Quote:
Originally Posted by EXE46
My first bimmer was an E36 way back in the day, then later two E46's in the E46fanatics heydays. My E46 days was the best, the fanatics community was great. These cars still look great to date and in fact the E46 M3 is still my favorite of them all. As for chassis the G20 is excellent, the only drawback is the steering, I still struggle with this aspect of the car.
The irony is that, people crap over the Lexus 3IS but that car has superior steering to the G20. Can't believe BMW couldn't do a better job when Toyota manages to do that. I never bought the E90, never cared for that interior layout so held unto my E46 for 11 years and 200k miles before we parted. Also, was not a fan of the F30 so I went to the competition for my driving fix.
As for the future, I am torn. BMW is heading into a scary place as do most other car makers and seems hell bent on following Mercedes. Mercedes certainly is not the answer. Most likely I may have to buy an older bimmer and keep for the long term. Yesterday, I went to the Miami BMW poker run and saw many locals with classic BMW's in excellent condition, E36/E46,E39 M cars and many more. I will not buy an electric bmw or any 4 cylinder hybrid setup ala Mercedes regardless of how impressive the performance stats maybe.
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The E36 had an excellent raw feel, you're directly connected to the road that was better in this regard than any other sedan of its class. It was very driver focused, even the dashboard and center console angled so they all faced directly toward the driver.
The E46 was a bit less so of everything that was the E36 but still the connection to the road was excellent. In fact, when I got my F80 I still had an E46 for a few months and when I drove it back-to-back, the F80 was hugely more luxurious and intensely faster, a much better car. But the E46 being smaller, lighter, and less sound insulation, had more road feel and better connection to the road.
Ideally, if the G80 was a combo of the driving feel, light weight and road connection of the E46 with the performance, luxury and technologies of the F80 - and no pig snout grille - that would be perfect. But that's not reality.
So I think it comes down to this: if smaller, lightweight cars with excellent road feel are your cup of tea, then the best days were the E36/46 era; if luxury, performance and HP are your wheelhouse, then the best days are now.