Wife Expecting - Sell/Swap?

srmast1 · 05-05-2018, 09:39 PM

OP;
I have the same quandry. Should I sell the e90 m3 because I have a baby due in September? I'm just not sure..literally this is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make BUT, I have an a4 as a daily and my wife has an acura tsx as her daily. All 3 cars are 4 dr vehicles, so main question is do I sell the m3 and buy an suv? (ugh!) I'm still not decided on this but if i had to go down to 1 car, I would sell my e90M.

So, my advice is to sell the your m3 because an accord makes WAY more sense for a family than a 2dr coupe that is expensive to maintain that also returns shit gas milage. Oh and I've got to get brakes and rotors done and that's going to be $2k. I'm assuming that would be much less for your accord? If you daily your m3 I hope you DIY because maintenence costs would start stacking quick if your m3 became your primary vehicle. Also, why not keep 2 cars? Splitting one car between both of you would be tough..if you work and take the car with you, would your wife be stranded at home? Wouldn't she like her own vehicle?
So my ultimate advice to you would be to sell the m3 and purchase a little daily driver for yourself and keep the accord. That way you both have cars and no one is stuck at home. One way or the other, keeping the 2dr m3 as your only vehicle between you and your wife, with a baby on the way is probably not the most responsible family oriented decision. Sorry OP, probably not what you wanted to hear. I'm just really surprised that your wife is even allowing the 2dr m3 to remain an option as your only family car?!

TaxLit · 05-06-2018, 07:07 AM

Thanks, everyone, for the congratulations and for providing suggestions.

The thread has reinforced that the Accord is probably the only practical option for day to day driving downtown . I might be convinced to get an suv eventually. But wife also hates suvs. We are also only planning for one kid for a while.

We actually tried living further away and commuting this year, and keeping two cars. But I often work 80+ hour weeks, and adding two+ hours of commuting time per day is not working well for us. In order to allow me to commit sufficient time to both work and family, and since my wife won't be working for a while, we've decided to move within a 15 minute walk of my work.

I'm considering trying to keep both cars. We could find another space I could rent nearby or in the same building. Theoretically, there's sufficient space in our budget. The additional costs of keeping the m3 would be probably $200/month for parking, $75 of insurance, and whatever wear and tear I put on it when pleasure driving.

Alternatively, I could just put it up on blocks for 18 months to see where we ultimately end up living when she goes back to work. But I don't really like the idea of leaving money tied up in a car that's in storage and not getting used.

Overall, I'm thinking this is probably going to be too expensive a toy to keep at this time in my life. Im probably gonna plan a bunch of road trips for this summer, and sell it at the end of the summer knowing that I likely will regret it, but it was a sacrifice for the family's financial benefit.

pbonsalb · 05-06-2018, 07:16 AM

Sell the M3. You would not want it as an only car in the city with a wife and kid. She probably won’t drive it as carefully as you. Having 2 cars seems like an added expense and you may not drive it much. Storing cars is not my idea of enjoying them, unless money is no object and you have free storage without mice and the time to store (cover, remove battery, raise so tires don’t flat spot but not too much so suspension does not stretch, etc).

G80indy · 05-06-2018, 08:25 AM

Do you have a family member that would hold onto the M3 for a few years? They could drive it occasionally, do oil changes, and then you'll have it for those years down the road.
Or maybe hand it to a trusted friend to do the same ....

asif163 · 05-06-2018, 08:34 AM

I was posed with the same dilemma back in 2013 with the birth of my first child. I had a '11 ZCP MT Mineral White E92 and had grown up watching my neighbor drive and race multiple M cars- an E30, E36 and a E46 and lusted after one my whole life. When I finally attained one it was a life long dream come true so, I kept it for a while. BUT, having my second child, changed that. I swapped the E92 for a B7 MT S4 and while it was the absolutely right thing to do for the family I can tell you I lamented it constantly. Regretted it EVERY SINGLE TIME I heard the glorious growl of that V8 on the road. So? What did I do? I waited it out. The kids are a little older now, I can now have a toy car. Less than 3 weeks ago I got myself an E90 M3 ZCP MT and couldn't be happier.

