What is LOVE?! Baby just drive me..just drive me..some-more.

So what's on my mind today or tonight if you will is value. You see, Jalopnik recently ran an article about the new 2013 BMW 320i and how top properly order yours with maximum fun checked on the boxes. The ZPS and ZMT options give you the M Sport package and a manual transmission. You even get sports seats that, if they are anything like my old 335i, are able to keep that ass firmly planted, but with comfort.

Point being that BMW really is trying to give back to the enthusiast. Even though I couldn't find a single 320i or 328i with a manual transmission in all of DFW, I still like to think that some where in the engineering and marketing dept. at BMW someone really is thinking of the little guy. You know, the ones that really got the word out that BMW was worth a damn. The reason they may be who they are now...

Enough rant, lets get on with things.

This really got me thinking about value. I won't lie, I built a 320i for about the $34k, probably about $31 or $32k at the dealer. This kind of sounds sweet! So I thought. But where the hell have I been? I mean, I've owned a BMW before and I loved it but I payed for the ownership experience. So why am I so smitten? Like everyone else, including my wife, we love the way they drive. But really? For a small four cylinder car I am really giving BMW a lot of credit here to pay that kind of clam for such a sweet little box.

Okay, back to reality. Not only am I a fan of the big German boys, but I am an even bigger fan of American V8 powaaahhhh! So I thought what's hot right now? Mustang. So what did I do, I priced a 2014 track pack car with Recaro seats for, what's this, just about ten dollars more than the dainty 320i.

WHOA.

Oh God, here comes the flood of random cars that could be bought at that price. Subaru WRX, Scion FR-S and some tires and wheels and stuff...I'm sure I could go on into fanboy heaven and back. My point was merely that sometimes it's still a tough choice to say what it is exactly we are looking for in a fun car. I would love to hear a V8 burble every day I go to work. I dream about it at night and I want it in the morning.

For some reason it still doesn't completely kill the idea of something great from the creator of the worlds greatest driving machines, even if it is a "lesser" model. I too can subscribe to the homage of slow car fast > fast car slow. Now the real question is: Is it good enough? I don't know the answer to that. Maybe I should find out. Maybe it is a true homage to the BMW of old. The car we thought had been lost.

Even though I disagree that BMW was lost, they seem to have found some roots again. Which is a great thing and it would be great to do some campfire sessions with the best of the BMW CCA during this time.

For me, I'd just have to test drive it. Maybe I will...if I can find one! For now though, I have to say, if I had to choose, it'd be the Mustang GT every time. I mean, we're talking about a car that goes head to head with the world famous M3 and does it for an entire GT's cost less.

So while the 320i might be a BMW bargain, it's tough to beat, what goes for about $31k at a good dealer, with such presence and umph. I know that to each there own and on both sides of this argument the flame wars could go on forever about BMW drivers never driving the child's toy and a Mustang driver driving some uppity, yuppy wagon. For the fringe enthusiast, I say it's up to you to decide.

With that said, maybe I'll press on and try to get some seat time. Looks like I could use a test drive. Maybe that Scion too. Weird to even mention them in the same thought.

In the air of the night. It's time to filter the dirt and get down to what's going into the Rod's new virtual engine.

I recently got the idea for working on this much like a diary. That's the reason I thought it was integral that I put in some character. This blog will be thoughts and opinions about a lot of things, just centered around cars. I said this already in my introductory statement and I'm just expanding on this idea now.

I wanted a place to go to pull out the thoughts and air out my brain. After watching a few videos and reading some other entries I thought it best to use this as my personal "pensive" of sorts. Unlike Dumbledore I don't carry a wand so I gotta use a Mac.

I keep hearing Matt Farrah (/Drive, The Car Show) telling me to be prolific. Well that's part of the plan too. I may not have time to be super prolific, I will be using the time to bring out some ideas and explain a few things.

Ideas such as my brain's project garage. Yeah, it needs a better name and I'll work on it. For now I will entail the insane amount of projects that roll around my head any time I even think about a car. No, I won't actually cover every freaking one but I'll be dishing out the best. Right now I don't have a shop and some get to create. So for me, I'm building in my mind. Now I'm sharing with you.

So what? You say? I say that I share my ideas just like everyone else has because what if I pick up on something you may not have ever thought of? Yep, just like the greatest shops in the world give me ideas, I like to combine them and now instead of keeping my ideas inside, I'll let you take a look into my world and see if there is anything useful.

Sometimes I will spell it out, sometimes it will be pictures and some will be my terrible sketches. Oh yeah, MY sketches.

I actually hope that people see things a little bit differently with my ideas and shift the paradigm on typical thinking. Over the last year I've spent time running, lifting, driving, traveling and working on being a better husband. During this time I've changed the way I think about a lot and work on using my zen moments to my strength. But my strength can't be the only gain if I'm helping others in the long run.

No need in getting sappy, lets move on to the good s#it.

Something cool is that I really have a garage now. Or at least I'm working on it and I'll be doing the new Rod's Garage segment that will actually be something other than just the current stock. If I get a cool new toy, then I'll share it and see what I can make out of it.

Other new stuff is possibly going to be side projects. As an engineer I like to fool around with any tool I can. So some of the projects that I have going on my just wind up here. Just about anything can be tied back to the automotive world or just my very own perspective on life.

The most current idea expands on that last part. Life perspective. I have a tough time learning from my mistakes it seems so along the way I like to teach myself by doing a great deal of different things. So this is going to be a lot of different experiences and lessons learned. Don't think of life revolving around cars, think of cars revolving around life. Lessons aren't always learned in the driver's seat. Sometimes it's sitting at the dinner table and sometimes it's under the barbell or while smoking your favorite brisket.

Keep your mind open because I'll keep the conversation going.

I may only be driving a mouse, but it's something dammit!

Well, after a brief hiatus I've decided to bring some writing back to the world of Throwing Rods. I still have quite a few decisions to make and what the overall evolution will be but in my mind, I have a few ideas to keep me occupied.

Throughout the various stories to come, I'll be drawing inspiration from a great deal of sites, some things will continue to evolve, some will stay the same. Just like when a manufacturer gets something right, it's best to stick with it and keep that stability. Sometimes though, you just have to jump ship and do something completely different. 

The old ideas will mostly remain in tact, but new segments or updated segments will start to pop up and the one thing I want to add is fun. Or, I guess, what BMW calls  "joy".  Well, maybe not that serious, lets stick with fun. I hope to retain the satire and sarcasm while actually writing with amusing overtones. I am not sure how far to take things and for all I know Throwing Rods will take a complete 180. 

What caused all this? Well, a lot of thinking and discussing, with a little self discovery. No, I'm not going all Eat, Pray, Love on you, this is a f*&%ing car blog! 

What I do have time for, is nostalgia. Going forward, I'm also looking backwards. Cars on the street, rusting classics, polished hot rods, you name it. While I was taking some time off, I started looking back into what it was that moved me as an enthusiast. There are a great many things, food, music and more but the thing is that may family kept my head in the past with vintage Chevys mostly. These were the things that moved me and always seem to. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't escape old metal. 

Now? Now it's time to get writing. I started this on inspiration, no budget and a lot of hopes and dreams. Why not continue the trend? Sounds like a damn good idea to me. So I'll be looking in every direction to discuss a slew of new topics. Some boring, some not, some off topic and some on but either way, it will all tie into the idea that started Throwing Rods and what it is that drives it.