WHAT HAPPENED WHEN OUR WRITER ARIANNE WAS ASKED TO REVIEW THE BMW Z4?. THE PERTH WOMAN EDITORIAL TEAM REPORTS….
Arianne is a good writer. We had received such an impressive response from her most recent article that we decided to reward her with a test drive and review of a truly beautiful car, the new BMW Z4. We had reviewed the earlier model of BMW Z4 before, and given it a thorough evaluation.
We may not be Wheels Magazine, but we knew what we had to do, and we got to work. We quickly found that two of our staff fitted comfortably in the boot. We drove it to our photo shoot and showed it to the members of the Police Tactical Response group who were on location with us (yes, so good!!). Disappointingly, the TRG guys were more interested in the Z4’s engine than they were in us, but it made us realize how lovely we looked in the reflection of its shining bonnet. We just loved it… but that was a previous review. This time we were reviewing that Z4’s big brother, the new Z4. We are not sure what actually happened out there when Arianne was alone, on the road, with that throbbing engine.
We have tried to piece together what happened. It was the same car, but so much more also, the same yes, but yet different, somehow?
When the man from Auto Classique handed over the keys to us, he did not exhibit the signs of someone feeling comfortable that the significant-high-worth of precision engineering was in safe hands. Actually, he was showing all the signs of serious stress. But he was very gentlemanly and polite. He took his time, and went through the instructions in minute detail, presented his card and told us to ring him anytime. We popped his card near the gear stick, but knew we would not need to call him.
Back at the office there were gales of mirth as the poor man’s anxiety was discussed, but we were tolerant, we understood that we look like girls. In fact we had often discussed how to make some staff look older by adding grey hair extensions and glasses. But after all, we knew we could drive.
And we didn’t really need to ring him….except for that first call.
“er… hello….er……we were wondering, …er ….we were having a little trouble…. a little technical question….er… where you put the key… er ….we were wondering how you start it?”
“can you see a big button with start written on it?”
“yes”
“well, you push that” he answered, kindly “as long as you have the key on you it will start. If you need help, you press the help button”
There may have been laughter at the other end, but we didn’t hear it. Anyway, he seemed like a gentleman and gentlemen don’t discuss ladies.
It probably all began for Arianne with that key. Such an intelligent key. It was as if “protect and serve” was in its cell memory, its very essence. Poor Arianne! She put the key in her pocket, and she was gone.
After her first tentative drive around the block, she came back into the office. “Golly!” was all she said, very quietly, in a bemused kind of way.
We don’t know whether she had the car wrapped around her little finger, or vice versa, but one by one, Arianne sat every one of the staff in the passenger seat of the beautiful car to show them how she could operate the handbrake with just her little finger (literally!). She would also point out how beautiful the design was, how the sensuous crème leather blended with the sensuous crème suede, and how that was contrasted with the shiny wood, and the stunningly engineered door handle.
Arianne discovered much the same response around males as we had received from the TRG guys on the last photo-shoot. She told us that she had a lunch with friends and when the men saw what she was driving, they started talking amongst themselves, “ twin-turbocharged .. ..blah………….. inline, six-cylinder… blah”, “225kW at 5800rpm, and …” “blah…..” “blah …” She told us that if she had not parked it where she could marvel at its beauty in the sunlight she would have not survived the luncheon’s technical discussions. But as it was, their voices faded into the background, like murmuring crickets, while she drifted into a sweet reverie, her eyes resting lovingly on the beautiful lines of her perfect car.
We were working late hours at that time (well that’s kind of normal here at Perth Woman), and as usual there were little errands that needed doing. Arianne would volunteer to drive the staff on their errands. If it wasn’t that the errands to get coffee took hours each time, we might have all suffered caffeine toxicity. Everyone was volunteering to do the coffee run.
The coffee runs were mostly in the evenings. The girls would return after a couple of hours, looking a little self-conscious, and a little flushed. When it was our time we understood. We went willingly with Arianne, our trip to the local corner café taking us through South Perth, Kings Park and down St George’s Terrace. As she drove , we felt ourselves respond – was it to the purr of that throbbing engine or the experience of music that remained pure no matter how much volume we turned on? Does it matter? It was an unforgettable ride. And so it was that we, the favored ones, were initiated into the secret pleasures. … and we discovered the exquisite joy of having our bottom warmed, while we lay back with the top off and the air so amazingly gentle around our face. And we came to understand…. we came to love the brilliant aerodynamical-precisional-technical things. We had experienced an unforgettable ride.
For her review Arianne submitted a poem and, amazingly, we understood.
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Arianne's Poem:
'Driven Wild'
I thought I had all I needed to get from A to B
But you turned that corner and you captured me
Behold such beauty, style and grace
Love at first sight, I felt my heart race.
With your top down and your music high
Uplifted, I felt I could reach the sky.
I touched your shiny surface
And caressed your silk suede
As you hugged those tight curves
I knew I'd never be afraid.
As my foot touched the floor,
My soul was enflamed by your roar
My wildest expectations multiplied
My secret longings satisfied.
Bathing in your warm ventilation
I am forver yours, you are a sensation.
I never want to leave your side
Take me for that unforgettable ride.
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