My story concerning how much $$$ I was willing to spend driving over the years was not intended as any form of criticism of your choice to divest yourself of one of your cars. I was just telling of how I paid for my folly, and what I drove during those years.

I was an hourly-paid employee, who made myself indispensible to my employers, and that alone helped finance my excessive fuel bills. But, I never felt I had enough $$$ to purchase new, or high-end vehicles to play with. I always was a project-car kind of guy.

I only bought 6 of my 25 cars new from dealerships (and had trouble later-on with some their service departments; the 3 Chevrolets '86 S-10, '08 Cobalt, '09 HHR, from one dealer, were the exception...a good dealership among rotten apples), so I bought and maintained used cars as my hobby.

While my friends and co-workers bought & sold their new cars every 2-3 years, spending/losing so much on depreciation, my old hum-drum vehicles cost me comparatively nothing. I also have a habit of keeping them 'til they were beyond repair, or keeping them as I would a pet, unless damaged in an accident (I flipped/rolled a VW, two were T-boned, one was driven into a creek by my ex, one was stolen and totalled by my younger brother); I have let go of only six, to new homes with fellow tinkerers, or traded to one for another project.

As for my latest project-car, I thought I needed AWD or 4WD to aid me with my camping hobby, so I traded for the X5. I almost bought a 2002??, new, back in the '70s, but bought a new '73 VW Superbeetle and then a used '73 Volvo 142 (to assuage my Euro appetite). But, I asked for and received the X5 from my friend, with whom I traded my Chevelle, because it was my final chance to own a BMW (and I've admired, from afar, the E53 for 22 years). Finally, I've got a BMW, an AWD/4WD, and a project-car all rolled-into-one!

I wish I had experienced driving BMW's over the years, as you have, and that my stable was as upscale as yours, but as you said, we've led different lives.

__________________
01 BMW X5 E53,3.0i-5L40E, 7/13/01
topas-blau,Leder-grau,"resto-project car"

Here:
14 Lexus ES350,3.5L-U660E
09 HHR Panel,2.2L-4T45E
04 Chevy 2500HD,6.0L-4L80E
98 GMC Sierra 1500,5.7L-4L60E

Gone:
66 Chevelle Malibu 2dr ht.,327>441c.i.-TH350>PGlide/transbrake
08 Cobalt Coupe,2.2L-4T45E
69 & 75 C10s,350c.i.-TH350
86 S10,2.8L-700R4
73 Volvo 142,2.0L-MT4
72 & 73 VW SuperBeetles,1.6l-MT4
64 VW,1.2l-MT4
67 Dodge Monaco 500 2dr ht.,383c.i.-A727
56 Chevy 210 4dr,265c.i.-PGlide