[SteVTEC]

homerunball is exactly right. Any of the Japanese companies and even the domestics are fully capable of building a car with the "FEEL" of a BMW. But designing a car so that it feels the same involves making a lot of compromises that the other companies don't necessarily believe in, nor would their customers accept. Therefore the goal of these companies, particularly the Japanese, is to get as close to the feel of a BMW as possible, but without getting into the compromise zone.

The Japanese could, if they wanted to, put cheapo E39 style ultra lightweight plastic cooling systems in the front end of their cars to lighten up the front end considerably and get ever so closer to a "perfect" 50/50 weight distribution, but would their owners accept cooling system failures and having to replace the entire cooling system as "normal maintenance" at a cost of $2000+ every 60k miles? Absolutely not. And what about those cheap plastic lightweight window mechanisms that love to break in BMWs all the time. They're designed to reduce weight in the corners and up high near the roof line which is the WORST possible place to have weight for cornering performance. This minimizes body roll and improves control. The Japanese could do this also, but would their customers accept window mechanism breakage and yet more things to replace? Also no. And what about these magnesium alloy engine blocks to lighten up the front end even more? It's not like BMW invented this. GM did this in the Corvette 20-30 years ago. Will this engine block hold up over 10+ years and keep running like new? Who knows, but the Japanese are all sticking with aluminum block engines. And what about this GRAV60 front end technology in the E60. Keeps overall weight down and more weight off the front end, but there's reports of $20,000 repair costs just for minor front end collisions which makes them ridiculously expensive to repair, and also drives up insurance rates. The Japanese "could" employ technologies like this also to improve feel, but would their customers accept that? Probably not also.

The biggest myth here by Revils is that BMW's are designed to last, which is provably false. BMW is about FEEL first and foremost and they'll compromise on reliability or durability at will if it's getting in the way of maintaining their feel, and that's just how they are. The Japanese are about reliability first and foremost. They want to give people a good feeling and driving car, but they won't compromise on reliability or durability to improve feel, because that isn't why their customers buy their cars. If their customers wanted a BMW feel they'd just go buy a BMW. Likewise any BMW owner who is tired of all of the annoying and nagging little issues they'll compromise on feel and go for a more reliable Japanese car. So much of this is just different companies with different niches catering to their customers needs and preferences.

As for BMW being the "benchmark", who makes them the benchmark? THE MEDIA. The media is obsessed with "FEEL" and hence they love BMWs, and Hondas, all of which "FEEL" and drive well. The media is just as biased in their preferences as any individual buyer is, so who made them the Gods of all that is good? It doesn't mean BMWs are "better" or that no other company is smart enough to design cars that way. They can. They just have different customers who expect different things, and therefore expect a different type of car. I could care less what the automotive rags say about anything and will just buy what suits me the best. Just because the media says something sucks doesn't mean you won't love it.

As for the price of BMWs, most of that has to do with the weak dollar against the Euro right now. BMW has published in trade magazines that they've had to economize a lot of their processes and do more in the way of platform and component sharing just to maintain their margins. All of the 2nd tier European makers trying to sell cars in the US are bleeding red ink. BMW's marketing and subsidized lease programs are brilliant also, which helps greatly.

The Japanese have their stuff together, but as for all of those American engineers? Many of them are just as smart if not smarter than anybody from Japan or Germany. So what's the difference? They're severely mismanaged and are never allowed to be creative. When engineers are properly let loose we get cars like the C6 Corvette Z06 which is brilliant in almost every aspect.

So in the end, it's important to realize that BMWs feel and drive the way they do because BMW is willing to compromise their designs in areas where other automakers aren't in order to achieve that feel. Don't believe for a second that this isn't true and that BMWs are in no way "compromised" designs because they are, and so is every other car. Just in different ways. And BMW "owns" the customers that enjoy that feel and don't mind the compromises whereas the Japanese companies don't. Japanese customers expect something different, and therefore the Japanese automakers cannot compromise their designs beyond what their customers will accept. A Japanese car designed to feel EXACTLY like a BMW will also have all of the compromises, and then it wouldn't be a Japanese car anymore.