Quote:
Originally Posted by i_love_cars
This entire thread is disappointing. I'm always encouraged by forums like these where I see a good concentration of enthusiasts, but then my hopes and dreams come crashing into the ocean of reality when I see that truly, we are a fraction of the buying population. This forum represents such a small portion of BMW owners that actually care.
There isn't a single car in BMW's lineup today that I would buy new off the lot if I had 60-80k to drop on a car. That's just the reality - as an enthusiast looking for a performance vehicle period - sports car or not - there's so much better bang for your buck out there.
I was happy to pay $25k for my 135i with 30k miles on it and with $5k into it I've got a great HPDE car with an aftermarket LSD. What else am I going to buy in BMW's lineup at a reasonable price like that?
It's disheartening to see that 10 years from now, many of us will be in a very difficult boat if looking for a pure sports car, or even an acceptable performance coupe. The landscape is changing - sure Corvette will still be around, and others, but the future is electric steering and crap like that, even in a Corvette. It will come.
I'll be the poor schmuck scouring classifieds for a 30 year old car to restore just so I can have an enjoyable driving experience.
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Outside of the weight increase, the M235i is, IMO, an improvement over the E82 chassis. I loved my 135i, but the F22 chassis is an improvement. It retains that small-car feel, but is more stable and feels like it bobs (end-to-end) less over small humps and road perfections. Humps in the road always scared the shit out of me in my 135i, because the chassis was so easily upset. I've got limited seat time in the M235i, but my CA (who is incredible!) is happy to let me drive cars on a pretty good route that has a variety of road textures.