RE: Chris Harris video: BMW 4 Series

[Ari]

A car perfectly judged for the people that will actually buy it rather than for schoolboys to masturbate over.

As to the "No drifting", if someone loaned me a brand new £40,000 car and specifically asked me not to do one particular thing with it, I'd have thought the polite thing to do would be to comply rather than put two fingers up and say "fk YOU".

But maybe I'm just old fashioned.

[danielj58]

I can't help but wonder how much more engaging it would be if it was a manual though. Granted the ZF is obviously a brilliant box but I honestly don't think I'd tick the option if it wasn't on a diesel. Maybe it makes more sense on these turbo engines with their low end grunt? Still can't see me hankering after one though!

[Matthew Clarke]

danielj58 said:

I can't help but wonder how much more engaging it would be if it was a manual though. Granted the ZF is obviously a brilliant box but I honestly don't think I'd tick the option if it wasn't on a diesel. Maybe it makes more sense on these turbo engines with their low end grunt? Still can't see me hankering after one though!

I tried both gearboxes on the 335i and the M135i and I just didnt get the ZF auto...

Awesome technical tour de force no doubt but with 8 speeds and an engine that revs so fast through the rev range you have no concept which gear you are in half the time. Does that matter? For me yes as I like to think I am in control and actually driving the car not just sat along for the ride. I knew if I bought one that within 4 weeks I would just leave it in auto and be one step closer to middle age

So 6 speed manual it was and it is a peach of a gearbox (same as M1 Coupe I believe)

[t8cmf]

E38Ross said:

Still yet to hear a genuine reason why the fuss over the name, and the M4 sounding like a motorway, despite not ever hearing anyone moan about the M3 etc.

Don't see the difference personally hence why I'd like to hear the thoughts of those complaining....

Thanks

Ross, I too noticed that nobody took you up on your request to explain their (mock) outrage at the renaming of the M3 Coupe to the M4 Coupe.

It absolutely ludicrous that grown men are kicking up a fuss over a name change. Were they upset when Marathons became Snickers or when Jif became Cif?

I know the M3 brand has a lot of history and pedigree but that will still remain. The M3 will still survive in saloon form. I've heard people on forums saying they will not be buying the M4 Coupe because of the name change. I will almost certainly be swapping my E92 M3 for the M4 when it arrives, I dont care what it's called.

Whats the issue?

[g3org3y]

t8cmf said:

It absolutely ludicrous that grown men are kicking up a fuss over a name change. Were they upset when Marathons became Snickers or when Jif became Cif?

Neither bothered me. Opal Fruits to Starburst though, that was a different matter.

[pilchardthecat]

Agree with the "ordinary looking" comment - i didnt like the last 3 coupe at all - dishwater dull. Can't work out if this is marginally duller, or fractionally less dull, but it is very very bland.

[monthefish]

Ari said:

As to the "No drifting", if someone loaned me a brand new £40,000 car and specifically asked me not to do one particular thing with it, I'd have thought the polite thing to do would be to comply rather than put two fingers up and say "fk YOU".

But maybe I'm just old fashioned.

It's a fair point you make, and if it was someones personal car, I would be in full agreement.

However, I think the main differences here are that
1). It is a press car that everyone involved in the process (the journalists, BMW themselves, etc) knows is going to get a hard time.
2). Its a launch on a racetrack.
3). There is a very minor distinction between hard cornering (which would be expected on a car launch on a track) and drifting. There is an degree of tyre slippage on any cornering, so strictly speaking, we're really talking about shades of grey.

[E38Ross]

Ari said:

A car perfectly judged for the people that will actually buy it rather than for schoolboys to masturbate over.

As to the "No drifting", if someone loaned me a brand new £40,000 car and specifically asked me not to do one particular thing with it, I'd have thought the polite thing to do would be to comply rather than put two fingers up and say "fk YOU".

But maybe I'm just old fashioned.

Indeed. Don't see the appeal in drifting myself, certainly doing tests for road cars

[kambites]

E38Ross said:

Indeed. Don't see the appeal in drifting myself, certainly doing tests for road cars

I'd question the point in taking a car like this on a track at all in a "road test".

[NGK210]

Good vid, which conveys perfectly that the 4 is a highly competent performer but has a stern and bland demeanour - the 4 is like a sneer on wheels.

And if Warranty Direct's stats are anything to go by, current BMWs are not particularly well-built or reliable?

[E38Ross]

kambites said:

E38Ross said:

Indeed. Don't see the appeal in drifting myself, certainly doing tests for road cars

I'd question the point in taking a car like this on a track at all in a "road test".

