For sale (sniffle). Apricot BMW.

[Rain Man]

I've had the apricot BMW for 12 years now, and it's an awesome car. But it's been our only car for about five years, and the wife has some hobbies where she needs to carry around bigger things (art canvases? art canvassi? art canvi?). We also got a taste of the new technology with a loaner a while back and were both intrigued. I love my little roadster and it look like it's straight off the showroom floor, but it makes no sense to own two cars. So anyone want a good deal on an awesome roadster convertible?

Anyway, it's kind of my wife's turn to pick the new car, and ... my god, who can afford to buy a new car these days? She was initially hoping to buy a brand new car, which we've never done, and she liked those Lexus SUVs. However, we sat down and started pricing out what she wanted and the price came to $61,157. That's not even fully tricked out. Admittedly, it was probably 80 percent of the way to fully tricked out, but come on. $61,000 for something that's going to depreciate? If I'm going to pay that kind of coinage, I'm buying a DeLorean or something. Fortunately, my wife also shook her head and said that we're not doing that.

I think we're going back to our standard approach of buying a two-year old car with relatively high mileage of 20,000 to 40,000 miles. We're low-mileage drivers, so we tend to convert high-mileage cars to low-mileage cars over time, and the mileage will pull the price down.

I'm pretty sure we're going to go with a 2014 BMW X1. We drove one for a couple of days this summer as a loaner, and it was really nice. It'll be big enough to satisfy my wife's hobbies, and you can buy a tricked-out one in the low $30s. If I can't sell my beloved apricot Z3 outright, we'll trade it in and can probably get the cost below $30k, which seems reasonable. Anyone got a good deal on a BMW X1 for me?

But seriously, how do these companies sell $60,000 vehicles? Many of the BMWs run in that range, the Lexus SUVs run that, and don't even get me started on the Porsches. I was kind of interested in that new SUV of theirs, but I'm not going to put off retirement to buy one.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Guru

I want that car.

You do. Trust me on this.

[cdcox]

I hear club soda will take lemon meringue right out of car upholstery.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Count Zarth

I have no idea how someone living in Colorado drives a BMW for 12 years, tries to sell it, and decides to get another BMW roadster. Aren't you scared of the snow in the winter time? Just living in Kansas City for one year was enough to make me covet something large with AWD.

We were determined that we were going to get an AWD vehicle, but ... white leather and suede. I'll just walk if it snows too much.

[Rain Man]

This is some other person's video of the top going down. My car is just like this but it's blue and the steering wheel is on the other side.

[Hammock Parties]

Rain Man you should get a beater AWD Jeep or something to haul stuff and drive in the snow. You can get one from around 2000 pretty cheap.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Count Zarth

Rain Man you should get a beater AWD Jeep or something to haul stuff and drive in the snow. You can get one from around 2000 pretty cheap.

I dunno. Having two vehicles is stressful. I never know which one to drive.

[TambaBerry]

Love that car rain man

[MahiMike]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We just stuck with the roadster. Assuming that I keep it as long as most of my cars, that'll extend my current streak of 24 years without a back seat to about 35 years.

I'm guessing you don't play golf. That's always held me back from this. Although I saw a Miata today and thought I still like that car. Of course the German version of the 2 seater is far superior.

What kind of gas mileage does that get? Is it a 6 cyinder?

[Holladay]

You crack me up. Roadster for Roadster, when the purpose was more room for wife's stuff. I guess if wife is down for it.......

WAIT A DARN MINUTE.

I see what you did. Leave it to Rainman to be that clever.

So, this is what happened. Rainman has a 14 yr old Z3 that he has owned for 12 yrs. He wants to upgrade into a newer, faster (even though he drives like a grandma), cooler BMW. But no way is Rainwife going to buy into this. She is going to say,"Rainman, you walk to work (1.5miles) and as a Rainfamily, we avg less then 1.5m/day. This car is paid for and you don't need another silly roadster. Besides, I would like a little storage for my canvases."

Thus he plots and studied, pondered many polls.

Thusly, this is where the plot thickens. Rainman can't confront Rainwife... Sooo, He pulls a fast one. On one of the rare occasions that they go to a Sams Club or the the grocery store and actually needs some space, Rainfamily rent a cool techy minivan. Of course this was diabolically planned by Rainman. Rainwife comments that after 12 yrs with a toy, and Rainman, yes you have had your fun, it is time to be an adult and practical.

Rainman is now full on PR mode. "Yes Honey, you are prolly right and think with a trunk (a novel concept for Rainman) you can take your paintings. Yes Sweetie, we should go look for a new car (wink, wink)".

