You know what? I thought about this, and here it is, my so call "credentials" if you will, and then you guys can tell me yours. OK? It's nothing to brag about, but it is somewhat relevant.
I was a Marine, for 6 years, during those 6 years, I was a maintenance tech on F/A-18 Hornets. So that proves I know how to turn a wrench. While doing that, I got an education (albeit not a very good one, as Jlee can tell you ) My first car, was a Honda
After my trip with Uncle Sam, between various odd jobs during the dot com bust, varying from electronic retails to network consulting, I ended up as an admin for a small company. Did that for a few years, then found another job as a Sec. Eng. for a software company. Meanwhile, in my spare time I also took classes to get my license as a Smog Technician (so I can open up a shop). In order to do that, I have to take a bunch of classes from electrical, to engine performance, etc...
Before you say that just because I take some classes, I still don't know anything about cars, just hold on for a sec. I do hang around people that have the same passion. Amongst my friends and acquaintance, there are quite a few performance shop owners, mechanics, collision center owner (yup, there's your auctioneers buddy), cars enthusiasts that would also go to auction to purchase rare cars to rebuild, and I do help them with the rebuild. If you're in SoCal and ever have any vehicular needs, I'm the guy to know.
I do every single bits of work on all my cars, and yes, when I was younger I did a lot more than just maintenance. Now I just watch tuners do what they do and learn from them, people like Cunningham.
Anyways, back to the topics at hand, I've owned various cars of different makes in the past, and couldn't find anything that has quite the same driving dynamics that the e46 gives, my e46. I was actually deciding between this and a Boxster S, but in the end the e46 won over. Exotic cars I'm no stranger to, much less the run of the mills e46, but I freaking LOVE them.
What irks me is that your typical e46 owners projected the image that some of you guys are trying to push on me, but despite my begging, you won't pull your heads out of your asses for one second and rethink. It all started because someone came into this thread touting some untrue craps just to support his hate.
Anyways, I told you my story, now your turn. Go.
first, i never doubted you can turn a wrench or work on a car. you went to that extreme.
second, i'm glad you went with the bmw over the boxster. good call.
i have tried to not generalize, and if you reread my posts and think about it, i said and will reiterate, there are all kinds of owners, unfortunately the niche thing to do is buy a 3 series for the badge. not all people. just like a lot of people like to drop a lot of money for the benz logo, the porsche brand and so on.
the only people i've learned to truly respect are those crazy audi enthusiasts that will drop down as much as they do for the a8 or s8. especially knowing how much they devalue. now thats an enthusiast. but the ride of the a8 makes up for it and you realize why they buy them. talk about a nice ride in the cabin.
oh, i reread my first post in this thread, and i did generalize, and i apologize for that, there are some that buy for performance reasons and are enthusiasts, but the vast majority of 20-30 somethings buy for the badge. as i said, same with porsche, benz and other brands. i should have added an asterisk to not make it such a generalization.
along with your car classes, have you taken any of the driving classes offered by the manufacturers, porsche offers one of the best.
so you're in socal, i should have figured from your gmr video. funny, two of the shops i worked with over it are both in socal. i just left the area a month ago. sad thing is, i probably know you and don't realize it.
had some real nice rides up and around some of the fun snaky roads there, took the clk55 amg up to big bear and around the area, fun roads, although not as famous as gmr.
but, i will add, i am no professional driver, and don't push to try.
so here, you want bios, i'll play.
i served in the army from 87-93, didn't turn a wrench though, i was a 96f (psyops analyist) in the field, got out, realized my job skills from the military weren't worth anything in civilian world unless i wanted to be an ad-man.
i have worked with cars since i was 14, building and rebuilding every engine type possible, from american, to english to german. i have owned almost every type of car, it seems, and now am happy that the only cars i am working on are rebuilding my fj-40 and my cj7 which are ground up rebuilds for my winter project.
i know, not euro, but, do remember, i live up in the mountains of colorado, and at 9350ft, my house isn't exactly the best for low ground clearance or 2wd.
i'm now 41, still a grease monkey, and a car enthusiast.
i've also worked for performance shops dealing with bmw, audi, porsche and mb, and have spent the last few months specifically dealing with bmw software and their new tools, and dealt with a lot of headaches from them, hence my current opinion, which i am sure in a month or two will probably change again. but for now, they rub me the wrong way.
as i get older i prefer not to work on cars, i'd rather they just worked, but still enjoy the thrill of the rebuild (hence the fj40)
along with my years as a shade tree mechanic, i also have plenty of class and instruction to back up to make me more certifiable, although thats not what i choose to do for a living. i love cars and working on them, though not as much these days, but my first love is the forest and the outdoors.
don't feel bad about your first car being a honda, mine was a mustang II. but, the power to weight ratio on that car was insane.
i reversed that after i got an old ford capri which was just the opposite.
i can tell you all the wonderful lucas jokes, after working on jags, triumph and mg, and i can share a few black forest jokes with my experience with the german cars.
right now, i am sitting at home, snowed in, just thinking about rebuilding the carb on my fj, waiting for the weather to warm up. my biggest dilema being do i want to rebuild the aisin or go with a weber set up, either the 38/38 and get even poorer gas mileage or the 34/36 and lose out on some power. the aisin was one of the best, but a bet of a challenge to keep perfect, the webers being the easier choice.
oh, and i am waiting for fed ex so i can finish building up my wifes road bike, an older trek 5900 team frame i picked up from a rider of the US military national team... always like a good deal.
you've made a lot of assumptions about what i have thought about you, when i have never said anything labeling you personally.
you really need to get past that.
funny thing is, we probably run in the same circles, we just don't realize it.