What I Learned This Morning

So, I dropped the car off this morning. Right now, at great expense to me, strange men are dismantling the dashboard. That's the bad news. The good news is they gave me a loaner car.

And that's where we have today's lesson: borrowing a BMW is way more fun than owning one. Now, it's not that I'm driving recklessly or anything. The insurance premiums would go through the roof, just for starters.

But still. In my heart, that if I wreck my car, it's my problem, whereas if I wreck the loaner, it's their problem.

That and this one I'm driving is a 3 series. The 3 series is lighter than the 7 series by about 20,000 lbs. So, when you hit the gas, you really get that pinned-to-the-back-of-the-seat feel the way you don't in mine. Even with that feeling, though, I've still been consistently 15 over the limit without noticing.

And it has a push-button starter! The "key" is really a RFID transmitter thingy (and remote door opener) that you put into this slot. And then you hit the "On" button and the car starts! I mean, holy shit!

Note to people who might be driving a car with a push-button starter: you have to put your foot on the brake to start it. Otherwise, it'll just turn itself off. I hope this reminder will spare you the five minutes I spent getting this figured out when I went home for lunch.

Other than that, this thing doesn't really have any bells and whistles that mine doesn't have, other than the peace of mind I get when I drive the thing. Which is neither a bell, nor a whistle. But whatever.