One Day, He Came Home with a New Car

It’s been a while since my last post. Just as the title says, my husband recently bought a Mercedes-Benz SL500 (R129). I don’t know much about Mercedes-Benz, so “SL500” didn’t mean much to me at first. But from what I hear from fellow car enthusiasts, it’s considered a classic.

It hasn’t been delivered yet, but this SL500 is the classic, unmodified SL my husband has wanted since he was a boy. With this purchase, we now have four cars in the family—and apparently, he has no intention of selling any of them…

“One’s for everyday driving, right? One’s for taking the family out, right? One’s a manual roadster, right? And one’s a classic car… We need every single one of them!”

He said it as if it were perfectly obvious. (LOL)

Put that way, it might sound like my husband just buys whatever cars he feels like. But he would never buy a car on impulse or love at first sight. If anything, he thinks things through so thoroughly that I eventually find myself saying, “You’ve already thought about it this much—why not go for it?” He researches every detail and runs through all kinds of post-purchase scenarios before making a decision.

How Does My Husband Choose a Car?

A few months ago, he told me he was thinking about adding another car to the garage.

“I’m thinking about getting another car. I’m looking for something I’ve wanted for a long time, so I’m considering buying used. I can’t decide between a BMW M car, an Alpina, or an SL.”

At first, I just said, “Oh, really?” But then he started showing me cars he’d found on used-car sites like Carsensor and Goo, asking over and over, “What do you think of this one?” and “How about that one?” When I asked, “You said it’s a car you’ve always wanted—but what matters most to you in this one?” he began explaining his thinking, though he still seemed unsure himself.

From then on, he was glued to used-car listings. On weekends, he’d seek advice from car-loving friends, asking “Which one would you buy?” and agonizing over the options as if he were under a spell. He even went to dealerships to test-drive cars. “It’s nice, but it just doesn’t click. Buying a car is all about finding the right match,” he’d say. At last, he settled on this way of looking at it:

“For driving enjoyment, performance, and modern features, the Panamera and Boxster we already have are more than enough. So I’m going to look for something at the opposite end of the spectrum.”

And that’s how he decided on a classic, unmodified SL500.

Just How Much Research Does He Do?

After that, when he got home from work, he’d be glued to Car Graphic TV, YouTube test-drive reviews from Loperaio, and Top Gear. Watching him, you’d think he was a student cramming for exams, unwilling to waste a single minute. (LOL)

Once he’d narrowed it down to two cars, he asked me, “Which one do you think is better?” When I asked what the specifications meant or what certain figures referred to, he gave me a perfect rundown of everything—from fuel economy, horsepower, and torque to the design, headlights, and engine.

If you’ve researched it and thought it through that much, why not just go with your gut?

That was my answer. Honestly, I didn’t know what else to say. (LOL)

In the end, he chose a silver SL500 with just one previous owner. The owner was the chairman of a certain company, who cherished the car right up until shortly before his death. And soon, our very own SL will be arriving at home. I can’t wait.