[23109VC]

I just thought I would share a fun story.

My 75-year-old mother is probably a runner up for June Cleaver impersonator. She was always that stay at home mom that was waiting for my sister and I to come home from school baking cookies… when I was a kid she drove a few different Volvos. She had one of those boxy Boreen station wagons initially… but At one point they ended up trading it in and got one of those 740 turbos… back in the day that thing was actually pretty fast and if you stepped on it. once the turbo spooled up it would go pretty quick. That really had an impression on her and despite her mild-mannered nature she always told Me that when she was alone in the car she would merge onto on and off ramps she loved to "go fast"… she also described people not letting her over into another lane, so she just "showed them" … deep down in that little woman there is a leadfoot that likes to go fast.

Well over the years she and my dad ended up deciding that reliability was more important than turbos and they ended up with an Acura RL sedan. A very upscale solid dependable luxury car but definitely not exciting.

A few years ago, dad passed away, and not long afterward her old boring Acura RL had issues and she had to buy a new car. I took her to car shop and must've test drove everything under the sun. She was worried about her budget and thought she should buy something inexpensive like a Honda accord or a Toyota Camry, or get another RL. I didn't want to push her into a BMW because she was concerned about the money. Even though she has plenty of it - she's from that generation where she wants to save it and is reluctant to spend it even when she can. She test drove Hondas Acura's, etc etc - but nothing really grabbed her. I took her to Carmax and let her walk around the lot and look at tons of different cars. Then I took her to a Lexus dealership and a BMW dealership to compare what she could get if she went to something mildly upscale.

when I had at the BMW dealership she drove a 4 cylinder five series and said she liked it. I suggested she drive a 535 and the salesman was reluctant he said it's "too much power for her". I told the salesman that if he knew my mom he would let her drive it so he brought out a really nice CPO 2016 535i Msport and let her drive it… she fell in love with it and I asked her why and she said "I don't know, it just goes". . To make a long story short she had that car for several years and every time she would mention it she say how much she loved it and how sometimes she would just go out and drive it for fun.

My mom unfortunately had a pretty significant accident in her 5er and totaled her car. She just barely sideswiped a parked car at night time, bounced off another car , and went up the curb (took out her axle) and into a tree! every airbag in the car deployed. I wasn't far away from where the crash was and I got a very disoriented text message indicating she had been in some kind of multi car collision so I got to the scene saw her car and was amazed to find that she only suffered a small scratch on her wrist. The police were on scene people from the car as she hit or out in the street a tow truck was there the fire department was there… but somehow she was uninjured and we finished up with the people on scene and took her home. Aside from being extremely traumatized and shaken up she was essentially 100% unharmed. The car did it's job and kept her safe.

The insurance company totaled the car as I expected and they gave her a really fair amount of money for the car. Naturally she needed transportation and so I started asking her what she wanted to buy. Once again she started saying that maybe you should not spend a bunch of money on a fancy car again and get something cheap. she went and drove an Acura. She called me afterward and said it felt "Crummy".

She then went and drove some five series at her local dealership but they were not M sport models and she said she didn't like them. She saw pictures of the M sport and said she liked how the bumpers and wheels looked better. . I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's some subtle car addiction gene and I got it from my mom… her dealerships didn't have anything she liked so I started looking on the web and found a really nice one at another local so cal dealer.

It was a CPO 2018 540i with M sport. It had upgraded 669M 20" wheels, full leather Dash , wireless charging Harman Kardon sound.. adaptive LED lights, driving assurance plus abs parking assistant plus - black kidney grills, witless charging, multi contour seats…it's really well equipped. The original MSRP was around 80,000 and it was a really pretty carbon black on black car.

I took my mom over to our local dealer let her test drive it and she lit up - she loved it. I let her drive a 530 as a comparison and she told me she didn't like the way it drove - it felt "floaty". That was a good way to sum it up…

If you saw my mom walking around she's a little 5 foot tall 75-year-old woman that kind of looks like you would expect her to be baking cookies for her grandkids or knitting - not "driving fast" onto the onramps….or "showing people" thst she can pass them.

Well she pulled the trigger and bought the car.
She totally loves it. I had a chance to drive it around and I have to say I am extremely impressed with how it drives compared to my M550.

While my V-8 has way more low-end torque the 540 has a really good amount of pull in the top end. I also feel like her 540 seems to go around corners more effortlessly. I wouldn't say it actually handles better but the turn in feels tighter and the car feels like there's less body roll in the turns. There's one area where the heavier curb weight on the M550 hurts. Overall it is one sweet 540!

if you see a carbon black 540i on 669's passing you up on the on-ramp watch out!! grandma is going to run you down…

[paquet]

Lovely story - brought a huge smile to my face.
Safe driving to your mom and to you - the leadfoot gene is a wonderful thing to pass down to the next generation...

[Chuckyarla]

Great story!

[RonronEG]

669 wheels are incredible.

[Qsilver7]

...great story.

[IrishG30Guy]

Go Mom

[Skyrider01]

I enjoyed reading that. Thanks for sharing!

[FrankW1029]

very cool

[SteveinArizona]

Makes me think of the "Little Old Lady from Pasadena". But 75 isn't old.

[AddyDaddy]

My 75 yr old mom just got her tanzanite blue Over white M 540 xdrive delivered a couple weeks ago. She's upset about the auto start stop button missing. Going to code her car to default to sport ind and program that to be in comfort settings as work around on the button
But wanted to chime in seeing your thread put a smile on my face

[AddyDaddy]

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[23109VC]

Originally Posted by AddyDaddy

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Awesome! I love seeing "older" people
Sporting bad ass rides. It gives me hope that when I'm at that age I'll still be doing it! 😎