Hello Yellow Jeepie!

It wasn't time to get a new car, but this happy Jeep has made a grand entrance after my trusty BMW 325xiT wagon came to an untimely end last month. 

We got the BMW when I was was pregnant with Dova and brought her home from the hospital in it. It's taken us on countless journeys through the years. Granted it was nearly 15 years old with 185,600 miles, but it was still a great luxury car with heated leather sports seats, a short throw shifter, and an engine that ran smooth as silk. I really wanted to hit 200k miles before thinking of giving it up. Ok, so it also had a new random light pop up on the dash every month (cycling between brake lining, radiator and oil usually), but overall, it was very reliable, safe and comfortable.

The kids and I were on the way to the beach last month, and we had to slow quickly to a stop on Rt. 495 (since it was hot out and everyone was on the way to the beach). After coming to a stop, I instinctively looked in my rear view mirror and saw that the truck behind me had plenty of space to stop and looked away. Except the truck didn't stop and rammed into our car. Immediately, I  hit the car in front of us as well. We all pulled over in the left shoulder and after making sure that everyone was okay, did the obligatory exchanging of registration and insurance information.  The truck which had hit me had State Farm insurance, so the kids immediately sang the song from the ad, but no State Farm representative magically appeared (meme courtesy of Adam).

Thankfully someone contacted the police since I had no idea how to do it.  I didn't think it was an emergency requiring 9-1-1. I actually called directory assistance 4-1-1 to get the number for the state police but they insisted on a city and state.  I correctly guessed Andover and got the number, but then the other driver told me that the police had already been contacted.  Later, I learned from Doug that you can dial *SP, but just now I found that *SP is now obsolete (but will still be answered).  Just dial 9-1-1 for crying out loud!

While we waited for the police, I checked out the huge traffic jam we were causing on both sides of the highway (we were heading North). Check out those red lines of traffic! Rubberneckers!

The one thing that my kids and I thought was odd was that we didn't hear the rear hatch glass break. When I looked through the rear-view mirror after the crash, I saw glass all over the hood of the truck behind me. Their windshield was still intact which confused me, because I didn't immediately figure out that it was glass from our car. Dova also looked back and thought, "Gee, I don't remember leaving hatch window open. Oh, the glass is broken!" Definitely lots of after-crash confusion. Thankfully, most of the glass went into the truck and outside the car, and not too much went into the passenger compartment. After the accident, Dova didn't want to come out of the car, but Adam wandered out to view the wreckage and scored the rear Roundel as a keepsake.

When the police officer arrived, he came up the right shoulder of the highway and came to a quick stop heading towards us when he saw our cars. Another car in the middle lane screeched to a halt to avoid hitting the police cruiser. This is the best part according to Dova... The police officer stuck his head out the window and screamed at the car, "This is why you don't ride my ass!"  To which the driver replied, "I wasn't riding your ass!"  Now the police officer was really pissed and told him to pull over as well.  Now all five cars were on the narrow left shoulder. After checking to see that no one was injured, the police officer told us all to move to the right shoulder and stopped the entire highway so we could move our cars.  

Forty minutes after the accident, we were on our way again. I considered continuing on to the beach. We could shake the glass out of the boogie boards and beach towels, right? But then I thought that we couldn't leave the car with an open window because people could steal stuff. Like they would CLIMB THROUGH BROKEN GLASS to steal stuff!?!? In the end, I had the sense to get off at the next exit and turn around. When we passed the location of the accident, we saw the other stopped driver taking a sobriety test shirtless on the side of the highway. Oh yeah, he had it coming!

It was a tough drive home, my mind and judgement were not quite up to snuff.  At least I had some sense to head back and not to the beach! I was pretty sure my car was totaled considering its age and mileage, and a few days later, it was confirmed. There was quite a bit of damage to the trunk; the spare tire actually helped to cushion against further damage. Repair estimate was $6300, the car was worth $5000   :(. A couple ironic points to note: all the turn and brake signals worked perfectly after the crash, and the brake lining sensor light finally went out!

