Quote:
Originally Posted by FogCityM3
C&D has been pooping on the E30/F80 for a few years now….they don't like the new direction of BMW and this is seen in many reviews. Actually the same year the E90 M3 won its last comparo, they ran two reviews of the F30 stating that in a comparison with the base E90, the E90 would win (thus is hardly an argument for shifting ad dollars "paying" for reviews).
For anyone thinks that C&D doesn't matter, IMO I still think they're the best US publication and over the years have provided some pretty good, honest reviews that in general get a lot of corroboration from other journos, enthusiasts and race drivers alike. I guarantee you, certain members of management at BMW do care that the 3 series was knocked off the 10 best list. C&D was so "irrelevant" that every BMW dealership used to carry excerpts of their articles and 10 best lists for distribution. until now I guess.. Oops..
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I agree, for me C&D is legit.... they get it and I agree with them. No single publication was a bigger fan of what BMW was doing than C&D. People used to accuse them of being on BMWs payroll because the things they put a high value on like great handling, great steering feedback, smooth thrust, linear braking, heel and toe position, etc. were no longer valued by the masses so they would gripe when BMW would win a comparo over a better value car with more features for the money. They stood their ground despite the tsunami of driving apathy and stayed true to the value of manual transmissions and steering feedback. Now that BMW is no longer doing that, they are right to call it out. Fake sound is fake sound and no matter how many justify it with the mob mentality of "well VW does it so it's OK" it has no place in a purist vehicle....unless BMW is no longer trying to build the ultimate driving machine.
C&D has stayed true to their views that all out performance numbers don't necessarily make a better driving experience. I'm grateful that C&D is still out there to say that the emperor is naked!
This is not to say that I don't like the M3, I do, a lot but there are aspects that are not good in my opinion. A car of this price point should have real sound. My lowly $47K 1M coupe with the lowly N54 twin turbo never sounded as good as the E90 M3, but it was still great sounding without fake sound. BMW should've done the same with the M3. And this whole generation of BMWs is tilted toward the soft side, luxury and infotainment over driving dynamics. The masses don't see it but we are losing the last of the car companies that used to hold driving dynamics sacred. It is important because only BMW consistently offers manuals and rear drive with their sports sedans and their shift to follow Lexus, Infinity and Mercedes into automated, virtualized driving experience is sad thing for many of us.
Finally, this is nothing about hate as so many are ignorantly quick to label anything that is different from their opinion...this is solely based out of love for what BMW has brought us for so many years.