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Originally Posted by antzcrashing
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Originally Posted by Poochie
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Originally Posted by antzcrashing
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Originally Posted by premier3is
And now here come the M owners about to say the M340i is not a true M car and shouldn't be in the same category. Lol.
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But they aren't.............
M cars are design by bmw M team, M340 isn't............
Unless there no longer is a bmw M team or bmw has changed that development process. |
The M340 has the same exact aluminum suspension (with a ///M stamp), brakes and identical electronic 100% locking LSD as a "real" M car..
Does it need to be anointed by the M gods themselves for it to be christen a true M car?
I get that you guys are trying to distinguish between the two variants but the pie has been cut so thin nowadays that separating M and M Performance is almost a pointless exercise, other than for the bragging rights.
I'll be honest, I didn't think much of the M340i before I drove one but man, that car is a rocket, handles just as good as an M2 and is as M as it's really all one would need for regular road driving, with a little pep.
The electronic 100% locking LSD was the crown-jewel of all M cars over the standard models but now that BMW has leveled the playing field and made them common amongst all, so I really don't see the advantage of an official M car anymore. |
No one said the M340 isn't great, it is very great. But it isn't doesn't deserve the M moniker on the rear of the trunk, per its not designed/tuned by BMW M - in my opinion. I don't own an M, may never own one. That's cool with me, love my non-M |
I own a M2 and yet I really don't get all the hoopla over this marketing restructure.
To break it down to a science, a vehicle is a sum of parts attached to metal frame. So logically, If said parts are practically all the same as one on another similar frame structure, wouldn't they both more or less perform pretty much identically.
There is no black magic involved, it's just a machine. What am I missing exactly that makes an official M car that much different?
M340i also has all the same aluminum parts, such as the hood and truck and is designed on a CLAR platform, resulting in the weight-saving advantages as any current F-generation M car. So the little weight difference is also a wash.
Maybe I'm not drinking enough M Kool Aid as some of guys here but frankly, the only reason I wanted a M2 over the M240i was because of its stock electronic LSD or else I could of take it or leave it.
It's really not that serious, as I never really met a BMW I couldn't grow to like and appreciate, regardless of its moniker.
Anyone with half a brain and experience with standard BMWs of the past knows the only thing that was handicapping it's potential performance was the lack of a mechanical LSD and BMW knew that also, since they reserved that exclusively for the officially christen M cars.
Now that every M or M Performance gets the same hardware, the only thing that would possible dissuade me from not purchasing a M Performance-like model is a lack of a manual option. Which I'm now sure will be the M car's
new claim to fame.