My first BMW is the one I purchased in early 2022: a new-to-me 2018 F87 M2 LCI.

I don't consider myself a BMW guy. I'm a small-sports-car with shift-em-yourself gears kinda guy. I came from a 2010 5MT WRX hatchback.

Round about when I hit 10 years of ownership of the WRX, I started looking for my next small hatchback or coupé, AWD/RWD, manual transmission car. I was looking at cars like the Golf R, Veloster N, Mini Cooper S/JCW, and similar. That's when I happened upon the Throttle House review of the M240i. Since I'm not a BMW guy, I hadn't really heard of the car. I fell in love instantly.

As I learned more about the M240i, I discovered the M2. I'd found my true love. ♥ So I spent the next two years watching the the used market for my perfect spec to pop up: LCI (non-comp), LBB, moonroof, 6MT, one-owner, CA-owned, exec package, under 30K miles, $55K or less.

In December '21 the exact spec I was looking for popped up at a CarMax in SoCal. I jumped on it, had it transferred to my local CarMax the day after it appeared online, spent 24 hours with it during CarMax's 24-hour test drive, and purchased it the next day. That was just over a year ago.

A year later, my love affair with M2 hasn't ceased. I think I'll get at least a decade out of this car. And, with how the car market is rapidly shifting under us, who knows: maybe I'll go 15 years in this one. It's the last of the good ones, I think.