Quote:
Originally Posted by Nandrega
I can't believe a company in the business of making money would want to maximize its profits.
There's a lot of talk about the ' death of the brand' of M, but it sounds like a lot of people are only interested in the car because of the badge itself says M. To me, that says status symbol. Which is, in my opinion, no better or worse than bmw slapping m badges on a 328 or 335. If the 'M brand' is more important than the actual vehicle itself for some people, then why wouldn't BMW take advantage of that and spread its appeal? I guess a better question would be, (and im not speaking to anyone in particular), but would you buy this exact same car, if it didnt say M3 on the back? I would.
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I bought a 335i as my first BMW due to the turbocharged performance. So I would say yes I would have bought the M3 even without the badge, as for me its more about the experience then the name.
Here is the thing, I have owned performance cars. I owned a highly modified Evo IX that made 400 whp and flew by most cars on HPDEs. The car was raw and amazing to drive, but at the end of the day when it comes to taking your lady out to dinner for a special occasion, or dealing with a loud titanium exhaust system day in and day out, or bucket seats, harnesses, ect, It just becomes a pain in the ass.
When buying the M3 I wanted a mix. Performance + Comfort +Use Ability. No other car met the requirements (as Porsches are still out of my comfort zone). I looked at the Laguna Seca Mustang, but solid rear axle was a big killer for me, as well as the price $45,000 when for $5K more you could get into a slightly used M3 with under 10K miles. Ford service department is a joke (I own a F250), and the Mustang to me feels high schoolish, when taking out clients for work (I deal with medical professionals). So no mustang, what does that leave us with: Evo? STi? again high schoolish, ... S5/S4 (no RS5 here), C63? the steering feel sucks on both IMO, and the body styling on the Audis look the same as the base A4/A5.
I get what the guy is ranting about in the org article, and I agree with him on a lot of points, but at the end of the day what options are consumers left with???
I really think it was lame of BMW to make the 1M in such limited numbers, and I really hope they make a M2 in the future that is more focused on being basic performance like the E30 M3.