|
Granted the car mags are just payola masquerading as journalism - I'm loving how they dote praise upon the Alfa, yet also note 'never had one to test that didn't at least throw a CEL' - kind of a big deal when it costs that much, and the dealership is in a strip mall 90 minutes away (probably has s/t to do with those huge pull-out ads they pay for?). they also pepper their praise of Audi with (accurate) quotes like 'totally without personality' and note how similar they are to their VW brethren.
But I have to agree with some of their prose - mostly the part about how BMW has abandoned the 'ultimate driving machine' ethos, and is now chasing somebody else's idea of luxury. I would, however, disagree with those who say they were always head and shoulders above the competition. More accurate is that they always were ahead in that niche. IIRC, the original M3 had heavy competition and didn't sell that well b/c it was so rough, and sort of weird (they did, after all, more or less create the segment of affordable sports-sedans). Things that are so perfect for a niche will seldom be desired by the masses. I'm kind of hoping that they will turn back and pull the M cars (and the whole 2 series) out into a dedicated performance sub-brand, rather than turn the //M into a glorified marketing tool like AMG has become.
|