What exactly is BMW thinking with all the changes to the M3? LCI...

[arr0gant]

After buying a brand new M3 they made major changes only 6 months later. This bothered me. Now the 08 sedans look dated (and can't easily be changed, and have a severely inferior iDrive. Totally sucks.

6 MONTHS!!!

[foosh]

Originally Posted by arr0gant

After buying a brand new M3 they made major changes only 6 months later. This bothered me. Now the 08 sedans look dated (and can't easily be changed, and have a severely inferior iDrive. Totally sucks.

6 MONTHS!!!

So, how are you feeling about your flat-screen or laptop computer? Everything OK there?

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by foosh

So, how are you feeling about your flat-screen or laptop computer? Everything OK there?

WOW, you expect cars to enter obsolescence as fast as computers? That's just ridiculous.

I think you made my point *for* me.

I think BMW should not have done a 2008.5 when they knew these *major* changes were coming in 6 months. They should have held back and made the 2009 the 1st model year. However, had the 2008's come out in Oct of 2007, I could have stomached it, as it would have been a full model year.

[foosh]

You sound naive.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by foosh

You sound naive.

No, applying "Moore's Law" to automobiles is Naive.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by arr0gant

After buying a brand new M3 they made major changes only 6 months later.

Major? Not even the mid-cycle changes are major man. Sounds like sour grapes to me. And it was a year later, for '09, not 6 months. I test drove both '08 and '09 and I actually liked the '08 iDrive knob and interface better. Also prefer iPod/USB than a hard drive, and didn't want nav (but had to get it in order to get iDrive), so grabbed a leftover '08 for $16K+ below MSRP.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by elp_jc

Major? Not even the mid-cycle changes are major man. Sounds like sour grapes to me. And it was a year later, for '09, not 6 months. I test drove both '08 and '09 and I actually liked the '08 iDrive knob and interface better. Also prefer iPod/USB than a hard drive, and didn't want nav (but had to get it in order to get iDrive), so grabbed a leftover '08 for $16K+ below MSRP.

No, it was 6 months. 2008's came out halfway through the model year. iDrive is almost understandable, but such a radical change to the rear-end really pissed me off.

Anway it was actually, 4 months after I bought it, the new one came out.

[foosh]

Au contrare . . . the automotive industry is facing competititve conditions closer to the electronics industry every day, so Moore's Law is a perfect metaphor--that is, if you understand the metaphor.

As witness, there are many people on this site, who have actually taken quite a monetary loss, simply to get an LCI update or to receive the latest questionable improvement in iDrive.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by foosh

Au contrare . . . the automotive industry is facing competititve conditions closer to the electronics industry every day, so Moore's Law is a perfect metaphor--that is, if you understand the metaphor.

As witness, there are many people on this site, who have actually taken quite a monetary loss, simply to get an LCI update or to receive the latest questionable improvement in iDrive.

Sorry, I think when a *brand-new* model comes out, it should at least keep it's look for a year. 6 months is too soon to make such a radical aesthetic change.

[foosh]

You sound naive . . .

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by foosh

You sound naive . . .

Hey man, it's how I felt. Pissed me off. An M3 is supposed to keep it's shape and identity. NOT COOL! You won't see Porsche pullin' that crap.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by arr0gant

After buying a brand new M3 they made major changes only 6 months later. This bothered me. Now the 08 sedans look dated (and can't easily be changed, and have a severely inferior iDrive. Totally sucks.

6 MONTHS!!!

Dated and radical changes... now you are exaggerating.

MY2008 M3 Sedans can be easily changed to MY2009. All the exterior and interior changes can be done by just substitution: the rear change require a new trunk, the new tailights and a resistor circuit, all already available now.No other body panel or bumper changed.

You can have an LCI trunk with the CSL look if you want it to as well.

The interior changes are only in certain trims that can be ordered separately. Their shape and functionality have not changed.

Updating the iDrive is a work in progress, I should have an answer by the end of the year.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by arr0gant

You won't see Porsche pullin' that crap.

Maybe not, but a Porsche does not share major body components with what is basically a family car in Europe. So the facelifts there are not dependent on any other product and also they can afford to introduce changes more slowly due to the different market dynamics in that segment.

