Almost traded in 95 540i for a Merz CL500 today - ouch!

["Stephen Robinson" <stever@xxxxxxxxx>]

The wife was concerned that her 95 540i which is out of warranty now could
have that dreaded Nikasil engine problem and cost $7000 or so for a short
block, so I dutifully tried to find her a sweet coupe, like she's been
wanting.  I looked at a gorgeous 95 S600 Coupe at a small dealer called City
Cars in Silver Spring - they didn't know a damn thing about the car and had
scraped it taking it out of the garage... next.  I test drove a 99 CL500
coupe at EuroMotors in Bethesda today - great dealer, awesome car, it
handled well, I guess, it was "hot" - but HUGE, it was designed for an
executive fat cat, only 340 of them made, original sticker of $91k (can you
believe that!).  They wanted mid 50's even though it was $63k in the paper.
After taking a long test drive, it just didn't seem like us.  It seemed real
pretentious for some reason.  I've never driven a BMW that felt as over the
top as this car - and we've owned an 91 M5, 91 850i, 95 740i and 95 540i....
I felt embarrased to have been interested in the car at all.  Very strange.
I walked away from the dealer knowing that we will just keep this beautiful
green 540i with light silver interior, 65k miles, and relish again in the
BMW experience.  Sometimes it seems that the grass is sooo much greener on
the other side.  Today, it seemed just the opposite.  Have any of you ALMOST
traded in an old friend, and then found the car you were test driving wasn't
"all that"?
Done with looking at Mercedes car ads!
Steve Robinson
95 740i me
95 540i her
88 911 (almost had to trade this one in today too, in order to afford the
CL500!)

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