The Jeremy Clarkson BMW M4 Review

[JL M3]

Originally Posted by gthal

NOW I understand why I just love the front of the F8X!!! I could not, for the life of me, figure out why it seemed so perfect to me. Makes sense now... cheers to the BMW designers for such an innovative, sexy and exciting design

[stressdoc]

Originally Posted by FogCityM3

basically says the "B-team" designed it and most glaringly, said:

"BMW’s B-team hasn’t been able to overcome the emissions regulations, and as a result the car is not as good as the previous model."

This gets my vote for worst example for the month of a partial quote taken out of context.

The full quote involves a clear disclaimer: "It sounds as if..." followed by his rebuttal: "I honestly haven’t enjoyed driving a vehicle as much as this for months."

The evident comparison with the E92 M is ballsy:
"There was a time, of course, when the M3 was hijacked by the nation’s squash-playing dealmakers. People in braces who didn’t really know what it was; only that it made them look good. It was an accessory, like Oakley sunglasses."

And the gig about the best and the brightest working on the hybrids these days, hence leaving the B-teams to design the rest of the lot, surely little more than a backhanded compliment to the i-8, and a silly one at that. I might agree with him that the A-team of stylists did a bang up job with the i-8, but aside from a few quibbles, the F8x is a great looking car. Mechanically it is awesome.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Dalko43

Dude, I think you're reading too much into what I posted. All I was saying was that Clarkson is an entertainer and that, like Jon Stewart, he gets away with saying a lot of hilarious/outrageous things because he's all about entertaining his viewers.

Maybe Colbert is a better comparison - Clarkson plays a super-douche ... a douche's douche.

Whether he's like that in real life, who knows, but he sure plays the d-bag like a natural.

[ALPINA B5]

have to agree about the austin yellow...looks worse than i thought...

[stressdoc]

Originally Posted by FogCityM3

Don't think so actually and re-read the article. Not to be a word-mincer, but first and foremost he is a writer/journalist and journalists write a certain and specific way. The paragraph structure after the declaration of it not being better than the outgoing model is reinforced by "and yes there's more" "however, there are some good points" and finally the conclusion after the 4 star rating "not bad for the b-team" and as stated earlier in the article, b-team doesn't only refer to the design but is a comparison to the predecessor. There is really nothing that outright refutes his declaration. I don't consider him listing all the positives after the however as a direct refutation of his declaration, nor really as an implied refutation either.

We'll see when the show airs, will be able to get a much better sense of his feeling.

To be frank I think you are delusional. My read is quite the opposite. But we are talking about interpreting Clarkson here, so who the f knows what the man was thinking.

[FogCityM3]

Post # 153, I don't think so at all.

Originally Posted by stressdoc

This gets my vote for worst example for the month of a partial quote taken out of context.

The full quote involves a clear disclaimer: "It sounds as if..." followed by his rebuttal: "I honestly haven’t enjoyed driving a vehicle as much as this for months."

The evident comparison with the E92 M is ballsy:
"There was a time, of course, when the M3 was hijacked by the nation’s squash-playing dealmakers. People in braces who didn’t really know what it was; only that it made them look good. It was an accessory, like Oakley sunglasses."

And the gig about the best and the brightest working on the hybrids these days, hence leaving the B-teams to design the rest of the lot, surely little more than a backhanded compliment to the i-8, and a silly one at that. I might agree with him that the A-team of stylists did a bang up job with the i-8, but aside from a few quibbles, the F8x is a great looking car. Mechanically it is awesome.

[FogCityM3]

We'll have to agree to disagree on this, and I don't think I'm alone in my interpretation (maybe in this thread I am, see below)

Delusion and bias to me are examples 1) saying M4s are faster than supercharged M3s based on a video, when the traps and times had the supercharged M3 being faster; 2) saying the DTM E30 driver is "different from the M4 driver" despite having the same helmet, people insisting it is a different driver despite the fact they can't read German, and stating that the M4 driver didn't know how to drive when it is in fact a Hockenheim expert and the same driver; 3) when placing last in comparos is placing #1; 4) not looking at the context of the entire articles and discrediting journalists (eg. Sudcliffe) when he disagrees with consensus opinions.

