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Today I did something that I never thought I’d do … handed the keys to my c7 to someone else…
truly loved my c7 and thoroughly enjoyed the corvette community and ownership experience
I do think I’ll be back one day because the car I bought to replace the vette (read below if you care to) isn’t getting any younger (and neither am I for that matter - currently in my late 30s and willing to deal with a less comfortable car, but probably won’t always be and will want magRide back in my life at some point!) … so there’s a good chance that once I’ve had my fun and it becomes challenging to keep on the road, that I’ll be back in a c7 (maybe this time an 18-19 GS rather than the 15 stingray I just got out of, although the stingray is actually all the car I could ever want)…
for anyone interested (possibly no one haha, this is long to feel free to skip), a little about how I landed on the new toy … which came as a surprise to even me … a 2006 BMW M Roadster. like I said - stupid decisions abound haha.
I’ve had no shortage of friends and family tell
me that I was crazy for going from a c7 to an older, slower, less reliable car with far less tech / features / comfort. And it’s true, there’s no denying that the c7 is the better overall car and does many more things well than the M Roadster
Anyway … I had about two months in between contracts at work, where work was incredibly slow. After doing everything else I could think of (pulled my son out of daycare and did stuff with him, hiked every local hike I could think of, biked every trail I could think of, invented errands just so I’d have an excuse to drive the vette, etc etc etc … two months is a long time to be getting paid and have zero things to do at work, it’s a lot of time to kill) - I then thought ... why don't I line up some test drives, just for fun, just to experience some other cool cars? So I did…
During this time, I drove 997 911, 991 911, 981 Boxster, 987 Boxster, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, S2000, ND Miata, an LS-swapped NC Miata, E46 M3, F80 M4, Camaro6, Mustang GT, Jaguar F-Type V6 S, Lotus Evora S, gen 2 Dodge Viper, C6 427 Corvette, R57 Mini Cooper JCW, Saturn Sky Redline (remember that?), 350Z, 370Z, Audi TT, new Supra, and of course my own C7 Stingray Z51 7MT (all test drives were in manual convertibles, except for evora and Supra which was manual hard top). In fact, the M roadster was one of the last cars I test drove because I just wasn’t expecting that much from it. I was far more excited about the Porsche’s and Aston Martin.
These cars are all special and amazing in their own way, but only one got in my head, stayed with me, and really made me question whether I was in the right car ... and that of couse was the M Roadster. After every other test drive, even the likes of 911s and V8 Vantage, I would think "yeah, that car did some great things ... but give me back the keys to my Vette". But not the M Roadster, I just couldn't get it out of my head. It's tossable size, short gearing, very small steering wheel, screaming S54, perfect amount of power to enjoy on public roads, very quick steering, and that BMW frantic / high-strung feeling all combined for a driving experience that just won me over. After a few nights trying to talk myself out of it, the M Roadster was in my driveway. it just seemed crazy to me that the car I enjoyed so much and wanted to drive again the most was one of the least expensive on the list. I couldn't believe it - had you asked me two weeks ago, I would have said "I love my C7 and it's not going anywhere". Yet, here we are.
I think the two biggest factors for me were its size (about the size of a Miata, although heavier) and its gearing (because the S54 engine is more about HP at 8k rpm rather than torque at low RPM, it can be fitted with shorter gearing and still be able to launch without endless wheel spin … so 2nd gear tops out around 60, and it means you get to shift gears way more often). On the contrary - I thought the 982 Boxster and the Viper were great cars that were ruined by super tall gearing. Anyway…
The M Roadster is clearly NOT a better car than the c7. It’s slower, has lower handling limits, has no “chill / quiet” mode, worse tech, fewer features, a smaller cabin, and only one setting for suspension and exhaust.
But, at this specific stage in my enthusiast journey, it had a certain magic that appealed to me in a way I really didn’t expect. I wasn’t actually planning to buy a car at all when these test drives started, but I found it that compelling. So here we are…
one cool thing to come out of this… we currently have a two year old son and are expecting a daughter in a couple months, and my wife commented on how it’s not often in the world of cars that the thing you want more costs so much less than what you currently have (the vette sold for about $17k more than we paid for the M Roadster). So my wife came up with this idea to create a new brokerage account that we’ve nicknamed “The (insert names of our son and unborn daughter) Corvette Stingray Investment Account” and put the money we pocketed there. I think it’ll be a cool story one day to tell my kids that daddy’s Stingray is paying for their wedding / grad school / home down payment / whatever else.
so with that, I’ll leave some pics of both cars below, and say goodbye for now and thanks to all in the community for the hospitality. I’ll be sure to let you all know when I’ve bought back a c7 GS because I’ve grown too frustrated with a constantly broken down aging BMW!
Goodbye for now… bad decisions abound!
