Not only a member, I'm also a sceptic

I bought my first bimmer Dec '07, a 2000 540i sport 6 speed. It was a good deal at the time because there were so few of them for sale. Wish I'd waited a few months because as the price of gas went up the number of 540 stick shifts did too. Oh well.
This is my first bimmer and I'm amazed at the level of performance this thing is capable of! I've had a Z28 and a Mustang 5.0 and even though the mustang was the easiest to play with the 540 is more fun. I've done things with the 540 that would have scared the crap out of me with the other two cars, provided I didn't wreck them. It has a level of confidence I've only read about.
I remember wanting a bimmer as a teenager. I even remember my step dad saying "those things are over priced". Shortly thereafter I realized 'you get what you pay for'. On that note I have to question the quality. I bought it with 60K miles and it had several noises and squeaks in the cabin. I started wondering why a high end car had that many noises. Now before you say every car gets squeaks with age, I had a Ford Ranger at the time I bought the bimmer and it had fewer squeaks with 90K miles as the bimmer and the Ranger is a crap truck. I just expected more from a $50K car (new)...