Don't know if anyone else saw this... but the author does make some good points. I would only counter that BMW, and especially the ///M brand, has always has the goal of being a great blend of everything any enthusiast would need. Like the original M5, the world's then-fastest production sedan, was crazy in that sense but utilitarian enough to be a family sedan. Same with the new M5, and even the M3. You can take them to the track, or to the grocery store. Can you pack a month's worth of groceries into the trunk of a Cayman R? Would you be happy with a Boss 302 as your daily driver? Probably not to both of those, but yes for most BMWs (popular articles have compared the 1M to the Cayman, and the M3 to the Mustang). Figured I'd post this in the general 1Addicts section because it does mention the 1M in a positive light, but understandably bashes how BMW only made 800 for the US and moved on. Anyway, I thought this was interesting, so enjoy!
http://jalopnik.com/5924573/the-death-of-bmws-m-brand
Just a bit of the article:
Quote:
So what is it now? Besides the M3, we have an M1 (or 1 Series M Coupe so it's not to be confused with the real M1). To be fair, this car is amazing. I love it. But BMW built 800 or so and called it a day. Did one go racing? Not that I know of. And then there are the M brand SUVs: an X6M and a X5M. Did either of these go racing? Sort of. BMW gave one to a journalist to compete in One Lap of America this year and it got beat by a Jeep Cherokee. A Jeep Cherokee took down the M Brand. (Ed. Note: Matt Farrah should be along soon to explain how the Jeep was modified and the X5 M was not.)
Now to be fair BMW ran the new M5 — yes the one with the fake engine noises — in One Lap and it won its "Luxury Sedan" class. So my point is that BMW no longer makes high performance automobiles known as the Ultimate Driving Machine. They now make luxury automobiles that are the ultimate motorsport poser mobile.
There is no car that says "I want to pretend I'm a performance driver, a racer, but never go to the track" more than the current M brand. It's a fraud leveraging the company's rich racing history and it pisses me off.
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Much more BMW-hating (albeit with good points) inside.