In searching for a new car, I had a few key criteria.  Heated steering wheel was at the top of the list. What kind of softie are you, you ask? Years ago, I had driven a friend's car with a heated steering wheel in the middle of winter, and it is the BEST THING EVER. I found this cool site which you can find cars by such obscure criteria: cars.axlegeeks.com/d/f/Heated-Steering-Wheel.  Here is the complete criteria for my next car:

Must-haves:

1. Heated steering wheel, heated seats
2. Can fit Adam's upright bass with only one rear seat folded down
3. Front wheel drive
4. Good gas mileage (30+ mpg highway)
5. Bluetooth
6. Under $30k

Nice-to-haves:

1. Manual transmission (used to be on the must-have list)
2. All wheel drive (snowy in these parts)
3. Cool color
4. Cool roof

Before the accident, I wanted to get an electric car had my eye on the Kia Soul EV, especially in electric blue, but the EV model was not available in the east coast. The gas engine Kia Soul fit the must haves, but only one of the nice-to-haves (cool roof). The electric BMW i3 would've been cool to own, but it completely missed the under $30k mark, as well as front wheel drive. I located a used BMW wagon meeting all the criteria except the first one - heated steering wheel!  Then I priced a new BMW wagon with the entire criteria list and it came out to $51k! Grrr! Clearly, I had to give up owning a "fleet" of BMWs.

According to AxleGeeks, only three new cars met my must-have criteria (bass fitting test to follow):

1. Buick Encore
2. Jeep Renegade
3. Kia Soul

I didn't care for the Buick, so we went off to the Jeep and Kia dealers for the bass test (as opposed to the acid test). Both cars passed the bass test, although the Renegade was a bit tight (there are side panels in the trunk which could accommodate optional speakers but were just blocking storage space otherwise). Now, Doug actually already had his eye on the new Jeep Renegade model for himself and was steering me in that direction, especially since it had a manual transmission. For the Kia, you couldn't get both the stick and the heated wheel in the same car. Wake up, car manufacturers! People don't get manual transmissions just to be economical anymore! But neither dealer had any inventory available that had colors that I liked, even in trades with other dealers. In fact, I didn't like any one of the Kia Soul colors available for 2015. Typical woman! Perhaps cool color needed to moved up to the must-haves.

A few days prior to visiting the car dealers, Dova and I spotted a yellow Jeep Renegade on the streets and thought it looked super cool. My top choice was yellow for this car, although the blue was pretty sharp too (but I already have a blue car). The Jeep dealer we visited could only get an orange one or boring neutral colors. The next day, I looked online and found both the yellow and blue Jeep Renegades at dealers near me with EVERY must-haves and nice-to-haves. Why couldn't the Jeep dealer I visited do the same search?

We called 495 Chrysler Jeep Dodge, and they actually just received the car the day before. Three hours and a test drive later, it was mine. The next day we picked up the car and learned some of the history and features of the car that even "Mr. Car Guy" Doug didn't know.

For example, the seven ovals on the grills of all Jeeps represent the seven continents that Jeeps are sold on, although this claim for the first car on Antarctica has been contested and rebutted (see comments in the link).

This car is actually manufactured in Italy by Fiat (FCA = Fiat Chrysker Automobiles), so Doug calls it a "sexy Jeep" because it's Italian. The kids love the "easter eggs" where you can find the Jeep logos everywhere, even in the headlights.

The rear lights originally reminded me of the x's you find on dead cartoon character's eyes, but now that I know that the design is from the military gas cans from WWII, they look cool, especially when you back up (notice more easter eggs).

There are little Jeeps everywhere, here's one on the windshield.

Dova spotted the spider in the gas fill first. Ciao Baby! It's Italian alright.

She also spotted the Bigfoot on the rear window.

The heated steering wheel has already been put to use and the manual shifter has a nice, positive feel. But the coolest nice-to-have is the My Sky roof!

When I was setting up the Bluetooth connection, I asked Dova to send me text to test it out. 

Hey yellow Jeepie! Welcome to the family!

Welcome AutoWeek! Here's the Fleet

After some time, I finally get to announce that I will be writing for AutoWeek online!  My first post, Here's how the minivan stopped me from having more kids, was published yesterday.  The original title was "Minivans as a Form of Birth Control."  We've never ever considered buying a minivan, especially since we stopped having children at two, so I like to joke that the mere thought of a minivan stopped us from having more kids.  That is until now...

Check out the post over at AutoWeek to see why and how we caved with our latest car minivan purchase.  In the article, I mention that we love performance cars, but not which ones. Here's our fleet as it stands now.



Last year's family portrait in an antithesis of a minivan... my 2009 BMW 135i Convertible with the M sport package.  This baby flies at 300 HP.  The story of how this car came to be is here.



Doug's car is a made-to-order 2006 Corvette with the Z51 performance package. He beats me at 400 HP. Zoom!



