My wife and I are younger, and at a point where we have a few years before we have children. She was wanting an SUV, but had kind of hinted towards a 2-seater sports car.

I told her to get the sports car now, pay it off, THEN buy the SUV when you have kids.

So, that's what we did. We first started looking at her favorite car - the Z3 Coupe. Of course, I had to have the M series...the standard 3.0 wouldn't work. I also wanted the newer engine (01+?), and that bumped the price some. Low mileage was required, and warranty preferred. When I got to that point, we were looking at 19-25K, depending on condition. NONE of them were local, as there aren't many to begin with. So...we put that on hold a bit. I then started looking at the Z4 Coupe because they were new and all had warranty, low miles, etc...but they were too $$$, and gave that up also (had to have the M, couldn't settle for the 3.0).

The wife came home one day and said "I saw this car today with lines on the hood...it was AWESOME! I WANT ONE!" I knew exactly what it was and happened to find a used limited XFire for around $16,500 with under 20k miles in perfect shape. We bought it...and I was disappointed in the performance (handles and drives great, good mileage, but not enough power). So, I started looking at the SRT and that's where we are now.

I still like the Z4, and would love to park one next to my(HER) SRT6...but wouldn't park one in its place. With that being said...I've never driven a Z4 M Coupe...so my opinion may change if I got the opportunity to drive one.

SQ