I grew up riding around in my dad's 1984 E28 528e. I was 3 years old when he bought it. The interior had all of these strange status lights above, like an aircraft almost, and there was this "calculator" looking thing next to the steering wheel. Weird. The window switches were even next to the gear knob instead of on the door. I knew something was special about it. But I wouldn't know why until years later.
Fast forward a decade, and I'm 15 and learning how to drive. My dad still has the E28. Although I get to drive the car to learn a stick shift, I still don't know what's so great about the car. I haven't driven enough to appreciate what a proper car feels like. I'm always stalling the car out and worrying about getting in the right gear. Most of the time, I accidentally start in 3rd gear, since reverse was right next to 1st, and I was really cautious about backing my dad's BMW into another car!
When I finally get my own ride, it's not a bimmer, though, but a 1997 Jeep Cherokee. All my buddies had Jeeps and were into four wheeling, so a BMW wasn't even in the cards. But in 2000, my dad finally buys a new car after 180K miles: a black 528i. 16 years later and he buys the same damn car. All I could think was, how boring!?! But I didn't know. I didn't know how the 528i would handle, the way it would deliver feedback to the driver. I didn't know that you could drive it for 6 hours without fatiguing. I didn't know what smooth power output it would have. But that all changed once I got behind the wheel. I then knew that I'd own one, some day...
Eight years later, it's the winter of 2008, and I'm 27. It's time to sell the Jeep I bought in high school, and move on. I'm no longer four wheeling, so the time is right for a fast car. Of course I only looked at BMWs. I didn't even test drive any other makes. The E90 330i fit my budget and my taste, so I headed over to the local dealer to try one out, and the rest is history.
Now, my little brother drives the '84 E28. It's older than he is, and no one knows exactly how many miles are on the car, because he's swapped out the engine and transmission so many times. The E28 is faded, old, and beat up. But he loves the car, and loves bimmers more than anyone I know. Now all I have to do is convince my other brother to get rid of his Accord and buy a real car!
