Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Tire check

I’ve been remiss in regularly checking the tire pressure on the BMW M2. Best practice with any car is to maintain tire pressures as dictated by the sticker on the driver-side door jam. (The M2 calls for 35 psi cold at all four corners. Easy.) Almost imperceptible amounts of air leaks out of the tires over time, so it’s important to refill it periodically. Back in my more diligent days, it was once a month check in the morning, when the tires are stone cold.

With the M2 sitting at nearly 18,000 total miles, it was also time to check the tread depth. The BMW comes from the factory fitted with Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS) tires. No complaints about these boots: they grip fantastically, and perform reasonably well in the wet. The PSS has a 300 tread-wear rating, which to me means if a driver drives completely like a grandma, the tire should last 30,000 miles.

No chance of that happening in a rear-wheel-drive sports car with 400 horsepower. From what I can gather in the inter-webs, the rear tires on a M2 Competition (or BMW M3/M4, which has the same exact drivetrain) typically lasts from 12,000 to 15,000 miles. (The front tires obviously last longer because all they do is steer.) So I was surprised to find a decent amount of rear tread remaining on my M2.

It seems I drive the car in a performant manner very seldomly. For shame!

I reckon I will have to replace (at least the rear) tires at the end of this year. This BMW M2 is reaching a point in its young life where it’s starting to cost me some money to maintain. The free service (first three years or 30,000 miles) ended last year. The consumables are consuming to the point of needing replacement. This is the point of ownership when car enthusiasts tend trade it in for another new car. We get to drive something different, and it resets the maintenance clock, too (if you will).

But not in this economy! This BMW M2 is my ride-or-die for the foreseeable future.

Third birthday

It’s official: I’ve owned my 2021 BMW M2 Competition for three years now. It’s the longest I’ve ever kept a car purchased with my own money. The previous three cars, my wandering interests led me to switch out of them before the three-year ownership mark. The difference this time? Interest rates. Borrowing cost is too high right now to take out a loan (or take money out of interest-bearing savings account). Especially for what is really a pleasure vehicle. I’m fortunate to not need a car for my lifestyle.

Not to say I don’t have any wandering interests currently. I am a car enthusiast, after all. The Honda Civic Type R is still calling my name. But I can be patient. Presumably, Honda will be making its flagship hot-hatch for at least a few more years. The plan is to buy a Civic Type R towards the end of its production run. That should give me a bit of time to save up further, earn some of that sweet compounding interest.

Because the goal is to keep the M2 in addition to whatever car I’m buying next. Three years in, I remain smitten with the little pugnacious coupe from Germany. It’s got just enough power, just enough utility, to fit my single car-guy life. The front-engine, rear-wheel drive dynamics is as classic sports car as it gets. The only complaint? The atrocious fuel economy. But that’s the price to pay for all the fun.

BMW offers three years free maintenance on all its new cars. That means for my M2, it has just expired. In a vote of confidence (for myself) in keeping the car for longer, I purchased a two-year extension of the maintenance contract. (Less inclined to sell a car that’s still got money on it, right?) For a relatively cheap sum of $899 (not subject to sales tax), the next two annual visits to dealership service is now paid for. The rear differential fluid change that’s due next year will more than make up for the initial outlay.

Here’s to many more years of happy M2 ownership!

That's a no from me

Much have been said, lots of it negative, about the exterior design of the new BMW M2. The incongruously boxy design makes the new car look like a Chinese knock-off of the old one. You know it’s not a winning design when people have to caveat it with, “It looks better in person!” Beautiful objects look good no matter if it’s in person or on photographic medium.

To test out the hypothesis that the new M2 looking better in the flesh, I got an opportunity to stare at one when I took my own M2 (previous generation) to the dealership for service. The copy in the showroom is in Black Sapphire Metallic, which helps to camouflage the bulbousness of the lower half. In person, the front end of the new M2 looks rather decent. I wouldn’t call it cohesive, but it’s effective in translating the latest BMW design language. Again, the color black really helps to hide some of the awkward shapes.

What black cannot hide is the hideousness of the new M2’s rear end. The rear bumper design is as atrocious in person as it is in pictures and videos. Why the need for so many elements that jut out? Like warts on an otherwise pristinely smooth face. If I were in a car following this new M2, I would want to pass it as soon as possible so I don’t have to keep looking at that rear end design. It’s simply awful.

The service advisor asked me if I were looking to upgrade - from my old M2 to the new one. I had to be diplomatic about it (instead of laughing out loud ) and said the new car’s exterior is too polarizing. Obvious bias aside, the F87 generation BMW M2 Competition will go down in BMW’s rich history as one of its classic designs. Elegantly aggressive is how I would describe it.

Another six months

Last night I got an email from Progressive notifying me of my upcoming insurance renewal. Good news: premiums on my BMW M2 Competition did not go up. Bad news: the premiums did not go down either. As my friend commented: it’s truly a glass half full situation. I look at it slightly differently: it’s always better to gain nothing than to lose something. So I’m okay with premiums staying put for another six months.

I guess Bay Area BMW owners haven’t got into more mayhem than usual these days. Unfortunately, our cars must still be massively expensive to repair. If my father’s Toyota Corolla costs nearly $20K to fix for a simple front-end fender bender, a BMW with all its fancy aluminum bits has got to be worse. That’s why I am paying just above $1,000 dollars every six months on a plan with a $2,500 collision deductible.

