[aajami]

I remember seeing my first BMWs, 2002s and E21 3-series, growing up in Lebanon and how different they looked than anything else on the road back then. I was around 6 or 7 years old at the time, and I noted with interest the release of every subsequent 3-series until I was a teenager, at which point I started appreciating more of BMW's product range.

In college, I remember reading an issue of Car & Driver that remarked that the E36 M3 was the best handling car in the world at the time. I also remember drooling after the various Alpine White, Dakar Yellow, and Estoril Blue E36 M3s that were parked in and around college (I'll never forget the aftermarket exhausts with the twin tips that pointed sharply upwards on those cars).

After graduating, I went to buy my first car. I was looking to buy something in the Integra GS-R/Eclipse GS-T/Probe GT price range, but I also test drove the E36 M3 and the first generation Z3 just for shits and giggles. The M3 was an amazing car, but waaay out of my price range.

About four years later, I paid off my first car and started looking for an upgrade. The E46 M3 was launching that year, so I put down a deposit for one. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the finances work at the time, so I got my deposit back and picked up an S2000 instead. I loved my S2000 to death, but I always looked at E46 M3s on the road with a sense of wonderment.

Eight years after picking up the S2000, my finances were such that I could comfortably get behind the wheel of an M3, so I special ordered one during the best possible time to buy a car (tail end of '08) and am currently happily in love with my E92 M3.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.