Quote Originally Posted by Obioban View Post
I didn't mention EPS before, because it was "covered", but I do think it bears bringing back in-- any car where I can't feel the front tires losing grip ruined for me. How can you drive a car at the limit when the limit is hidden from you?



I don't think any meaningful handling judgements can be made on a highway :P

That said, one thing I find endlessly annoying about all EPS cars I've driven is that on the highway I have to endlessly correct. It's exhausting. On cars with steering feel, I can feel the car getting pulled and correct without thinking about it. In EPS cars, I have to wait till I see drift, and then visually correct it. Terrible.



Attachment 34731

Unequivocally, the power falls off at high RPM.

Yes, it's not an 80s turbo engine when you can count to 5 while it spools. But, any lag means I can't balance understeer/oversteer accurately using the throttle-- which is what I care about, and why I don't want any turbos on any of my cars, ever.



The lack of drain plugs on the diff/transfer case is indicative of every aspect of working on the car. Post e46/e39 era, BMW seems to have completely stopped considering serviceability in the designs of their cars. This is the main reason I sold my wife's e91 and put her in an e39 M5-- working on every aspect of the car was a ridiculous ordeal.
e46 valve cover gasket: 1 hour project
e91 valve cover gasket: 8 hour project
e46 rear main seal: 3 min, no special tools required
e91 rear main seal: 3 stage epoxy that takes multiple hours to set, $500 special tool required, and it leaks more than the e46 version
e46 diff fluid swap: use drain plug
e91 diff fluid swap: drill and tap your own drain hole if you want all the fluid, or use an extractor if you want most
e46 battery swap: replace battery
e91 battery swap: replace battery and reprogram car to accept battery using BMW tool or aftermarket copy

and the new cars are much, MUCH worse than the e9X was.

The sense of relief was free of ever having to work on the e9X again was immense. Unless BMW has a dramatic reverse course on that front, I won't be buying a post e46/e39/e38 ICE car from them.



A car with any of the following is ruined for me:
automatic
turbo
awd
EPS (at least until someone makes a system that isn't ass-- but so far every system I've driven has been)

Each in isolation ruins a car for me. The F31 can only be had with all of them, so.... hard pass.
I have to second that for the most part, I’ve driven just about every 3 series F configuration imaginable and the only one that impressed me was the M3. The new 3 series is really nice to sit in and has a lot of entertainment options, but doesn’t feel as solid as it should. It’s crazy how a 15 year old car worth six times less drives better than some of the new BMWs. Then again the target market for these cars are generally people who want the luxury over performance.


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