Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

This might be it

I think if something unfortunate were to happen to my BMW M2, I would probably replace it with something tame and economical. (The refreshed Tesla Model 3, rear-wheel drive with the long range battery is looking good.) The new enthusiast car market has gotten so expensive that the logical brain side of me doesn’t want to pay for something that largely sits (I don’t have a commute). The new Porsche 911 GT3 starts at $200,000 now - $40,000 more than the previous model - which is absolutely insane. Makes me feel slightly better about paying $126,000 for a 2015 model back in 2019.

Even the cheap end of the continuum is in the mid $30,000s (Toyota GR86, or the venerable Mazda Miata). While that is somewhat affordable for me, what isn’t affordable is the insurance costs for enthusiasts cars. I would know: it’s quite expensive to insure the BMW fully. Again, logical brain is working overtime to convince me that maybe this whole love of cars is getting defeated by monetary mathematics.

But we’re suppose to spend a high proportion of our money on hobbies, right? I can’t be looking at my vehicle situation from the lens of a regular person. In their case, yes, they should limit the spend on what is the second biggest money purchase (first would be the house, if anybody can afford one around here). It makes zero sense to drop extravagantly on a depreciating asset. To do it financially responsibly, people should buy a brand new Toyota Corolla and drive it as long as possible.

Because I like cars, and have liked them since I was a kid, I get to spend more of my adult money on them. But these days the adult brain is cautioning loudly against the inflated costs of vehicle ownership. I actually paid off the M2 earlier this year. I certainly feel more carefree with that monthly car payment now extra cushion in my savings account. It’s a very good feeling. The 10 years ago me would have already used that freed up money to buy another car.

Either I have tremendous self discipline, or it is indeed true that there are seasons to life. Perhaps I’ve outgrown my car enthusiasm…

Waning enthusiasm

I guess gas prices (in the San Francisco Bay Area) is just going to stay in the five dollars per gallon threshold? We’re never going to see the number 3 again in front of the decimal point are we? Unless of course we move to other parts of the country where not only do they have cheaper gas than California, but they also have higher octane! (93 versus 91.) If I’m getting reamed in the butt on petrol price, at least give me the best gasoline possible.

It’s a good thing then that I’ve only driven 4,000 miles since the previous September. Paying over $70 to fill up the BMW M2 is so not the business. As much as I like driving, the cost of gas adds up very quickly. At least that is something I can control. The higher insurance premiums that we all received in our last renewals? Nothing I can do about that.

Perhaps my car enthusiasm is waning? I don’t know. I took the M2 in to the dealership for service last week, and I keep thinking what a hassle it is. Even though I’m not removing a single bolt myself, it’s still time out of my day to drive it to the dealership (on the other side of the city). Imagine if I didn’t own a car at all - how much simpler it would be. No gas price shocks, no insurance premiums, no maintenance costs, no worries about parking it somewhere and risking some asshole damaging the car.

Of course, it’s not tenable to not have a car. I rely too much on Costco trips to fight the ongoing inflation. But I’m thinking maybe I don’t need to own a high-strung sports car. It would be cheaper and less stressful to instead own a car an old man would drive. Something boring, something dead nuts reliable. That can only mean one thing: a Toyota.

Change is the only constant, right? I’ve like cars since I was a kid. Who knows, maybe that enthusiasm does come to an end.

First time?

BMW drivers have the infamous reputation of being assholes on the road. We completely disregard proper road manners. Turn signals? What are those? Add to that the magnificently instant power of electric motors, and the asshole intensifies even more…

I recently took my BMW M2 to the dealer for its annual service. For loaner vehicle I was given a BMW i5 - an all-electric BMW 5 Series. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven an electric car, never mind that it’s my first service loaner to not be powered by dinosaur juice. I was instantly a fan: unlike a gas loaner where I have to refill the amount I use, for an EV loaner there’s no expectation of charging back to the initial level! As a fan of decreasing the amount of hassles in my life, this development is lovely.

Back to the BMW i5. The instant torque of electric motors is indeed very intoxicating. No naturally-aspirated gas engine can match the response of an electric motor. With such accessible power, electric cars invite drivers to be aggressive. It’s too easy! Anybody that’s in front of you can be passed in an eye blink. Any gap in traffic can be filled before other drivers can react. Even for me, someone who prefers to do the speed limit in the slow lane, the i5 loaner egged me to test out its capabilities. The fastest car in the world is a rental EV.

Not that I wasn’t of this opinion before, but having driven an EV finally, I am more convinced that you should absolutely buy electric if you are able to charge it at home. The power is nice, yes, but so is the negligible maintenance cost (brakes and tires, mostly). And if you believe in the whole better-for-the-environment mission (let’s skip over the mining materials for the batteries part), even better.

If I actually had a commute, I wouldn’t look at anything but an all-electric car.

In case of emergency

The problem with modern cars is that they don’t come with spare tires. My BMW M2 certainly does not have one. In its trunk space where a spare is suppose to be, there’s the 12-volt battery (because race car), and a can of tire goo. There’s no emergency jack, or a lug wrench to take off the wheels. In the event of a puncture, I would hook that can to the faulty tire’s valve stem, and the goo is suppose to fill up the tire’s innards. Doing so is suppose to buy me just enough time and mileage to get the car to a tire repair shop.

Oh by the way, the punctured tire that I just filled with goo? It’s irreplaceable. Even if the offending hole is otherwise small enough to be patched. I guess BMW really expect its owners to have the income to replace a $300 tire (if you don’t cheap out, that is) without it hurting. Don’t forget: for balance, you typically should replace the other tire on the same axle as well. That’s $600 in potential repair simply because of a tiny piece of sharp object on the road surface. It’s either that, or call a tow truck. (Presumably, being left stranded on the side of the road is not a choosable option.)

