« Up for and On Air | Main | Gas Prices Curb Vehicles »
April 14, 2006
Fast + Car = Stephen Bainbridge
Noted UCLA law professor, Stephen Bainbridge, recently dropped by the AutoMuse email room to answer some prying questions about his fascination with sports cars, the recent break-up of his relationship with BMW, and his new romantic entanglement with Porsche. Witty, forthright, and intellectual, Professor Bainbridge puts his wine aside to share his passion for cars with us in this Carview with Professor Stephen Bainbridge.
AM You are a noted law professor and vinophile, with blogs for each of those interests. Where does you interest in cars fit in?
AM Have you always been interested in cars?
SB Let’s take these first two questions together. I’ve been a car guy since as far back as I can remember. When I was about 6 my grandfather gave me a book about sports cars and I was hooked.
A really well made car, like a really well made wine, is a work of art. A thing of beauty that appeals to all of one’s senses. And, unlike a painting or a photograph, it also has substantial utilitarian value. You can get some where, while also pleasing your aesthetic side.
AM Does your interest in cars include an interest in trucks?
SB Nope. I’m afraid I think the whole truck/SUV thing has been so overblown. If I had my druthers, the only people who would drive trucks would be people who actually use them for work.
AM Does your interest in cars only include sports cars?
SB Let’s say fast cars. I love to drive. I love to drive fast. But I especially love to drive fast on curvy roads (like Malibu Canyon or Mulholland Drive). A sports or GT is ideal for someone with my tastes, but I’ve also enjoyed driving sports sedans.
Indeed, when I bought my most recent car, I seriously considered the M5. Porsche 911 performance with room for 5 was an attractive idea.
Yet, the cars I’ve lusted for over the years have all been sports cars. When I was very young, I aspired to the Jaguar XKE coupe. (Actually, I went back and forth between wanting a Pontiac GTO and a Jaguar E-type V12. Raw power versus power in a velvet glove. Tough call.)
When I first started driving, I toyed with the idea of a MG or a Triumph. What I got was a Ford Pinto (not by my choice, however, but Dad's). Sigh. Supposedly the Pinto would be more reliable than a British sports car of the late 1960s or early 1970s vintages. Which may have been true, but that Pinto sure earned the old line about Ford: Fix Or Repair Daily.
Of course, I’ve wanted a 911 since the first time I saw one. Indeed, between the ages of 14 and 25, I pretty consistently had a 911 poster on the wall everywhere I lived.
AM You have written on your blawg about your history driving various BMWs. How did the relationship with BMW start?
SB When I moved to So Calif in 1996, I decided I needed a convertible. So I leased a 1996 328 ragtop. In 1997, I leased a 328 sedan for my wife. In 2000, I decided I needed a SUV (big error), so I swapped the convertible for a X5. When the lease on my wife’s sedan expired, she wanted a station wagon, so we got her a 2001 325 wagon, which she still owns and loves. When the lease on the X5 expired, I leased a 2003 M3 convertible, which was a blast.
What I loved about those BMWs was that they were a near perfect balance of sport, aesthetic appeal, and practicality. Even the convertibles could sit 4 adults in relative comfort. Yet, give them the gas, and you were off to the races.
Indeed, balance is the precise word that always comes to mind when I think about the BMWs I’ve owned (well, mostly leased). Perfectly balanced front/rear weight distribution, exemplary road holding, potent acceleration, and superb brakes.
AM In the recent past, you have expressed dissatisfaction with the “Bangle butt” and the iDrive. What was it that finally prompted you to turn your back on BMW and buy a competitor’s car?
SB The Bangle butt and the iDrive. I find the new BMW styling direction little short of hideous. They’ve taken a classic, that evolved slowly but sensibly, and turned it into a nightmare.
As a driver, of course, you spend most of your time inside the car rather than admiring it from the outside. Here too, Bangle bungled. The BMW interior long had foreshadowed the car's sporty abilities through such seemingly minor effects as the center console's slight tilt towards the driver. The ergonomics generally were brilliant, with every control in a logical place to which one's hand fell naturally.
Today, all that is gone in favor of a generic luxo-sedan dash offering wide swaths of plastic. On top of which, they've decontented the interiors by downgrading the quality of the materials. The leathers are much stiffer, while the plastic dash feels harder, and the switchwork seems flimsier.
