*Official* Comments from Strangers Thread

[Anders93]

Only comment I've gotten in VA was a nice convo at a red light with a guy in a red ZHP. He also owned a grey e46 m3. Gotta love it.

[Mspir3d]

When I was in school at the med center, a young high school student in some early exposure program approached me in the parking lot. Told me he really like my car and his birthday was coming up. He was pretty sure his parents would buy it for him. I laughed and declined.

[2004LSB]

Having owned this car for a little over 8 years now, I've had my share of random encounters w/ the general public. In chronological order, here it goes:

1.) Upon taking delivery of the vehicle, the truck driver mentioned this car is a total dude / bro magnet. At the time I wasn't really sure what he meant by it, but now I get it and it isn't such a bad thing as it always captures the attention of fellow gearheads and is a great conversation starter!
2.) Waiting at a stoplight one time in Ladera Heights (La Tijera & Centinela), the driver in another car pulled up next to me and made a "roll down the window" gesture. I entertained the idea and he shouted: "Hey!! Is that a candy coat?!"
3.) Getting gas @ a Shell station in San Gabriel one time, a young kid approached me and complimented the car - - asked what mods I had on it and if I visit the track regularly.
4.) In Calabasas / Woodland Hills getting gas one time, an older gentleman complimented the car and said it looked great. He was shocked it was a 2004 model year.
5.) As I was heading northbound on SR-71 just leaving SR-91 in the Corona / Chino Hills area, I was going WOT on 3rd gear w/ the CSL airbox up the hill in the left lane. A minivan driver several hundred feet ahead of me heard the massive induction noise, switched over to the right to let me pass, and proceeded to tap his horn quickly and threw up a huge thumbs up out the window as I blew past him.

[Rhythim]

As oceansize said, really rare to draw random comments in TN on what is largely perceived as just an old BMW.

Probably the best one I've gotten was in traffic on the interstate coming home from work one afternoon a year or so ago. Looked up in my rear view mirror and saw an old 300Z weaving in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. As it got closer I could see that it appeared to be a well-kept example. Driver lifted and pulled up behind me, shifted into the right lane to pull up on my right, paused, dropped back behind and moved to pull up on my left. Really giving me the once-over.

Guy driving was probably in his 30s. Gave a thumbs up, a peace sign, and moved out. It was rush hour and I'm too old to play in traffic any longer, but I did admire his license plate as he drove off....Z32DETT. Combination of the chassis designation and partial code for the twin turbo engine. I dug it considering my plate is S54B32.

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[Johnvu]

I was playing around with a Ferrari 458 Italia on the Beltway. We hit an huge ramp with a long sweeping left hand turn, with me on the outside and him on the inside. I actually overtook him during the turn and pushed it on the straight hitting about 120 mph. Then we just cruised at around 90mph until I pulled off for my exit, and he ended up following me. We pulled up to the light and he rolled his window down. The driver was a pretty young guy, probably late 30's. He asked if I was boosted and told him, "nope NA!" He said, "really?! Damn, that thing is nice man!". I told him, "not as nice as yours man, that thing is sick! I was honestly in awww that I got a compliment from a Ferrari owner haha. That made my day and also a very proud owner LOL.

[karter16]

Having owned this car for a little over 8 years now, I've had my share of random encounters w/ the general public. In chronological order, here it goes:

