[Unicorn123]

Mark,

Interesting premise and thread. Thank you.

I am definitely a carbon copy of your M235i owner description (xDrive since I live in New England). I am a short, obese, bald, 50-something kid racer type. I use my M235 as my daily for my 100 mile RT commute (only when I am in the office, otherwise it sits in my garage or at the airport) in all seasons. I keep it in comfort mode most of the time (see why regarding frugality below), but use sport mode on the back roads, if safe (out here in the sticks, we have a lot of pedestrians and bikes on the windy back roads). It is my (not counting my wife's X5) first car with an automatic in my life as a daily. I now have a swollen knee and a sore ankle from jamming my left foot to the floor. I can't wait for my first emergency braking situation when I shove both feet to the floor simultaneously by rote!

The reason I do not have a M240 is I am a cheap and frugal guy and it took me 6 months to decide to pry my wallet open (flies came out) and buy a second hand M235 to replace my former daily, which had 270K on it and the original clutch. It was the only car (out of the ~15 different models I drove and evaluated of various marques) that left me giggling like a little girl, which was my primary criterion for purchase.

I occupied my misspent youth rallying (both TSD and Performance), autocrossing (or running in gymkana's, remember those!) and terrorizing small animals on back roads (however, no actual animals were harmed). I have decided that I want to autocross again, so the M235 will be put to work there in the spring. Then I can terrorize myself...

At least your premise did not start with the old joke regarding porcupine's and BMW (pick a marque) owners...,