Moreover, there are number of features that make above claimes about handling just ridiculous. Average slalom speed of GTS-V is only 69,2 mph (less than M5 E60), whereas M3 e92 achieved 73,3 mph (even more than Ariel Atom!). Skipade for GTS-V is 0,89g, for M3 e92 – 0,95g. Weight distribution should be noticable in GTS-V eighter, since it’s 54/46. Not mentioning about GTS-V’s mass close to 2 tons! No doubt, GTS-V is great car, but saying that it’s better than M3e92 is huge exaggeration. Putting all these things toghether I doubt that GTS-V would be faster than M3 at Nurburgring when it would be driven by Horst von Saurma (as M3 was). I would recommend to the author of above post to take a wider view on a stuffs about which she/he wants to talk. Comparisions of cars shouldn’t end at pre-productions claimes and opinions of rather stupid journalists. There are objectively checkable facts that clearly makes M3 e92 the best car in its class, for which RS5 (not GTS-V) is the biggest rival at the moment.

Also, the Active steering is just optional, its for Existing Benz drivers who want easy driving. But you dont need it if you dont want it. Technology is killing the car. Mercedes and all the other brands pump all these stuff standard into the car that driving it is no longer fun. BMW should back off and continue to make there cars more fun to drive.

I agree BMW is a bit costlier than the compitition from Asia and the US but its still cheaper than Mercs and Audi with similar specs. Asian Car makers,Audi, and Cadillac has there parent company such as Vw, GM, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda to finaice there cars. BMW is its own company in which they run Solo. Therefore, BMW has to be more expensive.

You also have to know that BMW set records to be broken and simply, that motivated other brands to create cars to break it. After that, BMW simply strikes and takes the trophy back. Preformance Sedans were not invented until the M535i was introduced.

BMW should reduce there line of vehicles. The 3,5, and 7 series are the main line. The X3, X5, and the Z Series are extra but not that important.. Instead of having the 528i and 535i engines that are from the 3 series, They need to just sell the 320hp 540i ( from the 740i ) and the 550i. The 328i should be replaced with the 330i and there should be just the 740i and 750i Just 2 engines in each model ( not including the M cars) can make BMW a much more profit and a better player in the market.

What Freedom Rings wrote is offensive to some BMW fans but it is also a message to BMW. It is pretty much saying,

“Wake up BMW, your not the winner anymore. Step up and take your trophy back”.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/can-bmw-remain-the-ultimate-money-machine/

He was contradicting his self

and he was for and against BMW many times

it seems really silly

and he was and against BMW many times

It seems really silly

Are those your own words

What are you trying to prove it was all over place

especially near the end on why bmw has to raise there price and in the beginning you said that bmw is much more expensive than there competitors

Please explain

Oh and also the BMW M3 is litterally The best handling car on the planet

Ill post my time as soon as im done reading it

It’s worth repeating: in most head-to-head competitions, BMWs no longer deliver a knock-out blow. Their straight-line speed is impressive, but there are faster. Their interiors are nice, but Audi’s are better. Their seats are wonderful, but the passenger accommodations offer precious little lebensraum for the buck. Speaking of which, BMWs are significantly more expensive and/or under-equipped vis a vis their price-equivalent competition.

This leaves one strong link to BMW’s “Ultimate Driving Machine” brand boast: handling. Again, there are better handling cars– especially considering BMW’s recent penchant for passion-killing run-flat tires and active steering. More generally, does anyone seriously suggest BMWs are the best handling cars throughout their [enormous] model range? Plenty of Mazda, Infiniti, Mercedes and (now) Cadillac fans are willing to throw down to the Roundel’s rep for corner-carving kudos.

The truth about BMW is this: while the brand gets mad props from motor-journalists, the German automaker banks its bucks thanks to a very different demographic with a very different concept of “performance.”

While BMW still aims for the luxury car market stratosphere (the 7-Series and Rolls, neither of which amount to much) and slums it in the lower reaches (the premium-priced MINI line), the propeller badge might as well be a rifle sight. And yuppies are in the crosshairs.

No car is more identified with a particular rung of the corporate ladder than BMW. Nothing says “mover and shaker” more than an alphabet soup 3 or 5 in a reserved parking place. We’re not talking about the top slot; the truly highly-placed drive something with more presence. BMW is the ne plus ultra for upper middle execs, corporate clones whose cars must stand out from the “ordinary” (cynics might say “practical”) machines driven by the company’s lesser lights.

Overpaying is part of the cachet, “I’m going places, and I don’t need to worry about what it cost.” Sure, Bimmer’s rep for speed and handling is a nice seasoning. But truth be told, the sort of person who regularly buys/leases a BMW probably doesn’t have the time to go joyriding. The exact position of this “Bimmer spot” within the corporate hierarchy varies from country to country, but the template remains the same: Urban Professional on the Move.

On the Move. Ultimate Driving Machine. Done. It doesn’t really matter if a BMW lives up to its strapline– just as long as this business suit-wearing herd member buys the brief. The ultimate driving in question is symbolic; the BMW brand represents the single-minded “drive” known as personal ambition. Not to coin a phrase, if you own a BMW, you’re moving forward.Onwards. Upwards.

BMW’s recent, phenomenal success is tied almost exclusively to the explosive success of this well-fed corporate demographic. Some argue that the brand’s move down market has hurt their brand cachet. The opposite may be true. Ironic as it sounds, appealing to the upper middle class pack mentality may have propelled the propeller people’s products to even greater heights, saleswise.

And now, the reckoning?

If there is a significant worldwide economic downturn, existing and potential BMW buyers may not make enough bonus– or simply feel “safe” enough– to take on a new car after three to five years. Should the corporate axeman’s blade swing through the lower executive level with particular violence, BMW sales will suffer widespread decapitation.

That’s the problem with near luxury products. They’re not expensive enough to rise aove the fray, and they’re not cheap enough to fly under the corporate accountant’s radar.

Meanwhile, exchange rates are making things even more precarious. To compensate for currency fluctuations, BMW must either raise model prices and enter into entirely different segments or hold the line and take the hit on profits. Whether here [U.S.] or abroad, the falling dollar threatens to move its models up one or more “classes.” Instead of merely being notably more expensive than their Japanese and American competitors– for which “badge cachet” compensates– BMWs are becoming especially expensive.

If you thought the end of the SUV boom was bad for Detroit, The Big 2.8s exposure looks modest compared with BMW’s potential exposure to a general economic downturn. As Porsche proved back at the tail end of the 80s, if the worst happens, all BMW can do is… wait.