Moral of the story? Do what's right for your family. But you will regret it every day!

Teufel_Hunden · 05-06-2018, 09:32 AM

18 months of maternity leave? Damn!

GerrS65 · 05-06-2018, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaxLit

I absolutely love my all-stock, no accident, single hump barebones 2011 Interlagalos blue e92 m3. My plan was to keep it and drive it for as long as I can, but now I'm questioning that.

My wife is pregnant. We will be moving to downtown Toronto while she takes 18 months of mat leave, and only keeping one car. We can either keep the m3 coupe, or keep her Honda Accord hybrid.

Now, the hybrid is obviously the more practical choice as an only car in the city. It costs about 1/3 of the m3 cost in gas and maintenance to drive anywhere, has rear doors to access child seats, shorter doors to not hit objects when putting kids into child seats; Cheaper wheel costs when my wife hits curbs (not infrequently); as safe as the m3 if not safer; i'd care a lot less if it gets dinged and scratched up by cyclists who are annoyed that you're trying to make a right hand turn downtown. Surprisingly, it doesn't suck to drive. Overall, I could live with it. The lower costs would also be better for us, as we're still a young couple who should be dumping more into savings, and also we will have daycare costs a couple years from now.

But the M3 is.... the M3. It's the car I wanted for ~8 years before I could get it. I don't know about my odds of finding another clean Interlagalos blue (my favourite colour) when we move out to suburbia in a couple years.

If I keep the M3, I'm doing the rod bearings soon. If not, I'll drive it as it is and sell at the end of the summer (with about 6 months of aftermarket warranty left).

Those of you who have tried to have an m3 coupe as the only family car (with infant) in the city, is it feasible?

Or should I just grow up and accept that my M3 life is over... for now?

An alternative is to try to swap for an e90. Thoughts on that are welcome too.

I was in your exact spot years ago with my e46 M3. I sold it. I missed it everyday, but it was def the right choice. Get your family around comfortably, save some money, and never give up on buying another in the future. 6 years later, I have plenty of family cars, and a e92 date night car.

ItsGary · 05-06-2018, 03:06 PM

Come steal my Sedan

G80indy · 05-06-2018, 03:13 PM

If you had a Corsa exhaust installed, you wouldn't be able to sell it
Just sayin
;-)

GRUESOM3 · 05-06-2018, 03:20 PM

Just because you have kids doesn't mean your life is over. You really gonna need that m3 especially that first month

lol

Eddien123 · 05-06-2018, 05:00 PM

They say a child costs over 200k to raise to adulthood. That M3 will cost you like a quarter of that over the next decade so... I don't know I'm just comparing costs here.

Richbot · 05-07-2018, 09:27 AM

I’ve had mine for 8.5 years and carry our two (5 and 1.5) kids in my car almost every day. Keep it. Or buy an E90. Or buy something not bmw that oh are excited about but is maybe a little less needy.
My 1.5 year old is already excited about getting in my car when we go somewhere, so it’s not as if kids don’t enjoy a bit of fizz in the daycare shuttle

Dings and dents can be fixed. Spilled milk can be cleaned up. Years driving something you’re not excited about can’t be recovered.

G80indy · 05-07-2018, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richbot

I’ve had mine for 8.5 years and carry our two (5 and 1.5) kids in my car almost every day. Keep it. Or buy an E90. Or buy something not bmw that oh are excited about but is maybe a little less needy.
My 1.5 year old is already excited about getting in my car when we go somewhere, so it’s not as if kids don’t enjoy a bit of fizz in the daycare shuttle

Dings and dents can be fixed. Spilled milk can be cleaned up. Years driving something you’re not excited about can’t be recovered.

