Quote:
Originally Posted by HighlandPete
Agree.
As I see it, the enthusiast group is shrinking all the time, motoring is changing, we change, or get left behind. When we make threats like, "this will be my last BMW", "I'm off to Porsche" or the like, BMW may lose a few sales, but many more will choose a BMW, because the models are changing with the times and current demands.
We must remember even Porsche enthusiasts are making similar complaints about their brand, as Porsche are also moving with the times.
Just a side note, being around the forums for a few years, even some users and enthusiasts on here are not really wanting to go back to the BMW's of old. But that's for another topic and much wider discussion.
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I've been pining over the E46/E90 days for as long as i can remember but BMW even has me double guessing now with the G20. It's an all around perfect little package. It's not going to please die hard enthusiasts and it's also not going to please the Lexus comfort crowd that BMW tried to cater to with the F30. (although the latter will be more forgiving and many will buy it). It's a great balance. Very well engineered car that can easily be driven fast but is also effortless to drive in this exceedingly populated and traffic filled world.
There is no going back to those days. Cars are changing. It's no longer a market where the E90 stood out just based on driving dynamics and nothing else to show for it. (ok materials, halogens, leatherette, manual seats, etc.) Now even entry level cars come with so many gimmicks and tech that driving dynamics are an after thought.
And BMW has to sell cars to those masses that eat that stuff up and can't solely cater to 1-5% of their enthusiast customer base that just values driving dynamics. Quite frankly, we should consider ourselves lucky that BMW even improved the steering/handling and listened to us. The F30 outsold the E90 by a considerable margin. The formula worked for them. Yet they still listened and that might cost them more sales than if they had continued on the same path.