If you’re here on Bmbwlogthere’s a good chance that you’re a little bit more interested in the brand than the typical motorist. You might not be a car enthusiast in the sense that you’re getting your hands dirty daily and swapping motors in your backyard. But, you probably care about what you drive — and what you drive might happen to be a BMW. Why you’re in a BMW might be a long story. But for me, it’s easy to remember why I love the brand. I just recall my first drive in a BMW.
The First BMW Drive: One You Never Forget?
The first experience I had with any BMW was going to buy my own. After years of enthusiasm surrounding mostly American cars like the Camaro and Corvette, I’d seen and fallen in love with an E46 m3 (Silver Gray metallic, paint code A08, a Competition Package car) while working in New York in the late 2000s. That’s when the floodgates opened and I vowed to get my hands on a BMW. Upon learning some chassis codes and finding an E46 M3 to be wildly outside my budget, I started searching for E36s.
I found someone selling a black/black 325is that was fairly clean, and went over for a test drive. Sadly, it was an automatic car — likely the reason it was absolutely dirt cheap — but it hardly mattered. After all, I couldn’t even drive a manual at the time. The throaty inline six (aided by an exhaust that would never pass PA state inspection), comfortable seats, and incredibly balanced steering sold me in the first thirty seconds. I had no idea cars could feel like this; it was my introduction to how the Germans do it. And I was converted for life. Windows down, music up, sunroof tilted; this car was the business.
The drive home — through some delightful rural Jersey roads — reinforced my belief that I had truly made a great decision by buying this car I had no business driving. I had always enjoyed driving. But driving the E36 felt like the experience, rather than just a part of it. Incredibly, despite an automatic trans that was on its way out and numerous other questionable modifications made by the prior owner, that car proved dead reliable for the year or so I had it. And it led to love affair that continues to this day. With the entire brand, of course, but specific to the E36, too.
Other People Have Great First BMW Stories, Too
Writing and being enthusiastic about BMWs is, in some ways, the easiest thing on the planet. The brand itself does a lot of the heavy lifting. The name carries an intangible weightiness with it, so much so that even non-enthusiasts often seem to have a “first drive in a BMW” story when prodded. In one case it’s a drop-top Z3 that their mother bought when they were barely old enough to even know what a car was.
Another, a long-departed grandfather that leased a new 7 Series religiously, a habit that eventually became a character trait inextricable from the man’s other many redeeming qualities. But those first rides individuals have shared with me in the past somehow made a lasting, enduring impression. So much that they fondly remember the drive sometimes as much as twenty years later.
Whether you were driving, riding shotgun, or stuffed in the trunk, it’s likely that your first time in a BMW is an occasion you haven’t forgotten. It’s similarly probable that, if you drive a BMW today, your first BMW adventure laid that foundation long ago. It may even be the reason you’re here on Bmwblog! We’d love to hear how your first drive went — and what about it ensnared you as it did us.
