An even better day test driving :)

Well, I thought it'd be hard to top the day I mentioned in my last post.
But the next day did!

I started the day with a visit to the BMW dealership, they'd fueled up the z4 and it was ready to go for a spin. I went with my sales consultant, I drove it with both top open and closed. It was a certified pre-owned 3.0 manual with sports and premium packages (including those gorgeous sports package 17" alloys!). And it was in my favorite color too! The Sapphire Black. The car was an '05 with only 4K miles on it, so it was just as good as new, you'd be very hard pressed to even tell it's used.

The car was just amazing to drive. That was my first experience with BMW's award winning 3.0 inline six engine. The engine is a real treat. It's creamy smooth all the way to its redline close to 7000rpm, never felt strained. The acceleration was neck breaking (specially to someone like me coming from a car that did 0-60mph in 12 seconds)
The engine also had a lot more torque than the TT's, it could pull in any rpm, unlike the 1.8T that I had to rev a bit to get the goods.
On the minus side the gear shift was not as good as the Audi's. The TT's gear shifting is just an experience in itself.
All in all the experience was wonderful, and I loved the car. It was also my first time driving a roadster, I used to like coupes but now I think I like roadsters just as much, driving with the open roof is definitely a delightful experience.

So we got the numbers on that car and headed on to the infiniti dealership. Those were the nicest people, the guy just took a copy of my international driving license and then let my friend and I go for a spin alone, he didn't even come with us. He asked us to be back in 30 minutes and provided a car with an identical setup to the one I wanted. A 6-speed manual with sports and premium packages. Part of the sports package is the huuuuuge 19" alloys and the premium packages includes bose audio system and a very impressive GPS with a screen that folds out of the way when not in use.
First of all, the car's interior is amazing, it has everything you can think of, and then some more. Don't believe me? Try this:
Dual zone climate control, leather seats and steering wheel (stitched too!), bose audio with 6 cd in dash changer and mp3 playback capabilities, GPS, digital compass, on board computer with tire pressure monitor and oil monitor, 8 way powered seats, auto-dimming rear and side view mirrors, powered sunroof, VDS (infiniti's electronic ESP program), ABS, brake assist, ventilated disc brakes all round (the z4 had discs all round but not ventilated), universal garage opener, and many more that I must have forgot. Simply stunning.
The car drove very well, gear shift nowhere near the TT's but very much like the Z4's, handling was very very good, engine noise just amazing inside as it is outside. The engine probably needed to loosen up a bit because it was brand new (unlike the z4 that had 4K miles on it) but still, it was very very fast, very composed with a better ride than the stiff sport suspension equipped z4. And I didn't feel that the handling suffered because of the smoother ride.

And when we were back the dealer told us that because I'm a Microsoft employee I get infiniti employee pricing on the car because of some agreement infiniti has with MS. That meant around $3K discount on that specific car I was testing.

I headed back home with my mind set on the new G35 as the car to get....

When I got home I called the bank to ask about my auto loan requirements and limits, and I was in for a surprise.

But I'll save that for a later post ;)