Here’s the thing
about forbidden fruit:
There is always at least one; one car, one truck one bike
that we can’t have. It doesn’t matter if
it is a financial issue or a government issue.
As you may have seen from my introduction a few days ago, I
am a very large fan of BMW and their silky smooth straight six motors. In my relatively short driving career I have
had the pleasure of owning and wrenching on both the M52 2.8l motor as well the
M54 3.0l lump. Both are amazing in their
own right, and it’s great to see the advancements in technology from one
generation to the next. My favorite is the advancement from single Vanos (BMW’s
fancy variable timing system) on the M52 to the double Vanos on the newer M54.
But the one iteration which has eluded me thus far is the
grandest of them all the 3.2l 333hp S54 in the E46 M3. This smooth six makes over 100hp/liter
without the help of any forced induction or witchcraft, just six individual
throttle bodies and a screaming 8,000rpm redline.
Now some of you may say, “But Devlin, those are plentiful in
the U.S. of A”, but in fact they are less rare than the 3 series I drive now. However,
what we never got here was the final version, the mighty M3 CSL.
The CSL has the same 3.2l motor but modified to pump out out
360hp. And this newfound power is used to propel a car which is a few hundred pounds
lighter than the standard M3, all thanks to a carbon fiber roof, and other
weight saving items. These included thinner walled exhaust just to give you an
idea of the engineering dedication that went into this car. And still no forced
induction! Now that’s witchcraft.
So what is it about these cars that make them so
desirable? Is it simply the fact that we
can’t have them, or is there more than that? Everyone has some sort of
forbidden fruit, everyone from Bill Gates with his Porsche 959 to the numerous
people who have already crossed into Canada to buy a 25 year old Nissan GT-R.
So I ask you readers, what’s your forbidden fruit and why?
~ Devlin
~ Devlin
For me it is the Corvette. Yes, it is available where I live, and yes I can afford one. But that only serves to make the temptation that much worse!
ReplyDeleteThe issue with the car has nothing to do with the car itself! The issue is that once you buy one you separate yourself from regular people and become synonymous with the group of Corvette owners. The trouble there, if you own your own company it doesn't matter how big, or what it makes/does people will jump to the conclusion that you are charging too much! Even if you win the car in the lottery they will think this.
It also affects you as an employee, driving a corvette makes employers question whether you are already making enough. And makes colleagues think you are making more than them, which in turn hurts everything else at work.
So here I am, waiting to be old enough not to give a damn about what other people think just so I can have my mid life crisis car.