And Progressive is already cheapest amongst its peers. Premiums would be double with State Farm or Geico. It’s madness.

All for a car that I seldom drive. It’s an expensive hobby, this car enthusiast thing. Being a single male in his mid 30s doesn’t help things either. And I’m suppose to be getting a second car in a few year’s time? (Hello there, Honda Civic Type R.) Though apparently it doesn’t cost that much more to insure additional vehicles. Insurance companies know you the lone person can only ever drive one car at a time. So you would only be be insuring the opportunity risk of driving the second vehicle, which at the same time decreases the risk of the primary vehicle.

Got to spend money to save money, I guess?

10K in the M2

Recently I noticed my BMW M2 Competition’s odometer ticked over 10,000 miles. It’s taken about two years of ownership to get there, which is to say: a rather long period. A non-insignificant chunk of those miles isn’t even of my doing. The three longest drive taken in my M2 was by other drivers who borrowed the car. The longest I’ve done was two trips to West Sacramento IKEA (from San Francisco) because it was the lone store in the region in stock with the pieces of furniture I wanted.

10,000 miles in two years is easily the least amount of mileage of any car I’ve owned. Even my previous Porsche 911 GT3 - a complete leisure vehicle - would have done the equivalent of 12,000 miles. Living within walking distance of everything - work, play, errands - utterly kills any need of driving. The absolutely bonkers gas prices of 2022 - thanks to the war in Ukraine, I guess? - have limited even the joyful cruises in the local mountains and coastal roads.

Despite the relatively limited seat time, I remain utterly in love with the M2 Competition. It’s such a spritely little coupe with some big power to back it up. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the BMW is more fun to drive than the GT3, albeit in my super amateurish hands. The Porsche is the more eventful car, however: each drive is an absolute occasion. I will always miss the GT3.

The M2 does the everyday life stuff better, too. The trunk is comparatively enormous, and any items bigger than it can be stowed by flipping down the rear seats. The aforementioned IKEA run was easily accomplished. Driving friends to the airport? No problems at all. Anything larger than a carry-on suitcase wouldn’t fit in the 911’s trunk. The BMW is an entirely friendlier car, both to me and my friends. There’s no place I wouldn’t take the M2 to and park it, which is not something I dared to do with the GT3.

All that is to say it was the correct decision to sell the Porsche for the M2 - even if I could afford to keep the Porsche. The M2 fits my lifestyle far better. The fact that it’s more fun to drive as well? I’m incredibly pleased with this BMW. Cheers to more many miles to come.

No mods for old man

It’s been nearly two years of ownership with my BMW M2 Competition. The common question I get from fellow car guys is if I’m going to do any modifications to it. Because as of right now the car is still bone stock as it left the factory. There isn’t even a decal on the windows, zero signs of personalization whatsoever. The days of spending the next paycheck on car parts is truly passed and gone.

It’s not that I wouldn’t want to do modifications to the M2. The problem is, the parts I would want to put on the car are so god damn expensive. $200 set of lowering springs and $1000 set of wheels this is not. When you’re dealing with cars the caliber of a BMW M2, a proper suspension upgrade is $3,200 for a set of Ohlin dampers. If I want to change the wheels, only a $4,000 set of M Performance wheels will do. What about an exhaust upgrade? The Akrapovic unit made out of titanium I very much would like is $5,700.

Car parts - the good stuff, anyways - are incredibly expensive! Just those three items I mentioned alone is enough money to buy a whole other used car. Never mind the fact that I also want to wrap the M2 in red - a color it never came with from the factory. Had red been offered - it was available in the lower trims of the 2 series - I would have bought it in that color instead of white.

So yes, I would love to do modifications to the M2. But I’m at a point in life I am unwilling (and shouldn’t, honestly) to spend nearly $15,000 to replace parts on a car that works perfectly fine. I rather save that money towards a down payment on a whole other car. Like the forthcoming Honda Civic Type R…

How much on what?

My brother tells me he just spent over $3,000 on a set of aftermarket wheels for his Mazda Miata. That to me seem extremely extravagant. What’s wrong with the wheels that came with car? Not only did he spend money on an extra set, now he’s got to figure out how to store the original wheels! Think of the gallons of gasoline that can be bought with $3,000. I much rather spend it like that and actually drive the car somewhere.

And he still has to buy tires!

I’m no stranger to extravagant spending: $5,000 on a computer monitor is just fine with me. But to buy a replacement item when the original still works fine? Blasphemy! I’ve been eyeing the new Keychron Q3 mechanical keyboard, and I cannot bring myself to push purchase. Because I’m already typing on this Keychron K8! It would be supremely wasteful to get the latest and greatest. I know this, because I already do that with my iPhone and MacBook Pro…

2022 will be the year I’ll stop buying a new MacBook Pro. I swear! Though I’m always going to get the newest iPhone. It’s all about utility: I will gladly throw money at the things I use most often. Replacement wheels for a car largely serves a stylistic purpose, which is not something I subscribe to. You’ll know, if you ever see me in person.

Perhaps it’s the age difference: my brother is in his early 20s, and I’m ten years older than he. That’s obviously the spend money wantonly phase of life. He’s also a raging car enthusiast like I am, so spending cash on upgrades is a part of the deal. Still, I don’t see myself buying a second set of wheels for the M2. I know exactly what I would get, too. Like I said, I much rather use that money on gas. Have you seen how expensive petrol is lately?