2003 BMW Z-4 3.0.

I love that car for all its eccentricities.  Very excellent engine, buttery smooth manual gear box, razed sharp and precise electric steering that is unfortunately devoid of feed back.  Power soft top that requires me to get out of the car to giggle the stowed position switch to get it to retract. It has developed every annoying malfunction while under warranty, but has been perfectly reliable, except for the power soft top, since warranty expiration.

It's only fault I resent is the expensive but fragile OEM alloy wheels which develop flat spots and cracks at the least excuse. I never gained the resolve to replace all 4 at once to solve the problem.

It is a vastly better driving car then its predecessor the Z-3, and a truer roadster than the model of Z-4 that succeeded it.  

I think my wife has it in for that car because I keep it in the garage while her car parks outside because all the stuff she keeps in the garage.  Her reflexive solution to any finance related issue is for me to sell that car, which I have resisted thus far. I see no equivalent for it in the current market, the closest being the new Miata. The model of Z-4 that replaced it is lost most sense of what a roadster is.

(September 28, 2015 at 10:56 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: This is (exactly like) my baby:




1978 Triumph Spitfire. Currently she's not feeling well. I looked at her wrong and something went to shit, as it does every time you look at one of them wrong. Still attempting to deduce exactly what. LBCs are certainly an interesting type of car to own. They're so much fun to drive but can be such a freaking hassle to keep road worthy. Only 86,000 original miles. Not too bad for a '78. Definitely not a year-round car in Colorado, but I can usually get drive time in from April (March if I'm lucky) through September. Some years even into October or November. I've not yet driven a car that's more pure fun than this one. It's quick, nimble and sticks to the road in corners like it's on rails.

My stepdad had an old TR-6. Great car to drive, on the two days a week it felt like moving. Electrical issues out the wazoo.

Going back to my old Z, one thing I loved about it was that it had a touch of understeer built in to the geometry and CG, which when coupled with a torquey inline-six, meant that blasting through three-dimensional roadways was easy -- you could slide through a sharp turn and when the road straightened out, lift off the gas and the back end lines up as quick as you'd like, with no fuss.

I've had two cars: a 1989 Pontiac that was from Canada so the speedometer was in kilometers and the little numbers were in miles, and my current car: a 2002 vw beetle with 75,000 miles on it because it spent 5 years in college in parking lots and being driven to and from the grocery store and home once a term.

I'm not crazy about either, and the VW is getting to the point where shit's starting to go wrong and it's almost not worth it to fix it - except that I don't have car payments and can't currently afford a new car.

My 2005 Jaguar S-Type. Always wanted a Jag, and fuck is it awesome.

Senior year in high school I drove a 1970 Chevy El Camino SS396. Loved that truck!

My god you people are old and/or rich. This is the first car I ever bought myself (age 19 in the year 2005), a 99' Pontiac Sunfire. It had a racing clutch, and after I taught myself how to drive it (two weeks of horror), I was in heaven. This 4 cylinder baby outpaced brand new Mustangs (of course I checked! It was a Friday night past time for me). It even had jimmy rigged cruise control, did excellent off road in the desert, and had a nifty automatic sunroof with which to squish your friends into if they tried to climb out!

(September 28, 2015 at 9:11 pm)ignoramus Wrote:

(September 28, 2015 at 8:42 pm)Gawdzilla Wrote: 1969 Boss 429 Mustang, new off the showroom floor, bought with the proceeds from a life insurance policy a friend took out years earlier.

We have a winner ladies and gentlemen.
The greatest musclecar to ever pull out of Dearborn! I currently own its younger weaker brother. 71 mach1 fastback 351 4v.

I had it for most of a year, then I went to South East Asia and the y-donor forged my name on a bill of sale, got half list price for it. I never saw a penny of that. 

And yes, he did pay for that, for years after. He never could keep a car for long, "something was always happening to them".

(September 28, 2015 at 11:46 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: My stepdad had an old TR-6. Great car to drive, on the two days a week it felt like moving. Electrical issues out the wazoo.

I changed out the Lucas alternator with an aftermarket GM replacement and most of the electrical trouble went away. Of course, there are still dirty/corroded grounds to deal with occasionally and the odd WTF failure mode of some of the other Lucas components, but it's way better now.

An aside...
You know why the Brits like their beer warm? Lucas made their refrigerators.

(September 28, 2015 at 11:46 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: Going back to my old Z, one thing I loved about it was that it had a touch of understeer built in to the geometry and CG, which when coupled with a torquey inline-six, meant that blasting through three-dimensional roadways was easy -- you could slide through a sharp turn and when the road straightened out, lift off the gas and the back end lines up as quick as you'd like, with no fuss.

My first car was a late 70's 280Z. '79, I think, but I can't remember for sure. That's the only car I've ever driven that came close to the fun generated by my Spitfire.

(September 29, 2015 at 5:40 pm)Luckie Wrote:

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My god you people are old and/or rich. This is the first car I ever bought myself (age 19 in the year 2005), a 99' Pontiac Sunfire. It had a racing clutch, and after I taught myself how to drive it (two weeks of horror), I was in heaven. This 4 cylinder baby outpaced brand new Mustangs (of course I checked! It was a Friday night past time for me). It even had jimmy rigged cruise control, did excellent off road in the desert, and had a nifty automatic sunroof with which to squish your friends into if they tried to climb out!

Not old or rich. My baby is just affordable fun.