I took a test drive in a Z3 3.0i last weekend with a
friend, and when he asked me what I thought of it, I
told him "it's certainly a tight car. good torque. but
if I were to define it in a word, it would be -
sterile."
I'm often called crazy, but if someone drove-up in a
brand new Miata and told me they'd trade me square for
my rusty spitfire. I'd think about it half a second
before I laughed in their face.
I don't think I have to remind everyone that spitfires
were assembled by hand. Good or bad, they aren't the
cookie cutter cars of today. They have character,
personality, imperfections, whatever else you want to
describe it as.
And despite the fact that some of you claim that you
name your spitfire because "it's cute". I bet atleast
half of you, think of it as having feelings or senses.
You don't have to confess to it, but there are a few
of you that park the Spitfire in the garage, not
because of cleanliness or safety reasons, but because
it's heated and you don't want the car to be cold!
Admit it! And if the heat failed in the garage, you'd
wake up your wife and tell her that she needs to help
you move the couch into the garage so you have room
for the spitfire in the living room. Admit it! You
know who you are!
Another friend of mine (yes I have more than
one..atleast imaginary) bought an M roadster when they
came out. I saw him a couple of months ago at a gas
station and he told me he gave his Z3 1.8 to his dad
because this M had more "oomph". I asked him what he
named it and looked at me funny and said "huh? What do
you mean? The car?"
If they build a modern car and give it the spitfire
name, it would be a nice tribute to a great car, but
at most that's all it would be. And in the least it
would be a marketing ploy. You know if someone went to
a British car show with a 2002 Spitfire (looking all
Miata/boxter/opel like) in the back of your mind you'd
have a feeling of superior arrogance and think
"poser".
You know you would! Okay...Atleast I would. Someone
agree with me here.
-Terry
P.S. I think the Spitfire is more italian in style.
Only the wide-round-too big for the rest of the car
headlights really say "british" to me. The spitfire
(old and new) remind me of an alpha romeo, fiat or
ferrari calif. spyder. When someone says 'British
styling', I think of a Mini, Midget or a Metropolitan
(squished/bull-dog) or even a Rolls/Mayflower/Singer
type of sedan. If you ever look at a car and go
"That's sexy", you can be most assured it's not
British.
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