It\u2019s funny how you start paying attention to things when you become one of the \u201cgroup.\u201d For instance, I recently bought new car. Well, not a new car, but new to me. It is a \u201901 BMW Z3 Roadster. Yeah, I know, I\u2019ve spent countless years making fun of \u201cChas and Buffy in the Beamer.\u201d And now I\u2019m driving one. What is this world coming too? When Barbara told my daughter that I bought a BMW she didn\u2019t even believe it. She said, \u201cA Hummer I could believe, but not a BMW!\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually, I was looking for a Honda S2000. I wanted something different than the very practical and conservative 4 door sedans I have been driving for the past 7 or 8 years. I have had two Honda Accords in a row. Hondas are great cars. Very reliable, good gas mileage, and they hardly every need much more than an oil change and some brake pads once in a while, they seemingly will run forever. But, I wanted something different, something not at all practical, something that is fast and handles well, but you can afford to drive to work every day. The roadster fit the bill! So anyway, I was looking at the S2000 when a dealer convinced me in to test driving the Z3. I hadn\u2019t even considered a BMW because I thought they were too much money. I heard they weren\u2019t very powerful, in fact, I thought they were all underpowered 4 bangers. Well, I drove the Z3. It has a very smooth and torquey inline six cylinder engine, an exhaust system that sounds just sweet, and had more room and was more comfortable than the Honda. So, I bought it.<\/p>\n
Barbara calls the car my \u201cmid life crisis.\u201d But, after driving the roadster for a few months I have noticed something, apparently I\u2019m not the only one having a mid life crisis. Most of the guys I see driving the smaller two seat cars are old farts! Mazdas, Corvettes, Honda S2000s, any of the small \u201csports cars\u201d are frequently driven by older men. Is the mid life crisis really the issue, or is there something else.<\/p>\n
First, when you get into your 50\u2019s you can finally afford a sports car. I guess that is the big boys toy scenario. When you are younger you are more concerned with making the mortgage, a new lawnmower, remodeling the kitchen, a new fence around the back yard, all of those day to day things that tax the finances. But we\u2019ve done all that. I\u2019ve got a good lawnmower, the fence is in good shape, the projects are at a minimum now.<\/p>\n
Second, when you get into your 50\u2019s you really don\u2019t need that back seat. Most of my driving is two and from work, just me, no passengers. When I do carry a passenger it is usually Barbara, or occasionally someone from work goes to lunch with me. There is a side benefit here, when the \u201cGang\u201d from work wants to go to lunch, you don\u2019t have to drive when you have a two seat car! Driving a 4 door sedan isn\u2019t really a requirement anymore. I don\u2019t have a family, no diaper bags, kids, just a couple of small dogs, and they usually stay at home anyway. Besides, if we need a back seat I\u2019ve still got the truck, it has four doors, Barbara\u2019s car has a back seat. How many back seats do you need?<\/p>\n
Third, I mentioned that the guys you see driving the sports cars are old, but the women you see driving sports cars, that\u2019s another story\u2026..and I\u2019ll just leave it at that for now!<\/p>\n
What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s funny how you start paying attention to things when you become one of the \u201cgroup.\u201d For instance, I recently bought new car. Well, not a new car, but new to me. It is a \u201901 BMW Z3 Roadster. Yeah, I know, I\u2019ve spent countless years making fun of \u201cChas and Buffy in the Beamer.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.n4rfc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}