Since my precious rear wheel drive 135i doesn't handle the New England ice and snow (and car-eating salt) very well, I kept my previous car, a 2001 BMW 325xi touring sedan (i.e. wagon), for the winter (and rainy days). This was my daily driver since 2003 and has been quite a trusty workhorse. Not to mention it is quite luxurious and sporty with a sport suspension and manual transmission. Now this is the only car that we have with a 5-speed instead of a 6-speed manual transmission.



Here's the latest edition, a Mazda5 with a 6-speed manual transmission. How much flak are we gonna get for this family portrait?

Happy 1er Anniversary

It's been a year since I've bought my car, a BMW 135i Convertible. The 1-Series is also known as a 1er in BMW circles, hence the post title. This post was originally published on BlogHer in March 2010. The original title of the post was Yes, You Can Be a Mom and a Car Enthusiast Too, but was edited to Mommy Wants a Convertible. Which was true, but not the essense of the post (geesh am I that shallow?).  Enjoy...

In my twenties, I fell in love with BMWs.  I loved their history, their styling, and their ability to live up to pure car enthusiast standards in terms of performance and handling.  I scraped together all my money and stretched my budget completely thin to buy my first BMW.  I absolutely loved the car.  I loved how it drove, loved how it looked and I meticulously hand-washed and waxed the car to keep it beautiful.

Fast-forward 10 years, and I found myself ready to buy a new car.  I had my sights set on a BMW convertible.  After driving a friend’s convertible, I realized that you really need to wear a cap while driving top-down on the highway to keep your hair in place and the sun off your face.  So I grew out my bangs so that I could wear a cap and not mess up my hair.  I was all set for my next car adventure.  Even my hair was ready.  Except, then I was pregnant with my first child. 

My husband and I were in the showroom looking at convertibles when it dawned on me that the reduced trunk space of a convertible was going to be a problem.  We already had a brand-new fancy stroller with those 12-inch wheels waiting for the baby.  There was no way that stroller was going to fit in the trunk.  And let’s face it, I can joke around about putting goggles on the baby for driving with the top down, but in reality you would never drive open-roof with a baby in the car.  My husband suggested that we look into the sport wagon (or "touring sedan," as they call it) instead.  I was crestfallen. 

I did eventually buy a used BMW wagon with a sport package, a five-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive.  Not your average soccer mom car.  But it was still a wagon, and it just didn’t fire my imagination.  However, after hauling two kids with all their stuff through all sorts of nasty New England weather, it was definitely a good choice.

Last summer, I was invited to attend a BlogHer  event, "What Do Women Want in a Vehicle".  Of course I was all jazzed about going and giving my voice, as I am no ordinary woman.  I am a mechanical engineer who LOVES cars.  When they asked what was most important thing you loved about your car that you would never compromise, I was thrilled to say manual transmission.  I could never buy a minivan because of this.  Most women listed the usual niceties (I can't even remember what they were -- automatic sliding doors?).  There were a few items that I heartily agreed with, such as reliability and gas mileage.  But for the most part, I felt alone as a car enthusiast.

My kids are now nine and six, certainly out of the baby stage, and my wagon is now nine years old.  I’ve gotten used to all the mom sacrifices you make for your kids and have gotten my car fix here and there by driving my husband’s sports car.  I put out of my mind owning my own dream convertible.  But last month, my husband happened to see a leftover 2009 BMW 135i convertible at the dealer for a cut-rate price.

I was extremely skeptical about looking at this car.  It was rear-wheel drive, which meant that I would have to keep my current car as a winter car.  I didn’t NEED a new car.  My wagon was still going strong, and it is still a nice performing vehicle.   But I agreed to take a look.  In the showroom, I politely nodded and sat inside.  It was nice, but just not necessary.  Then I opened the top.  Wait a minute.  This is the convertible that I always wanted.  The open air, the 300 HP, the six-speed manual transmission, the look-at-me blue.  It screamed Angela.  A week later, I drove it home.

Call it impractical.  Call it a midlife crisis.  Call it a mom who found her mojo again as a car enthusiast.

Let’s All Groupon!

I’ve heard a lot about Groupon lately, and if you know me, I love a getting a deal.  So I signed up for emails in the Boston and Worcester area, and was duly unimpressed.  The daily emails were clogging up my inbox and were rarely anything I was interested in.  The restaurants and spas featured were often too far away (now if they had a Nashua, NH location, that would be a different story).  I switched to receiving the deals through my RSS reader instead of email and purchased a few Groupons but still wasn’t bowled over.  Until yesterday.



