Last night I did something I couldn’t believe – I traded in my BMW M2. I had my eye on the M2 since they announced it while I was in business school (sans car). I told myself when I got a good job after graduating, I would buy that car. Just after Christmas 2016, I bought one in Long Beach Blue with a 6-speed and the Executive Package.
The BMW M2 was both my first “M-car” and my first BMW. It had ultra-responsive handling, and the turbocharged inline 6-cylinder had virtually no turbo lag. There are many gushing reviews of the car, like this one from Car and Driver, so I don’t need to bore you with the details. I loved the car from the day I drove it home, covered in the transportation wrap because I didn’t want the dealership to mar the paint by “detailing” it.
I was so confident I would love the car for years to come that I purchased an extended warranty up to 84 months, because I would never want to get rid of it. So, why did I trade in such a great car that I clearly loved?
My original idea was to buy the car to do double duty as a daily driver that I took to HPDE’s. Having access to a company car for daily commuting, however, the M2 became a fair-weather car and Autocross machine. A few months later, it was clear that the M2 was going to hold its value much better than I initially thought. That made the idea of taking it to the track much less likely for fear of messing something up.
By this time, I had decided that I wanted to really get into tracking, and I knew the M2 would be way too expensive to maintain anyway. That’s how I ended up with my Miata track car.
I now had a BMW M2 that was supposed to be driven daily, but wasn’t. I also had a BMW M2 that was supposed to be tracked, but wasn’t. When I did drive it, it was just around town or to work on roads where the 365-hp engine could not legally stretch its legs. The result was that I had a BMW M2 that wasn’t driven very much, wasn’t driven very hard, and was taking a healthy chunk of my free cash flow every month.
At some point, I realized that I could be doing a lot for my HPDE hobby with the cash that was going to the BMW. That’s when I entertained, in the deep trenches of my mind, the idea of trading it in. My initial reaction was a guttural “NOOOOO!” I loved it too much. But then the rational thoughts kicked in, and I realized it may actually be a good idea.
If I were to give up the M2, its replacement needed to be fun to drive on normal roads, be capable of spirited Autocross events, and be cheaper than the BMW. I also wanted something newer. I spend enough time working on my track car, I didn’t want to spend more time keeping together an older car. These criteria narrowed down the field pretty quickly.
I had always really liked the new design of the ND Miata since it was released in 2015 as a 2016 model. Coincidentally, it also checked all my boxes, so I started looking around. I took a test drive during a torrential downpour, but I could already tell how much fun the Miata would be. What’s more, I could have that fun at legal speed limits given the car’s “measly” 155 hp.
Two weeks later, I’m writing this post. I bought a 2018 MX-5 Club in Machine Grey with a cherry red top, 6-speed transmission, and the Brembo/BBS/Recaro package. It’s definitely a looker, and aggressive for a Miata. My wife, on the other hand, is still coping with the idea of owning 2 Miatas, but she’ll come around…