Yes and no. A track gives you the ability to legally exploit the limits of the car which means you may or may not get a better understanding of how it performs on the road when pushed.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

monthefish said:

Ari said:

As to the "No drifting", if someone loaned me a brand new £40,000 car and specifically asked me not to do one particular thing with it, I'd have thought the polite thing to do would be to comply rather than put two fingers up and say "fk YOU".

But maybe I'm just old fashioned.

It's a fair point you make, and if it was someones personal car, I would be in full agreement.

However, I think the main differences here are that
1). It is a press car that everyone involved in the process (the journalists, BMW themselves, etc) knows is going to get a hard time.
2). Its a launch on a racetrack.
3). There is a very minor distinction between hard cornering (which would be expected on a car launch on a track) and drifting. There is an degree of tyre slippage on any cornering, so strictly speaking, we're really talking about shades of grey.

4). Without drifts it would be pretty much like any other second rate Internet video review.
5). The pistonheads CH fanboys wouldn't have anything to spraf over.

[Retset]

My wife came in to see why I was clapping at my PC. It was, of course, when you started to drift it

[DiscoColin]

Matthew Clarke said:

...HOWEVER there is no doubt that BMW dumb down the 335i. Spend 5k on suspension mods, LSD, exhaust and remap and you have a 380bhp monster that is the equal of an M3 in all but name. And you still get the decent MPG and half the running costs...... all in a discreet body shell to boot. For some people that is a better proposition than an M3

This is sort of true, but a simplification. The E9x M3 engine is a work of art and for me it gives the car a soul that the blown 6 pot will forever lack. Performance comparisons miss the mark for that kind of thing - there is rather more to it than that. This is why I rather fear for the blown M4 - will BMW manage to instil the kind of character to the car that its normally aspirated ancestors had? Is the name change actually seeded from some subversives in the motorsport division who don't want it tainting the M3 name... Hmm...

[No - probably not as they will probably churn out an M3 Saloon, but worth musing all the same]

[E38Ross]

t8cmf said:

E38Ross said:

Still yet to hear a genuine reason why the fuss over the name, and the M4 sounding like a motorway, despite not ever hearing anyone moan about the M3 etc.

Don't see the difference personally hence why I'd like to hear the thoughts of those complaining....

Thanks

Ross, I too noticed that nobody took you up on your request to explain their (mock) outrage at the renaming of the M3 Coupe to the M4 Coupe.

It absolutely ludicrous that grown men are kicking up a fuss over a name change. Were they upset when Marathons became Snickers or when Jif became Cif?

I know the M3 brand has a lot of history and pedigree but that will still remain. The M3 will still survive in saloon form. I've heard people on forums saying they will not be buying the M4 Coupe because of the name change. I will almost certainly be swapping my E92 M3 for the M4 when it arrives, I dont care what it's called.

Whats the issue?

hmmmm, still waiting....

[V8 FOU]

monthefish said:

we're really talking about shades of grey.

Ah, so it's a "lady of a certain age" car , then?
Does it have a built in tissue holder?

[velocgee]

g3org3y said:

t8cmf said:

It absolutely ludicrous that grown men are kicking up a fuss over a name change. Were they upset when Marathons became Snickers or when Jif became Cif?

Neither bothered me. Opal Fruits to Starburst though, that was a different matter.

the Marathon to Snickers was a problem...but it was the change from Treets to M&Ms that was really out of order.

but BMW are wrong here. it seems many have built their life around the 3series coupe moniker. maybe having christened their 1st born with this name. Or even having it tattooed on their member! And now the name is obsolete. How will these people live!? BMW have much to answer to....

[BadBanshee]

Holy smokes they'll be offering an LSD pack on a non-M car for the first time in yonks!

[Wills2]

E38Ross said:

hmmmm, still waiting....

You've been here long enough to know that there isn't a reason, PH new = bad, it was better/lighter/prettier before.

(even though they slagged off the old one when it was new)

Edited by Wills2 on Thursday 25th July 23:26

[E38Ross]

Wills2 said:

E38Ross said:

hmmmm, still waiting....

You've been here long enough to know that there isn't a reason, PH new = bad, it was better/lighter/prettier before.

(even though they slagged off the old one when it was new)

Edited by Wills2 on Thursday 25th July 23:26

I know, just wanted to see what the plonkers had to say. Whilst I don't see the need to change the 3 name, I also don't see why 4 sounds ridiculous... . It's still just a bloody number.