It's been a while...

Been busy with work and other things... and haven't had much to say of late.  But last night I picked up my new (used) toy and thought I should share:

It's a 2005 BMW 330ci, and while I had never driven a BMW until less than a week ago, I have to say that I'm a big fan now.  Man, is this a sweet ride.

I've been wanting to get a new car ever since moving to Vegas, but of course I figured I needed to buy a house first.  And that took a couple of years longer than I expected... but now that I'm more or less settled into the house, I started looking around at cars again.  I've been wanting something sporty (as a contrast to the Explorer that I've been driving for -- *gasp* -- 12 years now!)  And I've always been partial to convertibles.  I've been looking at the BMW 3-series for a while, and the brand new models are gorgeous -- but freakin' expensive, too.

Enter CarMax.  They had a few models to choose from, mostly 2005 and 2006 (lease returns, as mine was) and the prices are about half what a new 3-series would cost.  I have to say, the CarMax experience was generally quite good -- although my sales guy flaked out on me a bit when it came time to meet him to actually pick up the vehicle, keeping me waiting for half an hour before he showed up -- and I really appreciate the no-haggle price policy (particularly with used cars, which can be a major pain to negotiate).  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others, and I expect the next time I'm looking for a car, I'll probably start there.

So, as of this writing I've had the car for about 24 hours, and it's been topless for about 22 of them...

And I've already been caught in the rain (yes, in Las Vegas, it does occasionally rain) -- fortunately I was able to pull over right away and put up the top so no harm done.

Since this isn't exactly the very most practical car for hauling things, I kept the Exploder as well.  Oh, yeah, and SUVs have about a five dollar trade-in value now, so there was that.

My friend George at work, who previously owned a 3-series sedan, was very excited to learn of my purchase.  He warned me, however, to be careful -- as he described it, his car had been a lemon: the chick magnet on his BMW was broken!  Time will tell on this car, but hey, I've still got a year left on the factory warranty... so no worries...  :-D