[CSBM5]

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..

C&D went so far as to put the F30 and E90 on a chassis machine to figure out why the F30 was so different. It's an interesting article with many differences discovered, but one of the biggest is the dramatic reduction in self-aligning torque fed back through the steering and the amount of rear axle toe-in on compression perhaps. BMW literally did significantly change the entire character of the F30; they are focused on their target market which has evolved to *not* be the traditional enthusiast market, hence they've Lexus-ified the F30 as the average buyer has no clue nor care about driving dynamics/chassis dynamics. It's just the way it is now with BMW imo.

That said, I suppose C&D is still relevant to some extent, but I let my subscription lapse a few years ago about the time they totally revamped the layout of the magazine after having a continual subscription since 1972. I just don't see the need to have it come every month in the mailbox any longer.