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Originally Posted by Fuller
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Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan
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Originally Posted by Skyhigh
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Originally Posted by Sedan_Clan
Look, I'm not knocking your precious GC (...for which your personal bias is expected), but from a performance standpoint the cars are pretty equal. There is nuance, but it's splitting hairs.....just like the endless M3 vs M4 comparos. Some prefer the feel of one over the other, but claiming a pure performance advantage is just silly.
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I am certainly biased, but not because I have it, but because I chose it for a reason after a thorough research and test-drives.
"Pretty equal" is where the subjectiveness of adjectives objectively confirms a difference.  |
Play with semantics if you desire. 
Enjoy your same wheelbase 30mm lower roofline '3 Series'. <wink> |
The first time I drove a 4 series, I didn't expect a difference, due to the reasons you've listed. I figured, "Why should a 435i be different to drive than a 335i?" The handling numbers I'd seen didn't support it. But the dealership I was at had insisted I test drive one, so I succumbed. When I actually test drove the car, I was stunned. It felt so different to me, that I asked the dealer if there was something added to the car I was test driving that differentiated it from a normal 435i. When he answered no, I accused him of selecting sport mode when I wasn't paying attention, but a glance revealed that I was still in comfort mode at that point. I've since driven the f36 in different spec, and even with a base suspension 4 cylinder f36, it was noticeably different to drive than a comparably equipped f30.
I don't know exactly why this is. It could be the lower center of gravity, stiffer chassis, suspension tuning, 50-50 front to rear weight distribution, or whatever. To be blunt, I don't really care if it's one of the above reasons, all of them in conjunction, or none. Maybe during that fateful test drive, I was in a mood that made me easy to impress. Who can ever know.
All I do know is that I approached that test drive expecting nothing different from an f30 - having already owned and sold a 335i at that point - and I was pleasantly surprised. The f30, f32, and f36 "handle" similarly. That is, I don't think the 4 can do anything that the 3 series can't easily match, and both models share similar performance at the limit. The everyday driving feel, however, is noticeably different (in my humble opinion). |
The f32 4 series has a wider track and as a result different suspension geometry than the f30. The 4s are not in fact clones of the 3s. The M3 and m4 however do share the same track and and suspension this is why the flared bodywork front and rear is more pronounced on the M3.
Worth noting the new G20 shares its track with the f32 4 series, obviously a different overall platform but bmw liked something about that setup