RE: The end of M

[Marwood79]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Well, I agree - as a purely business decision it is obvious. As a business decision with one eye on emerging markets doubly so. And as has been mentioned earlier in the thread this is not an overnight thing but has been coming since the E36 / E39 generation. Ahh well... I'll keep my own focus on Buchloe and hope they're allowed to do a little more in future...(and signs are good - it's ironic that the B3 GT3 is just plainly from the original 'M' car mould)

Edited by Marwood79 on Wednesday 12th December 01:25

[Olf]

Marwood79 said:

Apologies - didn't mean for my previous post to bring down the tone... it was rushed, purile and immature. Ian Robertson has worked in senior positions in LR and RR and is clearly a career 'car man' as well as a Marketeer.

He deserves professional respect, as does the commercial success he is enjoying.

All that said I do lament the direction BMW's 'M' sub-brand has taken; they've chosen a 'mainstream-plus' path over special; why not use M as the means to introduce new drive-train tech to the brand? Keep it on the edge, low volume, keep it racing and keep it out of the mainstream...

Fair enough - I picked your post out for ease - others calling him a cock were the real gripe.

I've got a 30 year affinity to the brand - Mum worked for them for 20 years. We had CSLs and M535s and M5 and M635csi and all the rest as company cars. As a kid in the early 80s I clearly remember nightly outings to pubs where a cooking BMW got the same carpark attention as a Ferrari gets now - seriously. The fact is BMW became another consumer brand years ago and it's a mild shame and but I'd still rather it that way and have that still unique driving experience vs the other scenario of a SAAB type niche that ran out of steam and money years back

[RemarkLima]

Hate to point out the obvious here, but if you really, genuinely do lament the passing of M as "Motorsport", you can always go and buy a E30 M3, probably for the same money as a new M3 / M4... Problem solved.

Then again, whenever I've driven classics for extended periods, and realised the vague steering, flexi chassis, low grip, loads of wind noise, no heaters etc... You suddenly realise why you're in a more modern piece of machinery. The game has moved on.

Sure, we can all have a quick go of Pac-Man, but let's not kid ourselves that it's Modern Warfare 38!

I'm hankering after a classic, but without the rose-tints