By the way, have you seen the cup holder on the 6 series? It’s a tacky little add-on. Granted, that’s just a minor point, but it indicates how out of touch BMW designers have gotten with the US driving public.
And, of course, iDrive takes that point to another order of magnitude. Yes, it allows BMW to create a minimalist dash with vast fields of empty space, which isn't all that attractive anyway, but it also allows BMW to make changing the radio station an incredibly frustrating multi-step act. It ought to be possible to change the radio station without having to parse through 25 computer screen menus. Why that stupid knob as opposed to a touch screen?
The iDrive concept is particularly puzzling coming from a company that calls it’s cars the “Ultimate Driving Machine.” In the old days, you could reach over and punch the right button without taking your eyes off the road for much more than a nanosecond, if that. Now you’re staring at a computer menu instead of watching the road.
iDrive apparently also introduced a slew of electronic gremlins that have kept a lot of my friends' Bimmers in the shop on a near constant basis. If Lexus can figure out how to make these systems work easily and reliably, why can’t BMW?
AM You stirred up a good deal of interest and controversy over your acquisition of a non-BMW but still German-built sports car. Tell us how it feels to be driving a Porsche.
SB It’s like nothing I’ve ever driven before. The solidity of the car is amazing – it feels like they carved it out of a single slab of steel.
The 911 is very user friendly as a daily driver. Attractive interior, plenty of power, great brakes. Yet, get it on a winding back road and you can unleash the beast. The handling agility is amazing, especially considering that engine hanging out there behind the rear wheels. The steering feel is highly intuitive. The car goes exactly where you point it. Even better, with the electronic nannies engaged, the car is very forgiving. It often goes where I had intended to point it rather than where I actually did! I feel like a better driver when I’m behind the Porsche’s wheel.
AM You have written about the inner debate experienced on the subject of manual versus (some form of) automatic because of a 30-minute stop-and-go commute. Do you think you sacrifice anything of the sports car experience by driving an automatic?
SB Yes. An automatic can never allow you the precise choice of gears that a manual does. Even the Tiptronic doesn’t. But for driving in LA, the automatic was clearly the right choice. This car had to be my daily driver, not just a weekend toy.
I had a stick in both my Mazda RX-7 and my first BMW (not to mention my Chevy Vega and Ford Pinto, about both of which the less said the better) and they were a lot more engaging to drive than any of the automatic-equipped cars I've owned. On the other hand, on days when I'm driving in stop-and-go Los Angeles traffic, juggling a cappuccino and my cell phone, keeping my golden retriver Toby in his seat and out of my lap, while occasionally steering, an automatic is a sanity preserver.
AM Do your students have any negative reaction to the fact that you drive luxury sports cars? For instance, do they grumble that now they know why their tuition is so high?
SB Nope. They seem bemused.
AM For those of our less endowed readers, do you think you have to have hair to get that “wind in the hair” sports car sensation?
SB Heh. No comment.
AM Why black?
SB Actually, it’s a very deep navy blue.
I dithered a lot over color. I knew I didn’t want Artic Silver. At least out here in LA, every other car these days seems to be silver. It’s so passé. In the end, I ruled out the $3000+ optional colors, which narrowed down my choices some. I ruled out white as too hard to keep clean, red as too likely to attract police attention, black because I’d owned a couple of black cars in a row, and settled on blue.
AM What type of sunglasses do you wear?
SB Generic prescription glasses I got through UCLA’s vision care plan. And, yes, they’re progressive bifocals.
AM Does your dog get to ride in the passenger seat?
SB Toby does. Sam sheds too much.
AM Do you worry about fuel efficiency? What are your thoughts on the CAFÉ standards?
SB Worry? No. Complain? Yes.
AM Have you given the car a name? If yes, please share.
SB No. I think that’s a bit too cute.
AM Will you let anyone else drive your new car now that it has arrived?
SB Sure. My wife. Valets. Select group of close friends.
SM Anything else you care to share?
SB Chris Bangle sucks.
You might want to check out my Flicr picture sets of cars:
BMWs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorbainbridge/sets/72057594078183462/
Porsches:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorbainbridge/sets/72057594075774308/
LA Auto Show 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/professorbainbridge/sets/72057594048434919/
T Tags: Automotive, Cars, Autos, Porsche, BMW
Posted by E L Eversman at April 14, 2006 03:03 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.vehicleinfo.com/cgi/mt-tb.cgi/232