These Are the Reasons You Didn't Buy the Car That Got Away

Photo: Ninety-9

In 2015, my ‘06 M5 had yet another transmission issue. I brought it to BMW hoping to sell it. I often tell the story about how BMW’s horrible sales team led me to buying a brand new Nissan Frontier and towing the M5 home, but that’s half the story.

With the M5 in the service bay, I was shopping for another BMW, something sporty, a little more down to earth, but particularly needed a M/T, and I wasn’t going to settle for anything less. The BMW sales team could not oblige to getting me ANY M/T without me ordering something from the factory and waiting 2 months. I needed a car, now, and I had my trade-in ready to go.

What led me to the Frontier was an online ad from a Nissan Dealership. They had a red 1st gen MR2 on the lot and it was posted on their own website for a great price. I gave up on BMW, went to their lot, checked it out and fell in love with it. I wasn’t even going to negotiate, where do I sign???

I hung out in the dealership for some time when they came back with a slight problem: They couldn’t sell it. I don’t exactly recall the excuse they gave me, but I told them that I didn’t care what was wrong, just give me the paperwork to sign and I’ll hand over the money. Nope, they couldn’t sell it, there was something wrong in their system and they would not be able to transfer the title to me.

I’m guessing that someone working at the dealership or service center called dibs, but it’s anyone’s guess. I ended up walking around for some time when I began looking at 2015 Titans and Frontiers. I came up with the brilliant idea of just getting a small pickup truck, borrowing my coworker’s trailer, and taking my toys home (aka, the broken M5).

I very much regret not dumping the M5 on the BMW dealership, I kept it for another 5 years of constant repairs, and misery. I am happy with the Frontier, though.

Man, that’s dicked up, but good on you for realizing you were talking about the 2nd gen SW20 in a later comment. It’s peak 90s melty soap design. In the long run, the Frontier was probably the better way to go, but damn the Mister 2 is cool.

 Submitted by: Ninety-9