Today, while looking through YouTube, I stumbled across a video of me driving my now-sold 2014 BMW i3, and I couldn’t help but feel and say aloud: “Man, I really miss my old i3.” My wife, probably thinking I’ve gone crazy, then reminded me that I have a much nicer version of the exact same car sitting right outside. She has a point.
It has dawned on me that I’m a sucker for nostalgia when it comes to my cars.
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It’s one thing for me to feel nostalgia for my first car, this burgundy Jeep XJ:
Or the vehicle I’ve owned the second longest, my Jeep J10:
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But it’s a whole other thing to feel it for this:
I bought that car only 26 months ago, and roughly a year ago I decided that I loved my i3 so much that I wanted to buy a lower-mileage, higher-range version of it that would not only be more practical, but that would also last longer. My gray BMW i3 made me fall in love with the model to the point where I decided I wanted the very best version of it. Here you can see the two i3s in the topshot of my article about decontenting:
“It’s the same car.”
That’s what most people would say when they see the photo above, but I see two rather distinct vehicles. There are three reasons why I miss my 2014. The first is that, to me, it is a more interesting piece of automotive history. The BMW i3 in 2014 was simply an out-of-this-world marvel of engineering, while the BMW i3 in 2021 was an outdated and expensive EV. When I look at the photo above, I see a moonshot on the left and a tired EV-veteran on the right.
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Beyond that, the 2014 was a purer example of the i3. It didn’t have a big battery (which was the point of the Range Extender), it was relatively lightweight, it had super skinny tires, its front end wasn’t as aggro, and the interior was simply perfection, and hadn’t yet been cost-reduced.
Which version of the BMW i3’s famous “Giga World” interior are you most fond of?
(Notice the slight change in leather color, change in armrest color, and change in fabric pattern). pic.twitter.com/tUkNakP9Pm
— David Tracy (@davidntracy) June 4, 2024
And of course, there’s the memory of that i3. It was my first, and it was the car that made me fall in love with i3s. It was also the car that introduced me to Los Angeles, as I bought that vehicle shortly after my arrival.
I almost kept that i3, actually. I was going to use it as my commuter, and my gold i3 was going to be my “minty” rare one. That’s a bit nuts, and even I was able to discard that idea from my brain. The BMW i3 is the perfect commuter car, and to treat one as a collector car that just sits in my garage — especially since I don’t have to commute to work every day — is a bit absurd.
I love my too-expensive 2021 BMW i3, and the decision to sell off my 2014 is one I’m quite happy with, especially since the thing went to a good home. But man, if nostalgia doesn’t put up a fight.
Luckily, I have covered some of the most prolific car collectors ever, and I’ve seen how in some cases those collection can get out of hand. Nostalgia is often a main culprit behind the struggle, and my gray BMW i3 reminds me just how much of a powerful force that can be. It will be a tough one to face as I stare down the reality of having to part ways with either my Jeep J10 or my first Jeep XJ now that I’m a family man.
I recently read the Reddit post “I want to keep my first car forever. Is this something everyone feels but grows out of?” and, between that and all those videos of “Grandpa getting his dream car,” it’s become clear that it’s not just me. Car Nostalgia is just a hell of a drug.
Totally agree. I bought my first car when I turned 16 and ran it in the driveway every few weeks until I got my license at 17. That was almost 30 years ago and I still have it to this day. My wife can sell it when I’m dead!
Is your wife hoping you don’t get nostalgic for a former girlfriend?
My Fit turned 11 yesterday. I have no intention to do anything but keep it going. I’ve read too many regret stories, and I love mine.
I’ve owned a lot of crappy cars/trucks at least once I’ve tried to “recapture the moment” by buying a later model of one I’d previously owned but never feels the same.
Nowadays I try to subscribe to ichi-go ichi-e, remind myself the experience I had, I can’t duplicate, so have to have new experiences.
I guess that’s a way of saying, think about the first experience you had with the i3, a car you never would’ve considered while living in Michigan wrenching on old rusty jeeps.
Now you’re nostalgiac for your 1st i3, like you are for your old Jeep, maybe instead of constantly trying to chase the Jeep feelings of the past, you should focus on what the future holds, maybe the new Scout, maybe a Jeep Recon, maybe something completely out of left field like the i3 was, like a Subaru Outback 3.6r for family wagon livin’.
David have you ever noticed how no real car guys or collectors ask for your advice? Maybe time for you to ask advice and take it. Hello you have Jay Leno’s contact call him. Isn’t Barris custom cars out there? Stop collecting bottle caps and start collecting real items.
I do occasionally pine for a few of the cars I’ve owned over the years. The only ones I think.I’d really like to have out of all of them would be my 71 SBC swapped TR-6. It like all the others rattled and could be unreliable at times. It was a fearsome beast and a hoot to drive when it ran properly. The other was my 72 SBC swapped 240Z, for the same reasons. They’d be fair weather cruisers at best. Maybe with modern ignition and fuel systems and 5 or 6 spds suspension and brake upgrades. On second though, maybe not such a good idea.
If the car was actually amazing you’d still have it today and not have gotten rid of it. Same thing goes for ex-girlfriends. Hint: you broke up for a reason.
I can list every flaw of my old cars as reasons why I don’t have them today. Ditto for the ex’s.
You have to remember DTs amazing bar is very low. He gets rid of cars when they become reliable
Tell me about it. I’ve spent the last nine years fighting with a car that I fell in love with from a coffee-table book when I was seven years old. And the damn thing still isn’t properly roadworthy. I’m getting ready to pull the engine to do a bunch of work, because I can’t bring myself to seriously consider selling it.
I have my first car, but there are two that I wish I could have back.
First is a 1966 Chevelle hardtop, which will never come back. It was a car my dad bought while I was in middle school, and we sold it when I was in college. I would love it back, but it went to a guy who exported it to Russia. It popped up 4 or 5 months later on a chevelle forum, getting a frame off resto.
Second is a 1987 Crown Victoria. A C4C reject (1987 didnt qualify?), I bought grandma’s car that was minty. No option, base model. Crank windows, manual locks, no cassette and 4 presets on the radio. It was a great car! the LoPo 5.0 actually peaks torque lower than the HO so it felt faster than it is. I gave it to my dads friend who was in need, and felt good about that. Then he traded it to a ford dealer in on a minivan. Then who knows.