Your First BMW Experience?

08-08-2025

Hi guys, quick one: what was the first BMW you ever got into? Doesn’t have to be yours, just the first time you hopped in or took a ride.

For me, I was like 6 years old when I first climbed into my uncle’s ’99 E30. Red red sedan, that iconic boxy shape. Still remember the engine’s rumble and that thick steering wheel that felt massive compared to my tiny hands. Just sitting there made me feel like I was already behind the wheel, even if I was just a little kid.

What about you lot? Drop your first BMW stories!

08-08-2025

1969 1600-2

08-08-2025

My earliest memory was my dad's mother's BMW 3 Series from the early 2000s back when I was in elementary school.

It was a nice dark green and beautiful tan interior on the inside. My two fondest memories now that I look back was the leather smelled really good. Infact my E38 740i leather smells very similar to the leather that was in her BMW.

Her BMW was also a Manual 3 Series model. My grandmother on my dad's side liked to row her own boat, who knew!? Her and my Dad are probably why I am into cars so much.

iirc she still has that BMW to this day.

The first BMW I ever driven? a 3 Series GT, when I worked at a Chevy Dealership, it was a mid 2010s model. had active aero and wireless apple carplay only issue was the previous owner who traded it was a SMOKER and it smelled of it badly not even a ozone treatment fully got rid of the cigarette smell.

But from there my affection for Bimmers grew. Shortly after that I drove my first M car at the M Town Tours the following year after driving that 3 Series GT what a time.

08-08-2025

318i manual E46 so in cc reality a 320? sometime ago in Germany, got me hooked on BMW as it took turns like no other car I had driven before.

08-08-2025

In 1994, I decided to buy a new Nissan 300ZX, but then read about the BMW 325is coupe. One big attraction for me was the availability of traction control on the BMW. I took a very brief test drive of a 325i and ordered an E36 325is with sport package, etc. My first BMW and I've had at least one ever since, with the exception of a brief period a few years ago when I had both a 2013 Porsche Boxster S and a 2021 Porsche Macan GTS.

An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

08-08-2025

No one I knew had or dreamt of getting a BMW.

I was in HS and I kept seeing this car that was just absolutely gorgeous to me. By the third time I saw it, I learned it was a BMW E46. It had just been released.

Of course I couldn't afford a E46 so I got what I could afford, a 1991 E30 325i.

I can still remember the feeling of having that car and the "aura" it gave off (probably only to me, haha). Nothing has made me feel like it since. That E30 taught me that a car wasn't simply transportation and brought me wholly into the world of enthusiasts.

08-08-2025

I had a client in the late 90s with a 740iL Loved that car, but never had a BMW until 2019. divorce was final in Dec 18, and bought by first one, a 230i, in Feb of 2019. Traded it in 2022 for a M340i, and that for an X3 last year.

I recently purchased an 06 Z4 convertible manual as a second, weekend fun car.

08-08-2025

Grew up with Mercedes as the family car but preferred the syling of BMW. When I got married decades ago, I had choice of an MB or BMW as a wedding car. Picked the white 5 series.

08-08-2025

Best friend got an E21 when we were sophomores in high school, this would have been 1991. I wasn't too familiar with BMW prior to that. lots of good memories in that car. one that sticks out is running out of gas about a mile from school and running to class. we made it on time

08-08-2025

Buddy growing up picked up a Dinan supercharged Techno Violet E36 M3 probably 20 years ago. That thing was a hoot!

(...When the supercharger belt would stay intact...)

08-08-2025

2018 M3 sedan in Hawaii, very random. Small story time:

The original car that we put a deposit down to rent on Turo, a C7 Corvette Grandsport, was unavailable as the renter before us crashed it a couple days earlier. Turo was great and worked with us to book any car we wanted. Being that the trip was in a couple days and options were limited, this gorgeous M3 happened to be on the site and we figured, why not. It's better than the convertible v6 mustangs and beater jeeps, right? Yes, yes it was a whole lot better. Unlimited miles offered, drove all around the island, and was HOOKED.

Nope, didn't end up buying a BMW after that experience, which was probably around 2018? Got hooked on muscle cars and didn't officially buy a BMW (X5 M60i) until just late last year.

