I've been looking for a new car recently; actually, it would be clearer to say that I've been looking for an old car. My '98 GTI and I seem to have a slight impedance mismatch in terms of what I expect out of handling, and what it provides. I think I just don't like front wheel drive. (Why? Example: I was driving down the road one day last year when my front wheels lost traction. Road conditions were far from ideal (it had rained recently) and my tires were somewhat worn (but still had a reasonable tread depth). Regardless, once the front wheels break lose in a front wheel drive car, unless you have the presence of mind to take a hand off the wheel and pull carefully on the emergency break you don't have many options other than easing up on the gas and hoping that when the drive wheels bite again, you haven't already hit someone. In a rear-wheel drive car, when you ease up on the gas you end up engine breaking and transferring weight forward, which has fair hope of causing your steering wheels to become reacquainted with static friction.
Enough ranting about drive wheels.
I've been looking for rear-wheel drive four door sedans with fully independent suspensions and manual transmissions, which these days means a luxury sedan. Actually, that set of attributes has always meant a luxury sedan, since people buying more pedestrian vehicles tend not to care so much about ride and road holding.
The above, the funny spelling of my name, and my familial automotive habits (you can find four Mercedes-Benzes parked around my parent's home, although only two of them are registered and only one of the ones that aren't is likely to be able to move under its own power without some preemptive TLC) has led me to look at Benzes and BMWs... which leads me to what I actually wanted to mention.
I found this example of a flavor of BMW that I was previously only vaguely aware of. I went and looked at it, and although this particular example ended up too expensive for the amount of time/money I have to put into it, the model is a beautiful design, and has some interesting history behind it. Although you wouldn't know it today, BMW is a comparatively recent entry into the world of luxury cars. The E3 models (often referred to collectively as "Bavarias" although that may have only referred to specific models) were their first challenge to the "established" luxury car manufacturers of the late sixties. The contrast with a Mercedes of the era (the immobile Mercedes I alluded to earlier is a 1971 250 that I drove for several years and have a considerable sentimental attachment to) is especially interesting; details like cloth straps that keep the door opening too far point to a far humbler car. The engineering seems simpler, some how; which is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. Interestingly, it's probably more collectable than the Mercedes.
All in all, an interesting addition to the list of cars I want to own someday.