Agree 100%
My girls giggle when I rev it!
And I have their soundtrack playing.
Currently it's "The Greatest Showman"

anerbe · 05-08-2018, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srmast1

OP;
I have the same quandry. Should I sell the e90 m3 because I have a baby due in September? I'm just not sure..literally this is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make BUT, I have an a4 as a daily and my wife has an acura tsx as her daily. All 3 cars are 4 dr vehicles, so main question is do I sell the m3 and buy an suv? (ugh!) I'm still not decided on this but if i had to go down to 1 car, I would sell my e90M.

So, my advice is to sell the your m3 because an accord makes WAY more sense for a family than a 2dr coupe that is expensive to maintain that also returns shit gas milage. Oh and I've got to get brakes and rotors done and that's going to be $2k. I'm assuming that would be much less for your accord? If you daily your m3 I hope you DIY because maintenence costs would start stacking quick if your m3 became your primary vehicle. Also, why not keep 2 cars? Splitting one car between both of you would be tough..if you work and take the car with you, would your wife be stranded at home? Wouldn't she like her own vehicle?
So my ultimate advice to you would be to sell the m3 and purchase a little daily driver for yourself and keep the accord. That way you both have cars and no one is stuck at home. One way or the other, keeping the 2dr m3 as your only vehicle between you and your wife, with a baby on the way is probably not the most responsible family oriented decision. Sorry OP, probably not what you wanted to hear. I'm just really surprised that your wife is even allowing the 2dr m3 to remain an option as your only family car?!

OP's situation is a bit different from yours - you have an 08 A4 and 11M3 Sedan. Why not get rid of the 08 A4 for an SUV? hopefully you have a ton of mods and major attachment issues to the A4, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Mr.TT · 05-08-2018, 11:53 AM

We have a 4 year old (forward facing) and an almost 2 year old (rear facing) and a big Infiniti SUV for primary kid duty, with my E90 as backup. Rear facing seats are barely acceptable in the E90 and I think the combination of that but in a coupe format would be pretty ridiculous as your only car, although one car seat in the middle isn't as bad as two car seats on each side, since the rear facing seat can slot inbetween the front seats. Are you going to have more than one kid? Keeping a pristine E92 just to ruin it with the daily BS of city commuting and shuttling kids around seems counterproductive.

I held onto my Z06 Corvette (as a 3rd car) after my 1st kid was born as I didn't want to give it up. I put probably 3k miles on it in the two years after my 1st kid was born and my 2nd kid was born. After my 2nd was born, I got home from the hospital, took one look at the Corvette, and put it up for sale. Bought the E90 as a replacement.

Your priorities can and will change once that kid is born. How exactly that will happen you won't know (and we can't pretend to know) until after it happens. My only advise would be to if you can somehow keep both cars until after you have your kid, you'll have much more insight into your decision. I was sad selling my Corvette, but I didn't regret it one bit as the decision was very clear after I brought home the 2nd kid from the hospital.

srmast1 · 05-08-2018, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anerbe

OP's situation is a bit different from yours - you have an 08 A4 and 11M3 Sedan. Why not get rid of the 08 A4 for an SUV? hopefully you have a ton of mods and major attachment issues to the A4, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Nah..the a4 is stock. It is a quick, comfy dd for me and I've always wanted one so when my previous dd needed to be retired, the a4 was the replacement. The wife and I are not SUV people and if we were to let go of one vehicle for an suv, it would probably be her Acura TSX so that she would be driving the suv. I do not want an suv as my daily.

Honestly, I hope OP gets to keep both cars and can still live comfortably, but downtown Toronto is rather expensive. I hope he does what suits his family best.

shmad · 05-08-2018, 02:16 PM

you most definitely need 4 doors. Its gonna be hard to get the kid in the back seat of the car rear facing for you. it'll def be harder for your wife post delivery.

Artifacts in Motion · 05-08-2018, 06:18 PM