08-08-2025

Early 1973, I'm a sophomore in high school, hitch-hiked to school most days. One day a fellow student, who I kinda knew but wasn't in my circle of friends, picks me up in his dad's shiny new Golf Yellow 2002tii. His parents were professors and this kid was the nerdy type himself, but MAN could he row through the gears like a hardcore enthusiast, and as he threw that thing into corners to demonstrate its prowess, and I was absolutely hooked. I've never owned an '02 and it would be 32 years before I bought my first BMW (2006 E90 330i) but I admired the brand and lusted after them the entire time until I could reasonably afford one myself.

Also while in high school, a kid in my neighborhood who was about a year older than me was doing car repairs in his parents' garage for friends and neighbors. At 17 this dude buys a 1600, and completely tore it down - mechanically as well as the body - and rebuilt the motor, repainted it, and basically turned it into a badass '02 clone - at that crazy early age. Mega-impressive!

08-08-2025

I believe it was 1972, that my dads colleague pulled up, in he's brand new 2002. What a car! He gave me a ride, around our village. What a car! Until that i had only seen a BMW at the local racetrack. I was 4 and a half years old. It still gives me goosebumps.

08-08-2025

Well.... up till about 3 weeks ago virtually zero. The only knowledge I had was when I was 15 I watched this JPS give local V8s curry in the Australian touring car champs. And the mother in law has a 325I E92.
An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

So a few weeks ago I started helping my 16yo son research - find - buy his first car. We stared on Jeep Grand Cherokee because he had been watching supercharged ones on the internet. Soon moved on from that and settled on a 2011 E92 330d.

Timeless looks, goes all right (legal for his age/license), economical, rear wheel drive, handles, safe, and you can fit a few mates in the back occasionally if need to.
An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

So the wife and I liked it that much we had a rush of blood and hopefully buying an E93 next week for ourselves. Figure a convertible in our late 50s can't be so bad, even if the top only comes down a few times a year it will be magic. Plus a great opportunity to spend time with the son as he learns about computeriesed cars, maintenance, and appreciation. Then and maybe when his 50 something he can sit here answering a similar question about his first BMW.

08-08-2025

We had a guy with a Porsche 928 we serviced at the shop. Because I was a junior tech, I wasn't allowed to drive any of the Porsches but he would bring his wife's E34 in for service as well and I got to drive it sometimes for diagnostics. Hooked me right then and there.

08-09-2025

My first experience with a BMW was my '91 750i when I lived in Germany. It was a monster with the 12-cylinder engine. I could get it up to 140 mph on the way home from work. Too bad I could not bring it to the states when I returned. The high-speed roads in Germany will test your driving skills and your car.

08-09-2025

First ride was in an E30 in 1986. First BMW I owned was a brand new 1992 E36 325is which looked identical to Llarry's above.

08-09-2025

First was this brand new '04 330i ZHP. 6 speed. Alcantara bits. One of my favorites out of all. I wish now I had taken better photos.

An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

08-09-2025

It is somewhere in the 90's when my father had E30 318i and I sat in the back seat... But that was not what drove me in to BMW "road". E28 was what caught my eye when I was close on getting my driver license in 2004. It was 2005 when I bought my first car and it was '82 520i.

08-10-2025

Llarry wrote
In 1994, I decided to buy a new Nissan 300ZX, but then read about the BMW 325is coupe.

Funny enough, I was lusting after 300ZX after college as well, but settled for an E30 325i. Have had every 3-series generation after then.

Saw an E30 325ic in pretty decent shape last weekend. That brought up nostalgic and unrealistically rosy memories of my old E30. No way would I want to own an (underpowered, unsafe, noisy, unstable rear end) E30 these days, but I do like to occasionally tells others that I would.

a

P.S.: I sold my old E30 in running order with 256K miles and the original engine, tranny, and diff.

08-10-2025

i think i was 12 or 13, went to 1984 LA Olympics, saw a 635 with flames. coolest looking car i'd ever seen, someday i will get one.

i bet someone on bimmerpost knows who had a flamed 635 in 1984, probably the only one in the world.

08-10-2025

Swim team buddy had a 1800 Ti with an Alpina head. Fun times going to swim meets.

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Your First BMW Experience?