The past year has been an interesting ride for sure. While I didn’t get to race at all, I did manage to attend a few track days at the beginning of the year, even though the MINI needed a new clutch. In my last (car-related) post I bid farewell to our old E39, but I didn’t mention what had replaced it.

Originally I was trying to find another 5-series as I had really enjoyed the comfort of the E39. (it’s still the most comfortable car I’ve ever driven) I looked around at used F10 and F90 550 and M5 models, but was warned about the engines by my mechanic.

I sat down and thought about what it was that I really wanted and it came down to a few things: sporty, manual transmission, (no flappy paddles) decent horsepower and comfortable.

I looked at a lot of cars online for a little over a year, but eventually I started to settle on either BMW or Porsche. On the Porsche side, I’ve always loved the Cayman. Having never driven a mid-engine sports car this was definitely an interesting choice. However after scouring the internet for months, I realized that Porsches hold their value far too well. I would need to settle for a significantly older model to afford one and it would also be significantly less practical as a 2-seater.

Swinging back to the BMW side, I decided that if I was going this way, I wanted a M car. One day I stumbled on a listing for a 2016 M4 in Yas Marina blue with decent miles and seemingly in great condition. As a number of cars had already slipped through my fingers, I didn’t get my hopes up, but to my surprise the car was still available the following Saturday. I set an appointment with the dealer that was about a 3hr drive away, cleaned out the E39 and drove up with the family.

Everything went well, the car checked out (I even brought my BMW scan tools to verify) and I ended up trading the E39 for it that day.

Over the last year, I’ve really enjoyed having this as my daily driver. It’s admittedly a lot of car for that role and I’m sure some would wonder why I’d choose it. However, I’ve always thought that cars were meant to be driven, not to be collectors items. This M4 is about as close to my goal as I could achieve. It’s probably the last generation of fully manual gasoline-powered M model that BMW will produce and far more attractive than the current model. I want to enjoy this last era of full manual, dinosaur-burning muscle before they’re all gone and we’re relegated to driving (or being driven by) a computer on wheels.