[Mavus]

Originally Posted by bromudez

All great points but I'd argue the use case isn't overly important to a lot of M car buyers anyway.

Many owners will never track their cars and just want something they perceive to be "special", fun when they want it to be. It doesn't hurt that these cars also look damn good.

M240 is a great car but as a former owner myself, no amount of rationalizing based on xDrive practicality or inability to access the full capabilities of a full fat M car as a a daily driver in the city stopped me from developing a sore neck from staring at M2s on the road =))

Than if they want the looks of the wide body and couch soft rides they can instl adjustable suspension. I had jRZ and TC Kline on my e90 and you can adjust them to be very compliant and comfy. Not every car needs to feel like jello on the road!!

[Thundernight]

Look, I have to agree to an extent regarding fuel efficiency. For most people, spirited driving makes up an insignificant amount of our total time behind the wheel. Especially if this is your daily driver. On top of that, most M owners will never even drive the car on track during their ownership. Even if you track it, there are still criticisms.

The benefit of high horsepower cars with high fuel efficiency is that they are more suitable for road trips, which ultimately makes them an amazing GT car. I just did a 700 mile road trip last weekend in my G42, and did another 1000+ mile road trip back in August. Averaged 32mpg the entire trip. Not to mention, the ride quality is arguably softer and more comfortable. That said, an M lite is not going to be as quick on the track, and likely overheat faster.

It really just comes down to your use case and what your plans are with the car. If you plan on using it as a GT, then fuel efficiency is a bonus. If your primary goal is to drag race, then nobody cares.

[Thundernight]

Back to the topic at hand though, some carryover items like the steering wheel, buttons and other touch points are a plus to me. IMO, I actually think most of these increase the quality and luxury feel. The steering wheel in particular is a really nice design and feels nice as a G42 owner to have the same steering wheel as an M4, or X7 M60i.

[OUGrad05]

Originally Posted by Bumpinjeep

What are your thoughts on the cost cutting and platform sharing on the G series cars?
I'm talking about the M3 no longer having a dedicated motor, the ZF transmission across the entire product range, the brake situation, interior design and objects, etc...
On one hand, I don't like it. I don't like that in the e92 and for 90% of the F series M3/4 you had a dedicated motor and now the S58 is in the
M2 and all of it's variants
M3 and all of it's variants
M4 and all of it's variants
X3 and all of it's variants
X4 and all of it's variants
The same dash, the same seats, lack of hand brake (you get a button), the same just about everything. It somehow feels watered down a bit.
On the other hand, we get pretty amazing cars, powerful, RWD, with a 6 speed. Maybe BMW simply couldn't afford to make every car unique or maybe they want to simplify the assembly line and make more of a profit?
Is it going to bug you? Is it a deal breaker? Or do you simply not care because at the end of the day, the vehicle itself, though no longer unique, is pretty damn great?
Discuss!

I'm sure this has already been said but the S58 is an amazing engine and doesn't have a lot of historic BMW M engine issues. It makes big power, it's reliable, it's efficient, has excellent longevity, can be tuned for a variety of applications. Why would you not use this in as many vehicles as possible???

People forget the "bespoke" engines were full of problems the first few years, sometimes the entire run. In most cases these issues couldn't just be ignored and result in inconvenience...if ignored to failure the results were catastrophic.

[kyrix1st]

Dumbest idea of the Gxx chassis was to delete the handbrake and add a tiny little P button. Can you imagine pulling into your pit after some nice hard runs at Laguna Seca and ghost-pulling the nonexistent handbrake? I guess the bean counters told nobody will track their M2s so might as well take away one of the focal points of a driver's car.

[Project_F87]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

Dumbest idea of the Gxx chassis was to delete the handbrake and add a tiny little P button. Can you imagine pulling into your pit after some nice hard runs at Laguna Seca and ghost-pulling the nonexistent handbrake? I guess the bean counters told nobody will track their M2s so might as well take away one of the focal points of a driver's car.

Although I agree with your complaint about the handbrake evolution into a button, I sincerely hope you are not pulling your handbrake in the pits after hard runs at the racetrack...