OMG!! $99 for 30-Minute Rental of Lamborghini Gallardo and 30-Minute Rental of Ferrari Modena 360 at Steam Sport Technologies in Danvers ($274.75 Value). Driving two supercars for 60 minutes??  I went and bought one for Doug’s birthday.  And one for myself.


This Groupon actually tipped first on Worcester and then Boston today, so if you love Ferraris like I do, there’s still time today to purchase it.  Of course, if you not a car fanatic, there are plenty of reasonable deals for fun places and stores like Chunky’s Cinema Pub (sold out) or Marbles: The Brain Store (expired).

I should have known that driving the Ferrari Modena 360 was in the cards for me since I was pegged as one in this quiz that I posted three years ago.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it. Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Wow, this quiz has got me pegged!  It also reminds me of a facebook quiz that I took years ago where I was typed as a Bugatti Veyron.  Always the fastest, most expensive cars (this one tops the list at $1.7M), seems to be a pattern here.  (This also reminds me that it is impossible to search for old wall posts, one of my biggest issues with facebook).

If you haven’t joined Groupon, click on over with my referral.  Disclaimer:  if you do join and purchase a Groupon, I got a whooping $10.  Woo hoo!!  Gotta afford my car habit somehow.

If Your Car Were a Person…

Shortly after I bought my car last year (a BMW 135i convertible), I received a lengthy ten page customer satisfaction survey from Maritz Research. Since I love everything about my car and love just thinking about my car, I happily filled it out. Not every question got stunning marks, especially when it came to back seat room and gas mileage. Then again, these are not major considerations for this type of car. If I wanted a car with a spacious backseat and good gas mileage, it wouldn't be the sporty 300 HP rocket that it is.



Many know that I have a soft spot for BMWs, as this is my third, and fourth for our family.  And this baby is so much more than I imagined.  I would’ve been happy with the smaller engine, but now that I have the 3.0L turbo, there’s no turning back.  And the color?  Simply head turning.  For those of you wondering about the Motorsport emblems, this is the 135i with the M Sports Package, not a 1M.



Here’s a funny story, a relative got a ride in my car and upon exiting, looked at this door sill and asked, “What’s with all the W’s?”  Doug and I love all the Motorsport insignia and often instant message each other with the M with stripes, “///M”.  OK, not necessarily with the colors.  But it sounds like “Mmm M”…



This car hasn’t been without faults during its first year.  It's had a firmware issue that affected starting, an irreproducible roof leak, a broken headliner clip which meant replacing the entire headliner, an LED taillight that went out (again a full assembly replacement), a cracked center brake light cover, and we still have an outstanding recall for the high pressure fuel pump.  Quite the princess I might say.  I’ve been to the dealer more times for this car than I’ve ever gone for my 2001 325xiT.  Then again, Doug keeps that car in tip top shape.  And it’s so cool that I can use my BMW Parking Only sign in my garage for two cars.



Shortly after turning in my first Maritz survey, I received a second Maritz Research survey for a Vehicle Comparison Study, comparing my car to similar models.  Now this survey was far more subjective.  First, there were the questions about “image”, with the usual adjectives to describe cars.  Like these:

• Dependable/reliable
• Affordable
• Environmentally-friendly
• Stylish
• Sophisticated
• Rugged/tough
• Conservative
• Prestigious
• Powerful
• Well-engineered
• Simple
• Luxurious
• Sporty
• Comfortable
• Economical
• Good value
• Fun to drive
• Innovative
• Youthful
• Family-oriented
• Distinctive
• Safe
• Responsive
• Elegant
• Sleek
• Functional
• Classic

The cars that I was supposed to compare my car to were the Acura TSX, Lexus IS, Audi A4/S4/RS4, and Volvo C70.  The size of my car is most comparable to the Acura TSX, but that car does not come in a convertible.  The latter three models do come in convertibles, but are all larger and would normally be compared to the 3-series BMWs.  There is simply no comparison in my book.  But I digress.



