Quote:
Originally Posted by stein_325i
Great post. One point I always make about the new "M-Performance" cars is that its simply all marketing. The M340i is nothing but a 340i that comes with the M-Sport package standard, and uses the M badge to compete with the C43 and S4 which also have used their brand's cache. That's not to say these aren't great cars, because they are (well... maybe not the X2 or 2GC which should stay far away from M badges) but cars like the M635i were actually modified greatly compared to their regular counterparts. Aside from a cooling package, the M340i features many of the same options and equipment as the 330i when fully equipped and drive very similarly, just with different powertrains, which has how it always was, before the M badge made its way on the back of the car. I've driven a 330i and M340i both fully optioned and other than the powertrain and steering (30i actually gets the newer and better rack) they do not feel different.
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I may be biased but in the case of the M340i, I wouldn't consider it a 340i with an M badge. Where the previous version was hard to recommend over the 330i and didn't come close to the M3, the M340i has a LSD and with the tech pack comes upgraded cooling and brakes. As the term Mperformance suggests it is a more performance oriented version and therefore BMW categorises these variants differently as they have always done... nothing new here.
The biggest issue therefore is perhaps not how BMW classifies it performance oriented vehicles but more likely that 'true M' owner snobbery comes into play here as both M and Mperformance versions are classified and reported as one in BMW terms.