Thanx for you thorogh write-up. I do agree in most of your comments, except that I have a diesel, so delivery of power is different. I find the car very well balanced and fun to drive, only a bit too soft for an M suspension.
I had to make a "panic stop" the other day, in a curve, to avoid a collision. I was really really impressed about the brakes, how smooth they felt even in that situation, and how stable the chassis and the rest of the car behaved when coming to that abrupt standstill. Since one of the reasons I traded my former daily driver was to get a safer car, I feel assured