad. Not bad at all

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 14:00

Just remember to leave before Nibby shows up

Kinja'd!!!

shop-teacher > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/06/2019 at 14:00

Nibby drives an Aerostar, eh?

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 14:08

That’s not a 212

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/06/2019 at 14:43

No it’s an E46. 75 and sunny means the panoramic roof isn’t a big enough opening.

WilliamsSW > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
06/06/2019 at 14:44

If that was a Mustang I’d really be scared

WilliamsSW > CaptDale - is secretly British
06/06/2019 at 14:50

Perfect day, and a nice break in the convertible.

CaptDale - is secretly British > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 15:48

I need a vert

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 23:37

Ooh, in Chicagoland that must be almost a vintage car now.

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/06/2019 at 23:43

The other day, a drive through guy complemented me on it - said it still looked brand new ( it does not look brand n ew)

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/06/2019 at 23:55

A co-worker of mine has an E46 sedan (of course, silver and slushbox). I forget the model but I think a 325. He’s had it for ages and doesn’t drive it much now, it has some quirks but cosmetically is excellent because of the area.

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/07/2019 at 00:04

Mine is now 19 years old, and a solid 10 footer thanks to 7 years in the city.

1 owner, 110k miles now - I hadn’t driven it for about 5 months until Sunday.

When I ordered it, I checked of f almost all of the options except the slushbox and the hardtop.

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/07/2019 at 00:08

Wow, that’s cool. Forever car? I’ve never ordered a new car, all my new ones have been leases, and none I ended up buying out. Don’t know if I will ever do it, as I seem to eventually get bored with modern cars. I’ve had the fintail for over 24 years now though.

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/07/2019 at 10:16

No, not a forever car - in fact I’m ready to replace it, but we just had our 2nd child and plan to build a house next year, so it’s on hold for a bit. Plus I’m not sure what the replacement will be. I go back and forth between a recent used Porsche and a 1960s GM convertible. So much for consistency...

I’ve ordered 3 new cars for myself - not so coincidentally, all 3 had manual transmissions and 2 were convertibles. We also ordered and leased a 2015 X3 for my wife - as long as you negotiate before ordering with someone who keeps their promises it works out fine.

Impressive on the fintail - that’s a pretty car.

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/07/2019 at 12:00

Any sentimental attachment? That has been an issue with older cars I’ve owned, which gets me wanting to cut the cord before I get in too deep. Have fun with the house.

If I ordered a car, it would end up having weird options (as is possible with MB) and probably would be tougher for negotiation. Maybe if I come into some money someday.

I got the fintail when I was 18, it is indeed a forever car now, well over half my life with it.

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/07/2019 at 13:04

That’s great that you plan to keep the fintail. There was a point where I thought the 323 would be a forever car, but I think the toll the city took on it ended that. It’s fun to drive despite being fairly slow, but it’s got really short gearing (top gear is literally *double* the RPM of the 212) and it feels like I’m winding it out to 4K plus in most every gear - which makes me wonder how long the engine will last.

There’s some emotion attached to it - I bought it as a grad school graduation present to myself, and have owned it for 19 of the 35 years I’ve been driving. But I think it’s time for me to move on. It would be one thing if I could get yet another car and keep this one, but there’s nowhere to put it.

The 3 cars I’ve ordered were all a little oddly optioned - a Sunbird turbo in black with a *white* vinyl interior and manual transmission; a Saturn SC2 that was fairly stripped except AC and a sunroof, and the BMW which is at least slightly unusual to be a manual convertible (cars like mine are a frequent occurrence on BAT now...). If you want to order an odd combo, they’ll still negotiate—- they’ll just want a bigger deposit and purchase commitment. As long as you don’t back out, they don’t care.

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/07/2019 at 16:01

Any rust? Maybe BaT is a place for it. There’s probably no collectible value on the short term horizon anyway, so now may be the time to move. It’s hard moving on from a car that becomes a member of the family.

I like to happen upon an odd car languishing on the lot that the dealer can’t move - then you know things might get good. When looking at the S213 and the salesman literally said “people don’t like this” when pointing at the lux grille, I knew I could lowball.

WilliamsSW > fintail
06/07/2019 at 16:30

No, no rust - but lots of little dents and scratches, plus a fairly large dent in the middle of the hood. And the leather is showing its age - downside of a light color interior.

It’s not really collectible and at the bottom of the depreciation curve. If anything, it may rise a little going forward but it’ll never be worth all that much.

You can certainly negotiate in an order ( If you put dealers against each other) , but you’ll never get as good a deal as you will on a car sitting on the lot for a long time.

fintail > WilliamsSW
06/07/2019 at 22:30

Maybe save it for a kid’s first car? Sounds like you won’t get much for it as it is. Maybe the value you get out of it now exceeds market value by so much, might as well keep it for awhile longer.

I also like a path of least resistance. I can’t imagine shopping dealers for an order - they play hardball around here, the time spent might not match money saved.