Dallas, Texas is one of those towns, much like Los Angeles, where you "are-what-you-drive". That's why a casual friend of mine down there blew his first commercial real estate commission check on one of these BMW 650i convertibles. Despite his big pay day being a deep five-figures he still had a monthly payment that could choke a horse. This 2009 BMW 650i convertible is for sale up here in bucolic Cleveland, Ohio for "just" $15,995.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen, right? While it was fast, it drove harshly for a luxury car - there was no adjustment on the suspension like even my son's 2017 Camaro has. I remember thinking it ugly and a huge waste of money too. Of course, I didn't tell him that. Even if we were the best of friends I don't think it my place to tell anyone they've wasted their money. Is it our job to reassure someone who's done something we find inexplicably foolish? Yes. It is. And to evilly egg them on to continue their errant ways. I kid but on some level I was jealous of him for feeling so free and empowered to be so foolish. Then again, he was going through a nasty divorce and I don't think he wanted the soon-to-be ex wife to have any of his new loot.
These big, weird ass BMW coupes are part of the Chris Bangle designs that blighted BMW showrooms in the 2000's. Bangle was an American car designer hired by BMW in 1999 and opinions of his work at BMW are, to be kind, mixed. I don't need to be kind so I can tell you that I think every one of his efforts was horrible. Including these grand-touring, 6 series coupes.
The BMW 6 series goes back to 1976. The replacement for the to-die-for E9 series, it was BMW's first grand-touring, two-door coupe and was based on their 5-series, four-door sedan. It was replaced by the 8-series in 1990, the 8-series replaced by these "Chris Bangle" 6 series coupes in 2003. BMW made these atrocities through model year 2010 and replaced them with a convoluted 6-series lineup that also included four-door sedans; best is they called the four-door sedans "coupes" too. They might as well have thrown in a woodie-crossover.
That 650i my friend had, as this one is too, was packed, I mean packed with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos many of which have trickled down to the most plebeian of vehicles today. Parking sensors, USB aux hook up, blue-tooth, heads up display. Some of the stuff like the voice activated navigation system seems as woefully out of date today as a "state-of-the-art" four-head VCR with a "jog-wheel". Seriously. Also, his being a 2009 model, again, like this, for $90,000+ (when new) it doesn't even have a backup camera.
Even on today's cars, my son's Camaro in particular, I'm leery of all the "tech-stuff" on them. My son already had his "info-tainment" system replaced under warranty; what happens as these things get older and need replacing? How much is that going to cost? I hate to be that "old fart" who thinks everything is going to break, but, sorry, all this stuff is going to break and probably sooner than later.
Another problem is this is, after all, like the mid 2000's Mercedes-Benz CS series I love, a German built car. I adore the engineering but they're as reliable as a kite in a windstorm. They're frighteningly expensive to repair because their parts are priced out this world. It's not that they're that hard to work on - it's the cost of their parts that will put you in the poor house.
Ugly, dated and expensive to fix? Where do I sign? About the only thing going for this car is that it hasn't aged that badly, still looks contemporary and the neighbors who don't know any better and are impressed with such things will be. At least the interior is handsome. Spruce up that driver's seat and live a little. Go on. Indulge yourself. You deserve it.
By the way, my friend in Dallas who blew all that money on that 650i had it for less than a year. Turned out the commercial real estate business is a fickle one and on the on-ramp to the great recession, having a still substantial payment on a car pushing $100,000 was not where his accountant deemed he should be. That big check he got was about the only one he got that year too. He ditched it and took a serious beating.
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