Beginnings
17 years ago, 2006, when I was just a 20 year-old undergrad, a friend of mine told me he bought a new car. He didn’t tell me what it was at first, but was on his way to my place. I didn’t think anything of it. We were undergrads, I was driving a 1993 Nissan Maxima on its last legs – I figured he bought something similar.
That day, I saw him pull up in front of me in an absolutely beautiful alpine white e46 M3 6MT with an equally beautiful grey nappa leather interior. I was in shock – it was gorgeous. We went for a ride in it and with each gear shift I felt the torque push me into my seat while the engine roared. The next year and a half we took several trips in that car – and I had made my decision….
I’m adding the M3 to my bucket list.
Over the next 15+ years I had a love/hate relationship with BMW – all the while purchasing Japanese cars – reliable and cheap to maintain. But regardless of my up and down views of BMW, I always aspired to one day own an M3. In 2019 I finally took a step towards BMW – getting into an m340i for a taste… and I never looked back.
On March 1st 2022, I decided it was time, and I placed my deposit.
I was ecstatic. This is it – this is my dream. Then over the next 11 MONTHS that dream and resolve would be tested many times… 6 months to wait for an allocation… delays due to an individual color…. Uncertainties behind waiting at the port…. Delays due to scheduling PCD… and the final delay - 3 weeks because I promised my daughter I’d take her to Disney on Ice and the date we picked clashed with the original delivery date. Throughout all this – I have so many people to thank especially on this forum – between members randomly DMing me words of encouragement, to my fellow thread-mates (Monthly allocation threads, fellow week 46ers, Orion Highway ship-mates, and February PCD folk) and everyone who’s made this wait not only tolerable, but exciting as well despite all the hair-pulling ambiguity.
I finally have my M car, and I have 0 regrets. Bucket list car #1 achieved – 17 years in the making.
I promise ya’ll won’t have to hear too much more of my rambling and sappy BS – on to my PCD experience!