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Originally Posted by Ras550
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuller
I'm sure some members here dislike Tesla or their products. But others have at least some passing curiosity in the brand even if we don't plan to buy one imminently.
A lot of the angst you see directed toward Tesla is because most members are here to talk about BMW and their products. Sure, we welcome criticism and interesting comparisons between BMW models and other makes' competing models, but it can reach a critical point to where it just becomes tiresome.
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It's helpful to understand your perspective and thank you for sharing it.
Perhaps it will also be helpful to know that many of us who love Tesla have loved BMWs. I still love the E series cars (owner and E39, E46 and E90) and would still love to see the brand come up with a great car. Just haven't seen one in the last decade from BMW, while almost every other brand has gotten ahead of Bavaria, EV or ICE. It's more than disappointing for longtime bmw fans like myself to see the company let down it's most loyal customers for so long.
Maybe the CEO change will help. We shall see. |
The bmw product line has changed, but then again so has that of every other manufacturer as well. As we know, there are many factors to blame for this (emissions regulations, fuel economy regulations, passenger safety, pedestrian safety, shifting market preferences, etc). I think bmw has also tried too hard to please the masses. They've been a bit conservative, and as a result, have produced vehicles that aren't particularly polarizing, or offensive to anyone, but not particularly inspiring either. Despite these evolutions, I think that there are still some things to like about the modern bmw product line. The 2 series, especially the m2 has been compared to previous generations of bmw sports sedans and coupes. I think the mainstream car journalists have been particularly critical of bmw for some time now as well, and my feeling is that it goes beyond simply not enjoying the current crop of cars as much as the previous iterations.
For example I happened to be thumbing through the Aug edition of MT, and came across the articles where the g20 330i was compared to the g70, model 3, and separately the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Of course they were hard on the bimmer while lauding the other cars with all sorts of praise and compliments. As I looked into the stats though, I was surprised to see that the 330i gave the best skid pad reading of 0.95g, which is fantastic for a four door sedan. The closest competitor in their test was the g70 with 0.94. Their beloved Giulia was off by quite a bit with something like 0.91. The 330i finished 2nd to the model 3 in the figure 8 course as well. In fact it seemed like the main issue with the 330i was the stiff suspension. Never before have I seen a sedan achieve 0.95g of lateral grip and receive harsh criticism for being too stiff. Typically a stiff suspension is the price to pay for having a car that handles superbly, like the g20 with track package. I've driven some of the e90 generation, and those suspensions were rock hard and unyielding. Yet mags like MT raved about them, the same way they currently rave about the g70 and Giulia. I'm sorry but I have to call B.S. on that. Unfortunately though, car enthusiasts tend to be an impressionable group. Despite what the average enthusiast will tell you, they base their impressions of a given make and model, to a large extent, on reviews and others' opinions more than their own impressions from behind the wheel.