Euro cars - image match reality?

[jphanna]

My first drive of a EURO car was when my son bought a 1982 BMW 318 coupe about 6 years ago. We took it for a cruise near the Barossa valley and I was amazed how it sat on the road and steered. This car had high mileage, rust, and tired. Yet it felt this good….
So I thought to myself, if the opportunity ever presented itself, I would like to get a modern incarnation of this nimble BMW. The one series fitted the specifications perfectly.

This time last year…..the opportunity presented itself. So after about 6 weeks of searching, I settled on a 10 year old convertible 125I 3.0litre six. This one is the base detuned 6, not the fire breathing twin turbo. It can still use 91 at the pumps!!!

Anyway it’s not long after I bought it that I joined a few BMW forums. Something soon become apparent. Just for a moment, I want to portray this vision. You sitting at the lights or driving in the twisty B roads in the hills, in a gleaming Euro sports car, surrounded by nice interior, sound of a BMW 6, the feel of the car, the handling……you convince yourself that you deserve this and thoroughly enjoy it. People sharing the road with you, may think…I wonder what its like to have a fancy euro sports car. like me before I bought one, I used to think it must be great to own one………

The reality is this…..the forums are LITTERED with bugs and failures of multiple systems that plague BMW. They are notoriously unreliable. I myself have had an ABS unit fail midway through the year ($1000.00 fix – non dealer. $5500.00 fix – dealer). They have so many glitches with their systems, pumps, motors, sensors…..the list goes on. you have to wonder if they do any testing before they release their cars. Do they assume that people with other than brand new cars don’t exist?

I don’t know if MERC have glitches like BMW cars, but I will hold onto mine with the knowledge that at any moment, a new glitch will appear.

I plan to embark on a great ocean road trip in the near future. The theoretical optimum fun option, is the take the BMW convertible, but……I want to know that I will make it home, so I will take the FG instead!!