truck me? (an early probe)

in a little less than a year (in theory) i’ll be shopping for another vehicle…

…two (kinda three) come to mind, so we’ll see where it takes me.

i’ve never owned an suv. my wife has one. i’ve driven it plenty of times. i’ve rented several and driven those. but i’ve never actually owned one, and if i do, i’m leaning towards this:

it’s the land rover/range rover evoque coupe dynamic. i like the dynamic package, and i absolutely insist on the coupe. the ufc disagrees with this decision, but after i got the camaro in 2006 i swore i’d never get a four door car again. i broke that rule to myself and got the five series. dig the five series. but the purpose of that was to give us options when we roll around as a family, but os isn’t as comfortable in a five series back seat as he is in an x1 (don’t get me started) so we tend to still take the ufc’s ride everywhere on the ever shrinking amount of times we roll around places as a threesome. so, i’m going back to my two door routes. if bmw made a two door suv i’d jump on it, but they don’t, and i’ve always dug the evoque, so that’s the possible plan. it’s jumping ship on bmw, which i have SEVERAL specialized tools for, but the ufc still has one (for now) and i still have two (for now, and probably a while, much to the ufc’s dismay) but this one DOES offer a full sized spare (bmw’s don’t come with any spare any more, which has bit me in the ass more than once), and the engine on the evoque isn’t on the ward’s list (i’ll get to that in a second), so those are some things to consider if i go this route. or…

or possibly…

the bmw 435i. i like the hard top convertible because i like convertibles, but i do technically already have one, so do i need a second just because it’s newer and hard top? i’m just goofy enough to want this partially because i have a 330ci and a 535i so a “4…i” connects the dots. it also has the exact same engine as my 535i, which IS on the ward’s list, so that’s a positve. to explain – there’s a mechanic’s magazine called “ward’s” that lists the top ten engines each year imported into the u.s., and both my cars have engines that made the list, so i knew they’d be solid. the ufc’s isn’t on the list (and has had multiple oil leak issues) and the evoque’s isn’t either, which is a pretty decent strike against it. i’ve never owned a coupe, so that makes it tempting, but they tend to run about as much as the convertible, and while i never really open up the moon roof on the 535i (but tend to live with the cover on it back) i do tend to drive convertibles topless a LOT so we’ll see, if i go this way, which way i also go.

again, probably not till 2024, and by then these might not be an option as they’ll already be ten years old, but we’ll see. do they still “make em like they used to”?