The 7... Too large a car for a single guy?

["Stephen Robinson" <stever@xxxxxxxxx>]

I was taking my fiancee to get her hair cut and highlighted at this upscale
salon last Saturday (not my idea of a fun saturday!) and the owner owns a
hummer, a new dodge viper (silver with 2 large blue stripes), and a purple
corvette with yellow interior...  yeah, he's a little out there.  He found
out I was looking at a 1997 Porsche Targa in the paper that day (it turned
out to be $62,900 and too much money to spend on a car right now even if I
trade in my 88 911 Carrera worth $22k) and discovered I had a 1995 740i as
well.  He couldn't believe a young guy like me (I'm 38 - maybe not so
young?), single for the past 6 years had such a huge car!  He told my
fiancee that it "doesn't fit his image - what does he need such a large car
for?  why doesn't he trade it in and get something more sporty?  it's an
old man's car!!! do you really want to be driving around in that unwieldy
boat?"  

I was shocked!  I didn't think the car had that image to other people.  So
with this message in my head, I go to the gym to work out today and there's
this car parked right in front of mine when I come out - it's just our 2
cars, alone, in an empty corner of the parking lot - head to head, so to
speak, is this a sign - for me to compare it to my car and think about
trading???  - it was a 1997 2 dr M3, black on black, all detailed out,
shining, gleaming, with the spoiler on the back, young looking, yeah....
downright youthful, and I'm thinking - is this me?  I was drooling.  It
screamed out power, handling, style, youth....yes, youth!   I stared at it
for a while and drove off. 

Am I nuts?  Am I driving an old man's car with basically crummy handling
around corners (I don't have the comfort seats option, and I have to really
have to hang on to the wheel so I don't slide out of the unsupportive seats
when hard cornering) ?  My girlfriend thinks the 740i is really nice.  I do
love most things about it, but have to say the handling is poor in terms of
staying in the seat on exit ramps and body roll.  Sure wish it had better
seats.  I guess it's all a trade off.  Anyone else out there question the
immensity of these cars at times and wish they had a little boy racer?  The
thing of it is, I need an automatic as I use it for sales and am in grid
lock traffic most of the time.  It would be hard to go from a 7 to an M3,
an automatic M3, or.... would it?

Steve Robinson
1995 740i
1988 Porsche Carrera 

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