Hello All,

I think this is like my 2nd post ever. The first was inquiring in the for sale area for a JCW!

First, how I got here... the basic gist is I sold my e92 M3 last Nov, bought a house, and have outstayed my welcome in borrowing cars. From EVERYONE. Rational considering its been 4 months.

Therefore I wanted something small, fun and affordable to own. Civics and corollas first came to mind. I told myself, as long as it had a stick, fun enough for me... WRONG. My neighbor toyed with the idea of selling me his 2013 Fiat Abarth. I drove it for a week and it was fun! However, its SUPER stiff and considering the quality nightmares on their forums, I kept looking. I test drove a JCW and this changed everything!

I found 2 JCW that I really liked.
First was a well optioned 2012 JCW that was enthusiast owned. Living in SoCal, this car was 66 miles away. Already a trek to take home, bu the car was nice. The guy that owned it put in heated seats and a craven adjustable short shifter. Michelin PSS and chrome was all blacked out too. We agreed on price and was set to give him a check Tuesday of last week, however that didn't happen...

I found the 2nd JCW was a 2013 with 33.6k miles on Thursday afternoon. Well optioned, but was 1200 miles away in Kirkland Washington! I wanted to hedge my bets as I absolutely needed a car by today (Monday), so I asked the dealer to make a detailed video. Afterward, I haggled for a decent price and put down a deposit.

On Friday (next day), the 1st JCW (enthusiast owned JCW) backed out, so I booked my flight for Washington and hastily prepared a 2nd set of underwear, shorts, tshirt, and sunglasses for the ride down to SoCal. I flew up Saturday. Checked out the car. Much cleaner than I expected. It drove well and still has warranty! Check was signed, papers signed, driving permit prepared, I was on my way home by 2pm that Saturday.

I took exactly 4 stops.
1) for lunch and a trip to the mini dealer to get a hat, keychain, and flash light - the mini flashlight sucks!
2) a stop for dinner in Portland.
3) a break just past Medford Oregon for a 2 hour nap.
4) breakfast with friends in SF for a couple of hours.

I've since learned a couple of things.
1) This car has really good gas mileage! Even with the AC on the whole time, I drove from SF back to Long Beach with 1 gas take and ~ 100 miles to spare in the tank!
2) High speed in this car is much more frightening than in my M3. When I first hit 90mph, I was a quite worried, but got used to it. I even let go of the steering a bit to see how well composed the car was.. I found it to be super stable. Whereas the M3, I wouldn't worry until 120mph+.
3) Bugs hate this car! The windshield was covered with them! I could barely see by the time I got home.
4) The trip odometer only goes to 999 before it resets to zero. My 1224.8 miles registerd as 224.8 miles.

So yeah, thats my story. I can't wait to get more involved in this community!

 

Thanks for sharing your story and welcome, officially, to NAM. Congratulations on your purchase. Looks like you're already enjoying it so far. Loving the color combination as well.