Two New Cars in One Month (in the worst buying time ever?)

[Biggins]

2022 VW Tiguan S (base/stripper FWD model):
I mentioned this in another thread a few weeks ago. It was a day or two after Christmas, and I ran my wife's 2016 Honda CR-V AWD with 55k miles through the usual Carvana/Carmax/Vroom sites and loved the higher than $20k quotes for a car we bought for under $22k in 2016. We had been contemplating replacing the CR-V for a while for a three row vehicle, but we were not really in the market for anything. The replacements we really wanted were above what we wanted to pay and marked up substantially (Telluride, Palisade, Sorento, minivans). The Tiguan FWD model has three rows, but considerably more space than the CR-V when the third row seats folded down. The VW dealer near us seemed willing to deal and continually complimented how nice our CR-V was while we looked at the base Tiguan. After very little back-and-forth on the last day of 2021, we purchased the Tiguan for slightly under MSRP and got more than $20k for our CR-V! We've had it for a month and like it much more than we expected. It's amazing to us the features available on the base model VW (heated seats and tech). I don't think we'll keep it forever, but we think we found a pretty good deal.

2011 BMW 328i (E92) M-Sport:
I tend to keep my cars for a long time. The engine on my Scion FR-S blew up last June, only 3k miles after the dealer completed their recall repairs. After having an indy shop replace the engine, I quickly sold the car to Carvana for way more than expected. My original plan to buy a new Civic Si or Elantra N was thrown out when I saw some quotes from dealers with their markups and availability... plus, I was not sure I wanted something with FWD for my car.

In the past few months, I made efforts to buy multiple used BMWs and got quotes for Civics and Elantras. I missed a 128i prepped for autox/track by a couple hours that would have checked most boxes, was outbid on a high mileage but decent ZHP, ran from a way too rough 328i wagon, and snow prevented me from getting to a NW PA dealer for a different high mileage 128i. Last week, an E92 328i M-Sport with a manual transmission popped up with lower miles (61k) and looked to be in good condition for a "fair" price. It seems to have most options except no iDrive. With my work-from-home schedule likely changing and kids possibly needing to be hauled to child care in the very near future, I didn't think I could hold off much longer. I did a quick test drive and made the deal happen. This might be a somewhat rare car with these options?

I need to remove the rear window tint to pass state inspection, but the car seems pretty nice. It's MUCH bigger than the E36 and FR-S to which I grew accustomed. I've never had a white car, so I suppose I'll need to brush up on my cleaning/detailing skills. I'm not sure that I love the car yet, but I like it enough and think it will scratch the itch for a couple years. Maybe I'll like it and keep it for a long time? I need to get another set of rims and tires for the summer and perhaps try my luck in the "stock" GS SCCA autocross class, but the car might be "too big" and "not competitive enough" for me to put too much time/money/effort for autocross. Worst case... I don't love the car and I can sell it for not too much of a loss?