I went with a third option: making and packing my own emergency tire kit. The consensus on the best scissor jack for BMW cars is this $25 unit from Harbor Freight. The head fits into BMW jacking points perfectly. Also from Harbor Freight is this heavy duty tire repair kit. It has everything: plier to extract the foreign object, reamer to prepare the hole, insertion tool for the rubber plugs, and a blade to cut off the excess. The $22 it costs is vastly cheaper than replacing an entire tire. You hate on Made in China until you have to pay for Made in the USA prices.

Lastly, I bought this lug wrench from Amazon. It’s got the necessary 17mm socket for BMW lug bolts. With these three tools packed in the M2’s trunk, I can tackle any puncture during road trips, short of something catastrophic. (That can of goo isn’t going to do much for a hole that size, either.) Best of all, I can take these tools with me to whatever my next car would be. Because it’s very likely that will also not have a spare tire or emergency tools.

I want to DIY

Speaking of routine maintenance on my BMW M2. For now, I still take the car to the dealership for servicing. The first three years of that was free - every new BMW sold in America has that perk. Then I prepaid for the following two years of maintenance for about $800.

That may read super expensive to you, the person who takes your car to the local Jiffy Lube for $35 oil changes (perhaps it is much higher these days, what with the rampant inflation going on). But that $800 is for more than just two oil changes. Plus, I get a free rental car from the dealership. It would be nice if they give me one of those sharp-looking BMW X1 SUVs for a test drive…

But I will be in a conundrum after year five of owning the M2. Do I continue to pay dealership prices? Once you start changing out spark plugs and the rear differential fluid (every three years), the invoice gets mighty high. If I remember correctly, it’s about $3,000 to change out a full set of four brake pads and rotors! Good thing I don’t put that many miles on the car…

The dream is to have a small warehouse space when I can do all the servicing myself. A space completely dedicated to the car. Obviously, that doesn’t solve the cost problem that I was just rambling about the paragraph before. In fact, paying rent for a warehouse would surely be more expensive than paying for servicing at the dealership. But at least I can be sure the job is done correctly. The old adage goes: “If you want something done right, you do it yourself.” I would like nothing more than to have the space and tools to maintain my cars properly, with my own hands.

Can you afford it though?

I reckon most people don’t think about the total cost of ownership when it comes to cars. So long as the monthly payment is reasonable, why the hell not! You can absolutely afford that $70,000 truck. I get it: those payments are the consistent, tangible thing on the monthly budget. And if you ever miss payments, the lending bank is coming to take that truck away.

Wouldn’t want that now, would we?

The other costly parts of car ownership shows up not nearly as often. We get to gripe about super high insurance costs only once every six months. State licensing is an annual thing. Maintenance? The typical new car has a few years of free maintenance at the dealership. Unless you drive an F ton of miles, wear items such as tires and brakes get replaced every few years. Out of sight, out of mind, and out of consideration.

Out of the budget, too. How many car owners actually save up money in preparation for that $1,500 tire bill, or $600 major service - after free maintenance expires? (I’m obviously excluding the rich folks who can more than afford to write a random $2,000 check like it’s nothing.) Anecdotally, I’ve seen many people who can’t come up with these sums so suddenly. So they either put it on a credit card, or cheap out on the needed service. “What’s the cheapest set of tires available for this car?”

What then counts as maintenance is taking the car to Walmart for oil changes. That’s it. I’m half convinced the reason certain car brands are unreliable is because of owners not following the specified maintenance procedure precisely. Simply changing the oil every year on a BMW is not going to cut it. On the other hand, a Toyota will still last forever on oil changes alone.

Which is why I have no worries about keeping my BMW M2 past its warranty period. I am going to maintain that car by the book - either with the dealership, or an independent BMW mechanic. And obviously, I’ve budgeted for this. New tires are due this year, and the cost is not going to be a surprise.

A touch of curbing

One of the worst feelings as a car enthusiast is doing damage to your own car. One day you’re driving along, having a good time, and then boom. Apparently you took a turn too sharply, and the back wheel had a brief kiss with the concrete curb. And now your wheel has a rather nasty rash on it. And by you, I mean me. It seems there is no car in my ownership history that I’ve not hit the wheel on the curbs at least once.

Perhaps I should take up the finance manager on the extra wheel and tire insurance next time…

Speaking of driving: now that my dad is proper retirement age, it slightly worries me whenever he gets behind the wheel. It’s plain fact that as we age, our attention and reflexes deteriorates. It only takes one scant moment of inattention for something negative to happen. If I can carelessly misjudge a corner, then my father at twice my age is just that much more accident-prone. It’s not a value judgement, simply math.

Whenever I get in my friends’ vehicles, I never have to stress about their driving. I can afford to pay zero attention to the road, and have pleasant conversations. Not so when riding in my dad’s Toyota RAV-4. I am compelled to pay attention to the road for him, on the off chance that his total bandwidth isn’t enough to spy that rogue truck that is running a red light. Who knew that getting driven around can be so un-relaxing.

So I solved the problem completely: whenever I am on the road with my dad (my mother doesn’t drive), I will always be the one driving. This gives me peace of mind, and also puts my destiny in my own hands. If the BMW M2 gets damaged - a wheel curbing, for example - I want it to be me who did it. Then I get to stew in my own stupidity for at least the rest of the day.