If you want a purpose built sports car, you'll have to pony up the cash for one. Otherwise accept that your car is a slave to the economies of scale of the more pedestrian 3 series. And above all, please do research before you buy a car so that you are aware of how and when the product will change as it evolves over the course of its model run.

[Technic]

If I remember correctly, both the LCI and the iDrive updates were announced around April/May 2008, some two months or so after the new M3 was actually sold in the USA.

So these updates were not a sudden slap to the face to the M3 buyers.

I agree that BMW should have waited until MY2009 to introduce the M3 -especially with a much more availability of M-DCT- but I guess that it was a business decision that at the end mess them up as the recesion was full blown during the same 6-7 months of the MY2008 M3 sales.

And still there are new MY2008 M3 at dealer's lot.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by Technic

If I remember correctly, both the LCI and the iDrive updates were announced around April/May 2008, some two months or so after the new M3 was actually sold in the USA.

So these updates were not a sudden slap to the face to the M3 buyers.

I agree that BMW should have waited until MY2009 to introduce the M3 -especially with a much more availability of M-DCT- but I guess that it was a business decision that at the end mess them up as the recesion was full blown during the same 6-7 months of the MY2008 M3 sales.

And still there are new MY2008 M3 at dealer's lot.

Right, so you buy a brand-new M3 say 1 month after it's USA release, and a month later they're already announcing a radical change to the tail lights to be out in 4 months. That's exactly what happened to me, that's my whole point!!

I'm not saying it's the end of the world, but I like the new tail *way* better than the old, I would have waited. No matter cause I don't have it anymore anyway.

If you look at any other M3 in the history of M3, there were *no* radical changes to the look. a 2001, looks just like a 2006. Same shape all around. However, 6 months after the release of a brand new M, it changes, a whole new look to the rear.

You guys can make excuses for BMW all you want, I'm simply saying, it freakin' pissed me off.

[Technic]

I'm not making excuses for BMW, just stating the facts. A Sedan LCI was scheduled for MY2009 by regular BMW schedule anyways so it was a gamble to get a MY2008 M3 Sedan and expecting no styling changes for MY2009.

If you noticed, the Coupe did not get any styling changes just because its LCI regularily comes a model year after the Sedan's.

That's the way BMW has done it for the last 20 years at least. There's nothing new or surprises here.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by Technic

I'm not making excuses for BMW, just stating the facts. A Sedan LCI was scheduled for MY2009 by regular BMW schedule anyways so it was a gamble to get a MY2008 M3 Sedan and expecting no styling changes for MY2009.

If you noticed, the Coupe did not get any styling changes just because its LCI regularily comes a model year after the Sedan's.

That's the way BMW has done it for the last 20 years at least. There's nothing new or surprises here.

I hear ya, but still doesn't change the fact that its the most radical aesthetic change ever done on an M3, or even a 3 series in the middle of a specific model, and it happened to be months after I bought mine.

[chris s]

i would hardly call these things MAJOR changes...and they certainly wouldn't have held most back from buying. I don't know about the rest of you, but i think i can speak for many in that I bought the car for many other reasons than the headlights and taillights. Just my .02.

[arr0gant]

Originally Posted by chris s

i would hardly call these things MAJOR changes...and they certainly wouldn't have held most back from buying. I don't know about the rest of you, but i think i can speak for many in that I bought the car for many other reasons than the headlights and taillights. Just my .02.

I didn't buy my car for one specific part, either. However, I don't expect the look of my car to radically change right after I buy it. Don't you realize, 6 months after buying the BRAND NEW M3 the rear looks outdated? Not cool!!

[SlammedR8]

so wait
the E90 started as a 2006
and got the LCI in 2009

the E92/E93 started as a 2007
So will it get an LCI for the 2010 model?

[Technic]

Originally Posted by slammedm3

the E92/E93 started as a 2007
So will it get an LCI for the 2010 model?

That's tricky at best... the E92/E93 will definitely get an LCI sometime in calendar year 2010, not necessarily in MY2010.

[GregW / Oregon]

I got my '08 coupe in March. 6 months later the "improved" iDrive came out. I would have liked to have had the new one, but it almost expected. Remember that these cars have been out in the rest of the world for a lot longer. In the past I have updated these kind of parts in my cars to keep them as current as possible (e.g., 2003.5 LED taillights). That's an expense you have to bear if you always have to have the latest. For me, it was great to have one of the first M3s in the country and I'm not sweating updates.