Thanx for the warm welcome guys. Because I work at a BMW dealership, I got a smokin' deal on my showroom car. It is steptronic but when I test drove a convertible with the same setup as mine, I fell in love with the idea of having an auto again. It only had 11 miles on the clock and had been in the showroom since delivery so it was very well protected and I absolutely adore it! I second the guy who said that the E46 is the hottest model.