![\"BMW](\"http:\/\/archive.mcoupebuyersguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/pettit01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nI think my interest in BMWs first began back when I was in middle school.\u00a0 One of my best friend\u2019s dad had one of the first E65 745Li cars in I believe Space Grey.\u00a0 About the same time I began spending a considerable amount of time over at their house I saw the 2004 cheesy action film “Taxi” which featured Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah in a souped up taxicab chasing an AC Schnitzered up 760Li being driven through the streets of NYC by Brazilian Victoria’s Secret models.\u00a0 Though the girls of course were a hit with everyone, I was the only one out of all of my friends who was more interested in the V12 Bimmer than the mental taxi.<\/p>\n
My friend’s dad was a cardiologist so he worked pretty weird hours but we occasionally were presented the opportunity to ride in his car, which often involved breaking land-speed records in our Ohio suburb to do something mundane like picking up Chinese food.<\/p>\n
Skip ahead a few years.\u00a0 Probably the second week of college I met one of my closest friends who happened to own (still does) a 97 Z3 1.9 automatic with the hard top.\u00a0 An old car with a lawn mower engine, terrible transmission, and sticky gas pedal.\u00a0 But I still love every chance I get to go someplace in it.\u00a0 It feels truly fantastic sitting on the rear axle staring out at a football field\u2019s worth of bulging hood.\u00a0 Plus the styling which is so tasteful and classic BMW.<\/p>\n
I was sold.\u00a0 Clearly the perfect car for a young bachelor.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say exactly when I became fascinated with coupes, I had never seen one in person, but it was sometime between then and now.\u00a0 They appealed to me mainly because of the originality and backstory of how they came to be.\u00a0 Though I also loved how they prove that a 2 seater sports car can be somewhat practical.\u00a0 A “hot hatch” that\u2019s so much better than a hatchback could ever be.<\/p>\n
A couple weeks ago I was on a family vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC.\u00a0 It was mainly my uncle John’s family but since they were on the east coast (we now live in VA), my mother and I decided why not join?\u00a0 One night at dinner I was sitting next to my cousin Andrew, who shares many of my interests, and we were talking about cars.\u00a0 He was showing me pictures on his phone from a car show he had recently attended with his 4 year old son.\u00a0 I started talking about my plans for buying a Z3 M Coupe after I finish college and get a job (only one year left!)\u00a0 Knowing him, I wasn\u2019t surprised when he knew exactly what I was talking about.\u00a0 It did however throw me off a bit when he told me that his wife Heather’s younger brother Greg had just recently bought one.<\/p>\n
At this point Andrew’s father in law Ken who was sitting across the table joined the conversation and the two of them began to describe the pretty bad experience that Greg had in buying the car.\u00a0 Apparently he had done a pre-purchase inspection at a BMW dealership in the city where he bought the car and they had failed to disclose that the car was plagued with what I immediately recognized as the dreaded subframe failure issue.\u00a0 Apparently he threatened the dealership with legal action at which point they began circulating internal emails to destroy any record of him having had the car inspected there.\u00a0 How’s that for customer service?\u00a0 Apparently one of these emails got sent to the wrong person who read back through the chain and decided to do Greg a favor by forwarding all of this back to him.<\/p>\n
(This is all what my cousin was telling me anyway, I don\u2019t know how much is true\/inaccurate, and I\u2019ve never met Greg.)<\/p>\n
Hearing all of this I was still dumbfounded at the coincidence of the situation and couldn\u2019t believe the story I was hearing.\u00a0 Apparently the legal stuff didn\u2019t go any further, but they continued to tell me about how he\u2019s considering whether or not to go through with the Forbes fix.\u00a0 Ken told me that he has had work done at an M specialist in Cincinnati who has been very helpful.\u00a0 I said \u201coh, Enthusiast Auto?\u00a0 They\u2019re pretty well known among the coupe community\u201d to which he replied \u201cyep, I believe that\u2019s the one.”\u00a0 He then asked me \u201chow do you know all of this about these cars?\u201d\u00a0 I replied \u201cI\u2019ve read the forums and done a lot of research, I\u2019m pretty committed to buying one I just need to wait until I can afford one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exactly at that moment, I turned to my right and a Gray Z3 coupe (must have been Sterling Gray) goes flying by on the road next to the restaurant patio where we were sitting.\u00a0 (I\u2019m pretty sure it was an M54 as it had the larger hatch trim\/handle.)\u00a0 I pointed and yelled “look there it is! This rare weird car we\u2019re talking about!”\u00a0 I kept staring until I couldn\u2019t see it anymore and said “I don\u2019t think I’ve seen one in person before” of course forgetting that there was a silver one with an ugly stripe parked out front of the Porsche dealership near my parents’ house briefly last winter.\u00a0 Andrew laughed and said “well I guess it was meant to be, you HAVE to buy one now!”<\/p>\n
The next night we went to a different place for dinner and ended up parking across from what I can only assume is the same car…that is of course unless Myrtle Beach is full of Sterling Gray M54 Z3 coupes with tinted windows.\u00a0 I was beside myself with excitement, though I don\u2019t think my mother, uncle, and aunt fully grasped the significance of the situation…victim of the Coupe Cartel anyone?\u00a0 This time I was able to get a couple pictures.\u00a0 Its hilarious seeing the scale in comparison with the SUVs surrounding it.<\/p>\n