[W///]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

Dumbest idea of the Gxx chassis was to delete the handbrake and add a tiny little P button. Can you imagine pulling into your pit after some nice hard runs at Laguna Seca and ghost-pulling the nonexistent handbrake? I guess the bean counters told nobody will track their M2s so might as well take away one of the focal points of a driver's car.

What are you actually complaining about? I get there's concerns about this car but an automatic handbrake is the least of my worries

[BRAKE!]

BMW has always been 'same sausage, different lengths' - check out each generation of 3,5,7 series and you'll see how similar they were. Back when bimmerforums.com was a thing (circa mid 2000s), people complained a lot about similar issues of a 328is sharing identical parts to a M3. PPL were getting so technical they were listing off bolt #s that were different between the cars.

This notion of 'sharing parts' comes up a lot in the theoretical world of online forums, but rarely do I see anyone caring about it one iota when they get the car and start driving it in real life. A M2 is a M2, it drives and behaves differently than a X3M.

Personally, this does not bother me. I don't care about sharing interiors, engines, etc. I just care that they put in a reliable engine, a high quality interior, and one that doesn't cause multiple recalls.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by W///

What are you actually complaining about? I get there's concerns about this car but an automatic handbrake is the least of my worries

Ergonomics. Intangibles. Little things that make up an experience.

Originally Posted by Project_F87

Although I agree with your complaint about the handbrake evolution into a button, I sincerely hope you are not pulling your handbrake in the pits after hard runs at the racetrack...

I am experienced enough to put some cool down laps, never had a sticky handbrake issue.

Originally Posted by BRAKE!

Personally, this does not bother me. I don't care about sharing interiors, engines, etc. I just care that they put in a reliable engine, a high quality interior, and one that doesn't cause multiple recalls.

Customers need to be picky, because manufacturer won't be. They look for every opportunity to homogenize the lineup. Not enough voice got the DCT cancelled - which drove some M developers mad enough to leave the company - and more of such will follow if customers let the brand get away with these little things.

[OUGrad05]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

Dumbest idea of the Gxx chassis was to delete the handbrake and add a tiny little P button. Can you imagine pulling into your pit after some nice hard runs at Laguna Seca and ghost-pulling the nonexistent handbrake? I guess the bean counters told nobody will track their M2s so might as well take away one of the focal points of a driver's car.

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

Dumbest idea of the Gxx chassis was to delete the handbrake and add a tiny little P button. Can you imagine pulling into your pit after some nice hard runs at Laguna Seca and ghost-pulling the nonexistent handbrake? I guess the bean counters told nobody will track their M2s so might as well take away one of the focal points of a driver's car.

Never done a track day have you…

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by OUGrad05

Never done a track day have you…

Quite the opposite. I do it more than I should, although have not done so as of late. I miss those days.

[OUGrad05]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

Quite the opposite. I do it more than I should, although have not done so as of late. I miss those days.

You don't pull the handbrake after hard track runs.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by OUGrad05

You don't pull the handbrake after hard track runs.

It's common sense if the rear brakes are hot. I do cool down laps as stated, and I always run with TC off. Maybe your TC is cooking the rear brakes too much? I never had an issue with using handbrake.

[Al1969]

Why not. As long as the myth is preserved… Finger crossed with the new G87 …

[BRAKE!]

Originally Posted by kyrix1st

It's common sense if the rear brakes are hot. I do cool down laps as stated, and I always run with TC off. Maybe your TC is cooking the rear brakes too much? I never had an issue with using handbrake.

I don’t get this logic either. Hand brake after track laps? Aren’t you concerned about pads and rotors melting or brake components catching fire? Not ridiculing you, just goes against what I’ve been taught.

[kyrix1st]

If it ever did damage, sure.. but BMW braking system is heavily front biased and doesn't heat up the rear that much UNLESS you are relying on the traction control. Cool down laps are generally enough to prevent such damage.

Also, my original point was on the general loss of ergonomics, with handbrake being one of the focal points of a driver's car. Every response seems to derail from this. Perhaps it's on me, should've told a better scenario.

Originally Posted by BRAKE!

I don’t get this logic either. Hand brake after track laps? Aren’t you concerned about pads and rotors melting or brake components catching fire? Not ridiculing you, just goes against what I’ve been taught.