Years ago, I got off my BMW K class motorcycle at my little lady's urging.

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"I'd only been sitting in my BMW for 30 seconds with the engine running, so when the door was opened by a man in camouflage, I knew what was happening and stayed fairly cool, " he said.

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I'd rather get around on my bike than in a BMW. But to my lasting embarrassment, in my junior year, I traded my friends for a less eccentric crowd.

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Below me in the garage was my beloved silver BMW 325 convertible.

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Andy Warhol (an M1 in 1979), and my own favorite, the BMW-H2R by Olafur Eliasson in 2007.

FORBES: Koons, Cars, And Cold Cash. (And a couple of words about that democracy thing.)

Perhaps this va-vavoom is why Audi is turning the heads of the standard sporty luxury buyer, the BMW customer, including my friend who has been in various BMWs for well over a decade.

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Yes, when I stomped the pedal from a standing start in the lightweight SL 550 (the all-aluminum body shaves 300 pounds off the previous generation roadster) and engaged its monstrous twin turbo V8, I could feel the skin on my face pulling back just as when I did the same thing in a V12 Aston Martin Vantage, a feeling I cannot replicate in my own 7-year old BMW 3 series.

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"One time I called him rich when he showed up in a BMW, and he was like, 'No dude, this is my friends' car, ' " he said.

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Ahmad Nassri, 20, who played indoor soccer with Mr. Tsarnaev, said Mr. Tsarnaev owned a messy Honda Civic, but occasionally he would borrow the black BMW. "One time I called him rich when he showed up in a BMW, and he was like, 'No dude, this is my friends' car, ' " Mr. Nassri said.

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My car company isn't into self-driving cars, but others are: Ford, BMW, Audi.

ENGADGET: Editorial: Self-driving cars FTW, but not for everybody