Originally Posted by stressdoc

To be frank I think you are delusional. My read is quite the opposite. But we are talking about interpreting Clarkson here, so who the f knows what the man was thinking.

[bm323]

The AY looks great in the metal

[MrHarris]

Originally Posted by 1stm3f80

I agree the AY is horrible. If I want to see AY I'll peek in My 15 month old's diaper.

LOL

[AustinYellowMakesMeHard]

Originally Posted by FogCityM3

Post # 153, I don't think so at all.

Not really. The phrase "it sounds as if" makes it clear cut and dried as possible. What he's trying to say is that "so far it SEEMS like it's a worse car... ( because of the statements he's made about it)", although, it might not necessarily be true ( as proven later on in the review..)

If you've seen his e60 M5 review it was conducted in a similar fashion, as are most of his reviews. He goes on about the worst possible details in the car and then reveals some pivotal piece of information that he purposefully omitted to turn the whole review around. Makes for a more enjoyable read/video.

EDIT: sorry for being so patronizing but I wanted to show you where I'm coming from as clearly as possible.

[FogCityM3]

No worries...I know the "sounds as if " comment would indicate that the declaration gets refuted (that is what I was expecting when I read that), but to me it never really does (or doesn't in a strong sense of what I would expect). Maybe I'm giving him way too much credit given his writing background...

Not really worth arguing about, I'm sorry if I came off too strong as well.

Originally Posted by AustinYellowMakesMeHard

Not really. The phrase "it sounds as if" makes it clear cut and dried as possible. What he's trying to say is that "so far it SEEMS like it's a worse car... ( because of the statements he's made about it)", although, it might not necessarily be true ( as proven later on in the review..)

If you've seen his e60 M5 review it was conducted in a similar fashion, as are most of his reviews. He goes on about the worst possible details in the car and then reveals some pivotal piece of information that he purposefully omitted to turn the whole review around. Makes for a more enjoyable read/video.

EDIT: sorry for being so patronizing but I wanted to show you where I'm coming from as clearly as possible.

[Syscrusher]

This guy is a joke.

[svc0x80]

Originally Posted by bm323

The AY looks great in the metal

AY looks awesome in person. Not so much in pictures.

[NAV8TT]

He liked how the car drove but less than he liked the old model. He thinks it drives good but less exciting than the old model. He hates the color. Why is this so confusing to you?

[M3 Esq]

Clarkson hated phoenix yellow too so no surprise that he doesn't like AY. :

[Fuman]

Originally Posted by DreF80///M3

You are correct. It was hard to take any of this review seriously after reading these two "points" in particular. I love a good manual transmission, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the DCT in the F8x series.

Thank you. I was just as annoyed.

[HuskerFan85]

Originally Posted by Double Bubble

LOL @ people taking JC's review so seriously..
I agree with the M color choices though, horrible yellow and blue.
Saw one yesterday with AY and it looked really bad.. really really bad.
I usually get excited when I see an M3

ps. take that rear AY M4 bumper banner on top of the page down already, ugh

"QUIT TRYING TO MAKE IT A THING!"

[DASHOCKER]

he is wearing the same shades from the e92 m3 review lol

[stressdoc]

Originally Posted by FogCityM3

We'll have to agree to disagree on this...

This of course is what Clarkson loves to generate.

[Drivaar]

Jeremy Clarkson's reviews are always in the same format:

- Some meaningless unrelated nonsense to start
- A bunch of uneducated, simpleton-like negative comments about the car (i.e., an idiot's first impression, including anything that you might have to learn)
- Now the stage is set for the positives
- An actual verdict that is often quite reasonable

It's amazing that he gets so much mileage from this identical template each time, that people actually take it seriously, and that our society rewards people TRYING so hard to say ludicrous, hyperbolic things just to get people to read...

[cbdoc]

Originally Posted by trinim3

Thank goodness someone as popular as Clarkson has complained about the colors. Hopefully BMW will finally do something about the awful color palette especially as it's something so easy to change

[ersin]

Originally Posted by modkrazy

And that's how you end up with a front bumper with more folds and creases than a vagina.

No, I think it's because Nien Nunb designed it.




Cheers.