Eh, it’s academic really, so no rush. If I picked up an 8-series, I’d probably just get an 850i and either swap that or hope for a manual. It’s hard to say no to a V12 (even though the V8 is pretty awesome in my 540iT).

What kind of computer stuff is involved? On an E39, it’s pretty easy since there are manual 540i’s you can use as a baseline - the 8 doesn’t have that luxury. I guess you could tell the DME that it is a 540i so it will accept the manual. The other modules shouldn’t care, except maybe the ASC and the IKE.  

And the 840i didn’t come with a stick. I don’t even know what would be involved in that swap.

I have an irrational love of the 850i and thought that was the perfect answer. You have proven me wrong. This is the right answer.

Yep, my 3 and 5 year old both realized that this was a race to the bottom for them! Now it’s, if I clean it up, they lose it; if they clean it up, they can play with it later. That’s worked much better.

One of my favorite books.

I am glad I am space limited otherwise I would probably give into every one of those impulsive (read: inexpensive to buy) car purchases. I’d be the BMW version of David Tracy.

It’s amazing when they come back with some reply that makes you do a double take. I don’t remember the specifics, but it was some sort of car engineering thing that many adults don’t get - definitely made me proud, and worried he has the knack (he is on the spectrum, so he’s kind of born on that path).

My oldest asked how rockets are made yesterday, followed by how rocket boosters are made. It was extremely hard to boil that down to a small enough chunk that he could grasp - as an engineer, it’s a challenge to not make something too technical. I am definitely going to ask him what he thinks instead - that would be a…

I have been pretty indifferent to all of this. I just can’t seem to care either way (now, if you bring up the halos, that’s another story).

I am always disappointed by BMW and their wagon trim combinations. They always seem to screw it up. At least swapping what it should have been is not hard. However, the price is too high for the mileage. A manual wagon is nice, but that mileage is a bit much for a wagon that doesn’t have anything else special for the…

Man, that dad is pretty spot on. On the bad days, that sums it up really well. That order does sound much more reasonable and it is something we have been pushing for more at home (3 and 4 go back and forth depending on the request). The TV show thing is really hard - there are only a few shows we watch that are okay…

I laughed way too hard at this.

Can’t believe the one in my county isn’t closing. Place looks decrepit. They must have super low overhead or some insane lease on the property. I’m not sure if I care either way, most of the kids’ toys come from Amazon, but it can be fun to go through their Lego section. It’s the only place besides the Lego Store in…

I have noticed a few these around town and they do look pretty good. Honestly, it sounds like it is a very good luxury car - especially since they focused on making it a luxury car, not a sports car (something I am now appreciating more and more). That interior does look awesome, but where does it compare to other…

That was the best part of the entire battle.

Don’t you put that evil on me!

While I normally refuse to entertain any discussions of a third kid (don’t want to curse myself with a 3rd), my top choices are Stirling (wife hates the name, though), Kimi, or Sebastian (most likely one). Alain was also a possibility, but not sure if we could handle the sibling rivalry there that we would be setting…

We went with unique names after F1 drivers for our kids (Ayrton and Jenson), but the names are really only known to Jalopnik-types. The boys seem to love their names since they can point to race cars and say that was the one their namesakes drove. It has also been fun to teach the boys about their namesakes and to…

Yeah, my oldest (5) has autism and I’m in the camp of hating every single one of these movies/shows. Yes, it’s nice that Hollywood is trying to give this group visibility, but they seem to suck at it. They can’t get either viewpoint right: the family or the autistic individual (I don’t have autism, so I don’t really…