Quote:
Originally Posted by nachob
Because M owners are soft now. They are no longer the guys that bought the E30 M3 with the crazy firm suspension that autocrossed and wanted a race car that could get them to work on monday, pick up their kids, then track or canyon carve on the weekends. The softification of M cars has been a long slow death where now the so many order "executive package" which is a euphemism in the tailoring word for pudgy people AKA executive cut. Executive package is for the new generation that value comfort and gadgetty cool over driving. It's just a different customer now and they pay the bills for BMW. The new G80 M3 offers weight adding powered trunk closing option. Seriously? Not a heavy or tall hatch that short people maybe can't reach but a motorized trunk closer to go along with the others useless weight adding gadgets like motorized folding mirrors and self parking cars.
So that is why so many order it and the more that order it, normalizes this behavior. It used to be no respectable M enthusiast would order an automatic or executive package but now everyone does it so it seems normal. I guess in their defense there are few places to autocross or track. The roads are congested with idiots parked and texting in the "fast" lane. The roads are crappy and full of 20 inch-wheel-eating potholes so might as well just add more fluff to M cars since you really can't enjoy the drive as much anymore. Since so few are really get all their rocks off on driving, now you have all of these cool gadgets to experience and talk about.
That's my answer to your question. Personally I don't get it but I think that's because I still think M is meant for Motorsports but it really means ///More speed and gadgets and weight and fluff and bragging rights than ///Motorsports.
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I dont know about that, but M has always been about making cars that are like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Practical sporty cars. So this evolution is not strange. The M enthusiast that you refer to are the fringe, not the majority of the buyers, and perhaps never were. I dont track my M2 (maybe I'm not enthusiast), but I do love it it for the fact that I can drive it daily and have a lot of fun doing it.