My 2002 BMW Z3 Part II: My Oldest Friend

I’ve owned my 2002 BMW Z3 for fourteen years, although I don’t think I fully appreciated that fact while it was happening. For most of that time, it was simply my car: a fun little roadster that I drove, maintained, and occasionally ignored while other cars and other parts of life grabbed my attention. Looking back, though, fourteen years is a long time, and the Z3 ended up being a remarkably consistent companion through a surprisingly inconsistent stretch of my life.

Being the titled owner of my 2002 BMW Z3 did not feel much different than when my father was the titled owner. While I theoretically had the freedom to do what I wanted with it, I knew better than to throw money at modifying my daily driver, and I could not afford a new car, so trading in the Z3 was not exactly an option either. It was simply a change in status that meant very little to me. Around the time I took official ownership of the Z3, I came across my old 735i, and that became the focus of my automotive exploits. At some point, it gained a set of Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks and came with me to Drive 4 Corners in Colorado. The experience was not particularly noteworthy, and it amounted to screwing around in Pagosa Springs, CO for 2 days waiting for something fun to happen. Coincidentally, my life after college could be described in similar terms, with only the location and duration changing.

With the return of the 735i, the Z3 became more of a back-up plan than anything else, albeit a back-up plan that saw more use than the primary plan. It was pushed back into service as needed, until about 2021, when the Z3 returned to full-time service. The 735i went down for what would be its last repairs in late 2021, and I went back to driving the Z3 full-time. It never skipped a beat, although it was now showing its age. The interior door handles had both broken off at some point, and the speakers–once the best I had ever owned–were blown and sounded awful.

The Z3 had kept me sane in the hardest moments of my life. They were not yet behind me. L had re-established custody of her children in early 2022. This had been a major victory for her, but it did not last long. To make a long, deeply complicated story short and simple, L’s ex-husband, in an attempt to end discovery on child support and distract the court from his sketchy finances, accused L of abuse, and the children were taken from her once again. Here, the Z3 managed to keep us both sane over the 9 months of misery that followed. It carried us around the state (and further) as we distracted ourselves from our misery. Each Friday, I would finish up at the office, leave being a lawyer at my desk, and take off with L in the Z3 to try and make happy memories. We succeeded, as I proposed in the summer of 2022, and she agreed to marry me. Throughout these trips, the Z3 never gave any trouble, and it happily carried us to California in December 2022, and, as it turned out, out of our nightmare.

My first trip to California was the worst-planned road trip I had ever taken. I had originally planned to take the 760Li that I had bought for family use, but it would not ever get fixed. Then I had reserved a rental car, but Budget did not have it when I went to pick it up, and so I made the executive decision to take the Z3. I had not planned a stop, and so I had not reserved a hotel room anywhere between Santa Fe and Monterey, where we would be visiting L’s brother for Christmas. So, just before leaving Santa Fe, I made a reservation for a hotel in Lake Havasu City, which I picked for the sole reason that the London Bridge was there and I had wanted to see it. From Lake Havasu City, we went to Monterey.

Not long after we made it to Monterey, I received news that documents from a subpoena had come back, and that the documents more or less proved L’s case–specifically that her ex-husband had knowingly made false statements to the Court. The nightmare would end not long after, and L would resume custody of the children the following month, and then, within 9 months, she would become the primary custodian of the children.

The universe must have recognized, however, that I was happy. In March 2023, I was rear-ended at a stop sign by a man in a RAM pick-up, mirroring my first accident in 2012. The trunk would not close after the accident, and so I told the insurance company that my car was not usable. They provided me an “equivalent” rental, which translated to a 2023 Dodge Challenger V6. It wasn’t awful, but it was no Z3. In May 2023, the Z3 would finally be returned to me. One month later, L and I were married.

Not long after our wedding, our new family car came in and I no longer needed the Z3. It also seemed the Z3 no longer wanted to serve as a daily driver. Not long after we picked up the family car, the Z3 lit its check engine light. I had never seen it do this before. As this coincided with L becoming the primary custodian of her children, I did not have time to look it over, and I figured I would get around to it. I would not get around to fixing it for two years, and the Z3 moved maybe 500 miles in that time. Finally, I decided to stop neglecting my oldest friend. It did not take long to determine most of the problems were caused by a hole in the intake boot. What wasn’t solved by the new intake boot was solved by new spark plugs.

I do not need the Z3 anymore, and in fact it’s quite inconvenient to keep. However, I cannot bear to see it go. It has now been in my possession for 14 years. It owes me nothing, and if anything, I owe it. Some day, I will have to get rid of it. It will hurt, and I will regret it, just as I regretted getting rid of the 735i. But today is not that day.