-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Dave Kegel" <d.kegel@comcast.net>
> Yes, please elaborate.
There's nothing wrong with the car itself...that's for sure. The one we
ordered for March delivery came in the wrong interior color (silver), and it
had a stick. That was fine for me, but Eva wants to drive it too, and she
doesn't want to learn to drive a stick. She's "above" that!! (She thinks that
a car with a columm shifter (ATX or MTX) is obsolete!)
So we canceled that buy, and were waiting to order an '07 when they became
available, in June or July. Then, gas started rising, and our house
investments had already started slowing down their appreciation. There are a
couple of investment things we need to be ready for in 3 or 4 years, which
might be a little tougher to accomplish if things continue to go the way they
are, national and international economy wise. Also, I'm a firm believer in the
premise of "We Were Warned", the Fox news program about what might happen if
another Katrina hits Houston about the time that Al Quaeda decides to
successfully hit that huge refinery/oil depot in Saudi Arabia. I came up with
that possibility myself before I knew there was a program on TV about it. I
don't trust our current government officials to keep things aimed straight
ahead, and the rest of the world is now definitely a part of our future, energy
wise, as opposed to the way it was a few years ago. We have to work with th!
em, not
turn them into adversaries.....(Mainland China is the biggest example!!)
That marginal outlook, plus the fact that the GS is paid for, also plus the
fact that a (really) good car stereo system is as important to me as the
ability to get to 60 mph in 5 seconds, helped me decide that a bird in the hand
is worth two in the bush.
The current 5 series BMWs come standard with I-drive, which means that even the
basic sound system is buried in the electronics of the trip computer, the
display screen, and the selector knob. There is no "head" unit that I can swap
out like I did with the GS, and if Eva's X5 is any indication, the premium
sound system is anything but premium...it's just heavy. My thumb of exuberance
rotated past the horizontal position towards the down position during the phone
call I made to my favorite stereo shop guy when he said I could spend up to $12
or $13K to make a 5 series sound system the way I wanted it to.
Leasing a 550 for about $900 a month would eat up the $30K I could get for the
GS about the time I would turn it in, and then I would have nothing...no car,
and a +/- $70,000 price-tag to pay for a 2010 BMW something.
The bottom line is....it isn't the right time now to go out on that financial
limb. Every time in the past (since Eva came along in 1997) I have come to a
fork in the road like this, I have made the right decision, even though it
might not have looked like it at the time. I still have my other retirement
present in mind, and taking the economical/sensible route now will make that
event (the Fountain Sport Cruiser) that much more likely to appear. I'll get
something new down the road...I've decided to keep the GS until it falls apart,
like Lowrider. Since it is a Lexus, it will last longer than I will.
Heck....no one passed me in Indiana when I had the GS on the track, and now it
will have theoretically better tires then it did then!! That's good enough for
now, and you outta hear Celine, or Enigma, or the Top Gun Anthem on the
stereo!! It makes you humble!! If I can get higher than 28 mpg on a trip,
with the inch taller tires, I'm satisfied....all the bases are covered.
Plus, there's always Black Diamond!!
George
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