I fly commercial helicopters out of Pategonia in southern Argentina. Just before I returned to work, I bought a reeeaaally nice 2001 540i Sport, my first BMW. I flew Cobra helicopters before I retired from the army in '98 and when I first trained in them, we were told to do lots of situps. Why? Because when you fired the minigun and rockets, all the blood in your head would rush to a certain part of your body and they didn't want you passing out, so you needed to tighten up your stomach muscles. As I found out, all of this is really a joke, but I'm not so sure when I get to drive this 540i. I had a Corvette for a while and it was nice, but this thing, my goodness - it's almost a sexual experience. Now right after I bought the car, I had to come to work and leave it with my lovely wife. Well, when I talk to her she tells me, very coyly, that she is being real careful with "my car". I can tell from her voice that she is having as much or more fun than I had in the short period that I got to drive it. Reading some of the posts on forums about expenses and replacements and such can be rather disconcerting, but flying helicopters and having grown use to intensive maintenance, I'm here to tell you boys and girls - this thing is a blast that is well worth any agravation that might be involved. Keep the ball rollin' and drive safely.
