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Originally Posted by 2000cs
Interesting thread. I just took delivery of a 2018 M3, my 22nd BMW, and am considering selling it and going “back” to an e39 chassis perhaps M5 (compare size for example). So much more connected, so much cheaper to get into, but so many more maintenance costs (although i have little confidence in the long-term service life/costs of the F80). Maybe an older M6 or 850 for long trips. Cars that had style, comfort, performance (which we can enhance for much less than a new M3) and even hold their value fairly well these days.
BMW is very successful, but we are no longer it’s major market focus in the USA, and real enthusiasts are not its core target demographic. So they don’t really need to care about C&D, or us.
BMW is also kind of stuck at a weird price point for F80/2. Jaguar F-Type, Porsche, and many others (even Alfa?) are easily much more money new. But there are the Cameros, Mustangs and the Dodges nipping at their heels, for comparable or less money. Do they move M3/4 up and compete with their traditional nemeses, or try to beat the domestics? All while worrying about vastly bigger markets elsewhere.
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So I've broached this subject many times on this Forum. If you want a real 3-series, the Cadillac ATS is a far better driver's car than any non-M BMW F3X 3-series. Yet Car and Driver had now gotten to the point that the ATS is admittedly the better ultimate driving machine yet C&D shits on it for things like the size of the green house and the quality-look of the gauges, and of course the crap-tastic CUE. Oh, and the mix of the cabin materials...
The Camaro is built off the ATS chassis, and is even by C&D standards a great driver. The Camaro is even worse to see out of than the ATS, but C&D overlooks that because the Camaro drives so well.
And in their Alfa comparo against the M3, ATS-V, C63, the Alfa won despite a problem with the remote start feature triggering a CEL. The CEL event was forgiven by C&D because one of the editors carries around an OBDII code reader and cleared the CEL code. Had the ATS thrown a CEL at it's introduction, C&D would have banned it from any further completions and chastised GM for producing a POS. The Alfa gets a pass because "it reminds you it's Italian." BS.
I've pretty much stopped reading Car and Driver.