1.) Upon taking delivery of the vehicle, the truck driver mentioned this car is a total dude / bro magnet. At the time I wasn't really sure what he meant by it, but now I get it and it isn't such a bad thing as it always captures the attention of fellow gearheads and is a great conversation starter!
2.) Waiting at a stoplight one time in Ladera Heights (La Tijera & Centinela), the driver in another car pulled up next to me and made a "roll down the window" gesture. I entertained the idea and he shouted: "Hey!! Is that a candy coat?!"
3.) Getting gas @ a Shell station in San Gabriel one time, a young kid approached me and complimented the car - - asked what mods I had on it and if I visit the track regularly.
4.) In Calabasas / Woodland Hills getting gas one time, an older gentleman complimented the car and said it looked great. He was shocked it was a 2004 model year.
5.) As I was heading northbound on SR-71 just leaving SR-91 in the Corona / Chino Hills area, I was going WOT on 3rd gear w/ the CSL airbox up the hill in the left lane. A minivan driver several hundred feet ahead of me heard the massive induction noise, switched over to the right to let me pass, and proceeded to tap his horn quickly and threw up a huge thumbs up out the window as I blew past him.

Completely agree with #4 - Almost everyone who engages me in discussion regarding the car is shocked that it's as old as it is.

[Ddaniel1]

My weirdest ones were at two separate CCA meets, people telling me my paint wasn't stock (LSB) "why did you paint it that color?", last month a girl giving me food at a drive through event asked if it was a new car, it sure is timeless.

[Nate047]

I get comments in my E36 all the time, E46 not so much. One time a guy asked if there was an S52 in it, I was like ...no? and he was like oh nice, swapped!

[PRIM3]

In Vancouver they say there’s one supercar per every 600ppl (in the most affluent area, West Vancouver, it’s one per every 140ppl). It’s pretty wild. So one would assume there’s not much love leftover for our grey whiskered sports cars. But it’s just not the case. Over the 12yrs I’ve owned mine I’ve had countless interesting interactions/questions/comments. Probably a few hundred thumbs up in passing. Probably 8 genuine offers to buy, right there at a stop light or at the pump. All variety of stuff to the point I expect something almost every time I leave the garage.

One example from last summer. Car is freshly washed and I’m on my morning commute, stopped at a busy intersection. A Latino looking dude with a long ponytail pulls up beside me. His windows are down and he’s evidently halfway thru his morning blunt, “Heyyy man, my man, what year is that thing?” I tell him and he says “don’t you ever change it you son of a bitch it’s beautiful!” I thank him for the kind words while he has this big smile and smoke pouring out his vehicle. Light goes green we pull off. I watch in my rear view and he ends up doing a u-turn at the next light, wasn’t even going the right way


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[Swizbeatz]

Completely agree with #4 - Almost everyone who engages me in discussion regarding the car is shocked that it's as old as it is.

Agreed. The e36 while awesome shows it’s age but nobody knows mine is 15 years old. I’ve had a few techs comment it’s their favorite M car while doing recalls and such. It’s why while I keep looking at newer M’s I can’t pull the trigger.

[Inizes]

First experience was when I was the the BMV (which is not in the best neighborhood of Columbus) getting my title and registration sorted out. I was asked by two separate people ask what I did for work and if I was hiring, that sort of surprised me since I suspected it looked like an old BMW to most people.

During the summer I was driving along one of the better driving roads near Columbus which snaked along the Scioto River, got a huge thumbs up out of the driver window from a late teen/early 20s guy in a red e30 going the other way.

Finally had an older gas station attendant come up to me and ask what year my car was and how many miles it had, he was shocked when I said it was a 2005 with just over 100k on the clock. Told me to keep taking good care of it.

Otherwise I don't get too much attention, and for now I think I am okay with that. I like to just do my own thing.

[Onefastsicilian]

"How fast does that thing go!"..... hate that stupid question

[Tbonem3]

Amazon driver gave me a shout out yesterday

He said it was fucking "Prime"

[stash1]

"Why do you keep such an old car?"

"Get that piece of **** off the road!"

"Your car is too loud."

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Why do you let your wife talk to you like that? I get, 'Is that thing LS swapped' all of the time when they hear it.

[joefresh]

My car gets most of its attention from the friendly police here in socal. Strange i know.

Besides that I have gotten many many compliments and questions about my car over the last few years.

My favorite was from a man in his 70s. Turns out he used to work on the e30 m3 when they came out and that the e46 was a "special car"