The survey got ridiculous when it asked the question, “If the BMW 135i was a person, which of the following traits would describe it (check all that apply)”:

• Environmentally-friendly
• Passionate
• Peaceful
• Tough
• Outdoorsy
• Charming
• Upper class
• Successful
• Intelligent
• Reliable
• Up-to-date
• Imaginative
• Spirited
• Daring
• Cheerful
• Wholesome
• Honest
• Down-to-earth

OK, I love my car, but I can’t really prescribe human characteristics to it.  Especially some of these.  Here’s my attempt at responses:

• Environmentally-friendly - nope, no Chevy Volt here
• Passionate – yes, the car loves to drive, or would that be the driver?
• Peaceful – don’t hear it singing “Give peace a chance” , it is more zoom zoom zoom!
• Tough – as long as those rear wheel drive low-profile tires don’t see snow or ice
• Outdoorsy – no dirt allowed, but lots of air with the top down
• Charming – completely
• Upper class – of course
• Successful – why thank you, oh wait, you’re talking about my car
• Intelligent – considering that the firmware issue flooded my engine and made it rough starting, not so smart.  Then again, I wasn’t the software engineer on that project.
• Reliable - nope, see list of things gone wrong
• Up-to-date – it doesn’t have my new obsession, a heated steering wheel or LED lights in the door handles.  But I love the iPod interface!
• Imaginative – I want my cars to do exactly what I want, not to be imaginative!
• Spirited – yes, when I want it to be, not like a wild stallion
• Daring – it better not dare do anything outside my bidding
• Cheerful – it certainly makes me cheerful
• Wholesome – as wholesome as a diamond necklace
• Honest – it better be honest when telling me my speed!
• Down-to-earth – nope, completely impractical

My car has been safely tucked away for the winter, and I am missing it! I can't wait for spring to come and take this baby back out on the road.

WW - Simply Addicted to Ferraris

Every year we attend Tutto Italiano held at the Lars Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA. It is an Italian automobile and motorcycle show which features exotic and not-so-exotic makes such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ducati and Moto Guzzi.

This year, the Ferrari crew had a set of models for guys to ogle and photograph.  I tried to take this opportunity to practice some model photography, but the whole scene made me gag.  Maybe it was because all the guys were shamelessly drooling over them, or maybe these models made me feel decidedly un-hot.  The way they posed reminded me of the zombie models in the old Robert Palmer music videos for Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible.  Here are the rest of the Ferrari babes.









Doug showed his motorcycle and posed for me as Ducati poster boy.  Hmm, not quite the same effect.



Our kids have been over-saturated with Tutto Italianos and had no interest in looking at any of the cars or even posing for photographs. But the wall is simply irresistible to jumping.





I guess I'd rather have jumpers than zombie models any day.

WW - Wind in her hair

While we were parked one day, Dova decided to pose on the back deck of my car.







What a lounge lizard!

Part of the reason I wanted a convertible was to feel the freedom of the wind in my hair.  I love throwing my arms up in the air while I'm driving.  But sitting on the back deck reminds me off two movies with awesome convertible scenes.

First Terms of Endearment with Jack Nicholson.  I didn't care for the movie, but there is one scene I love where Jack is driving on the beach, sitting on the roof of a 1978 Corvette, steering with his feet.


Image from Alert the Media.


"Wind in the hair.  Lead in the pencil.  Feet controlling the universe.  Free love at the helm."

The movie clip is awesome if you haven't seen it.

And then there is Thelma and Louise.  The movie would not be the same without the Thunderbird convertible.


Image from StarPulse.


Image from here.

I will not be trying either of these stunts with my car! 

Visit by Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom or 7 Clown Circus (wordful) for more participants.

PSF - BMW Performance Driving School

Wanna know what makes me really happy?  Driving someone else's BMW M3 around an autocross track.  I had the honor and pleasure of taking a course at the BMW Performance Center in Greenville, SC with a bunch of fantastic ladies a couple weeks ago.   Of course it helps to be a BMW enthusiast, but I think just about everyone would enjoy and benefit from this type of event.



"Don't forget to breathe", especially when looking at that beautiful new Z4.  On the other side of these banners were the BMW slogans, "Pure Passion, Pure Performance, Pure Joy".  It truly was.  I was in car heaven.



Besides the autocross track, we also practiced a lane change maneuver.  Here we are checking out the course, by driving slowly through it.



We also drove an off road course with the X5.



By far my favorite course was the skid pad.   Having had some previous automobile and motorcycle courses, the other track work was very similar.  But I had not experienced the skid pad.  Coming from the snowy and icy streets of New England, taking to the skid pad with an instructor in a safe environment was a thrill as well as educational.  Spinning out on a street is deathly scary.  Spinning out on the skid pad is a total rush.  Learning how to gain control of a skid is total enlightenment.

Check out these hot laps around the skid pad with the instructors.  Woo hoo!!!




Hosted by Cecilyand Caitlin

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I paid te big bucks myself to be part of this ultimate BMW experience.