OK, so Rainman has one hurdle down, the concept of getting a new car is BLESSED by Rainwife. He makes good that they look around a bit. But he has already scoped out HIS new car at the local BMW dealership. Unbeknownest to Rainwife, he has talked with the Manager and negotiated a trade in value of his old roadster and haggled on the price of the new roadster. All that's left is the Money Shot.

As Rainfamily are driving around, he nonchalantly cruises past the BMW dealership where the new beemer has planted right out front. "Oh, Putzfrau, did you see that blue car over there? Let's just go take a look." He knows that Rainwife is a sucker for roadsters as well. "My oh my, will you look at that interior, WHITE leather and SUEDE. Oh, oh and look at this roof. It's a hard top that folds down into the trunk. Hey with this car, you can actually listen to the radio with the top up. Heck in our old rag top, it made so much noise no way was that possible. That's why we had such a junk stereo. This one has a Blaupunkt with 12 speakers. Yea I know, the top goes into what would have been a trunk. Trunks are way over rated anyway. Heck it's not like we don't have any space...there is the passenger seat! And, and, look how cool the top goes down. Boy those Germans sure know how to make a car. This baby is way cooler then those lousy cheap Miata two seaters.

Now comes the Kill Shot. "Hey, kiddo why don't you take it for a spin?"

GAME OVER and he still has his toy...a newer one!

Gotta to hand it to Ole Rainman. Rainwife didn't even see it coming.

[Holladay]

Good luck selling your old one. Someone is going to get a good deal. Or you can just keep it. If 1 is good, 2 has to be better.

[Molitoth]

Originally Posted by Holladay

You crack me up. Roadster for Roadster, when the purpose was more room for wife's stuff. I guess if wife is down for it.......

WAIT A DARN MINUTE.

I see what you did. Leave it to Rainman to be that clever.

So, this is what happened. Rainman has a 14 yr old Z3 that he has owned for 12 yrs. He wants to upgrade into a newer, faster (even though he drives like a grandma), cooler BMW. But no way is Rainwife going to buy into this. She is going to say,"Rainman, you walk to work (1.5miles) and as a Rainfamily, we avg less then 1.5m/day. This car is paid for and you don't need another silly roadster. Besides, I would like a little storage for my canvases."

Thus he plots and studied, pondered many polls.

Thusly, this is where the plot thickens. Rainman can't confront Rainwife... Sooo, He pulls a fast one. On one of the rare occasions that they go to a Sams Club or the the grocery store and actually needs some space, Rainfamily rent a cool techy minivan. Of course this was diabolically planned by Rainman. Rainwife comments that after 12 yrs with a toy, and Rainman, yes you have had your fun, it is time to be an adult and practical.

Rainman is now full on PR mode. "Yes Honey, you are prolly right and think with a trunk (a novel concept for Rainman) you can take your paintings. Yes Sweetie, we should go look for a new car (wink, wink)".

OK, so Rainman has one hurdle down, the concept of getting a new car is BLESSED by Rainwife. He makes good that they look around a bit. But he has already scoped out HIS new car at the local BMW dealership. Unbeknownest to Rainwife, he has talked with the Manager and negotiated a trade in value of his old roadster and haggled on the price of the new roadster. All that's left is the Money Shot.

As Rainfamily are driving around, he nonchalantly cruises past the BMW dealership where the new beemer has planted right out front. "Oh, Putzfrau, did you see that blue car over there? Let's just go take a look." He knows that Rainwife is a sucker for roadsters as well. "My oh my, will you look at that interior, WHITE leather and SUEDE. Oh, oh and look at this roof. It's a hard top that folds down into the trunk. Hey with this car, you can actually listen to the radio with the top up. Heck in our old rag top, it made so much noise no way was that possible. That's why we had such a junk stereo. This one has a Blaupunkt with 12 speakers. Yea I know, the top goes into what would have been a trunk. Trunks are way over rated anyway. Heck it's not like we don't have any space...there is the passenger seat! And, and, look how cool the top goes down. Boy those Germans sure know how to make a car. This baby is way cooler then those lousy cheap Miata two seaters.

Now comes the Kill Shot. "Hey, kiddo why don't you take it for a spin?"

GAME OVER and he still has his toy...a newer one!

Gotta to hand it to Ole Rainman. Rainwife didn't even see it coming.

[Holladay]

So Rainman, where is the wife going to put her canvasas now?

[OnTheWarpath15]

I may have missed it, but what do you want for the old one?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Holladay

Gotta to hand it to Ole Rainman. Rainwife didn't even see it coming.

It took a lot of planning, but it worked like a charm. And now with that done, it's time to implement my plan to get her to ask for pizza tonight.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I may have missed it, but what do you want for the old one?

I've got it on cars.com for $8,900, but I'll cut a deal for a CP member. I've got some wiggle room and want it to go to a good home. PM me if interested. It's an awesome car.