Quote:
Originally Posted by JulieDriving
^^ Exactly.
Part of the reason M is so coveted is because of its exclusivity. Top engineering, top performance, relative rarity.
If M becomes too commonplace, it will lose its lustre, the same lustre that BMW is banking on to sell its "M Sport" kits and now "M Performance" versions of vehicles.
It's the way the world works. If every kid can receive an A, an A student is nothing special.
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I agree that buying these fabulous cars should imply some exclusivity, if I had an M3 I wouldn't like to see all my neighbors driving the same car.
But obviously, mechanically there is no match between a real M and any other version of the same model (engine, gearbox, chassis settings...). Stylistically as well, a real M will also always hold a few exclusive attributes (specific air intakes, side gills, quad pipes...). So no matter how close to the real deal BMW will make these other versions (M Sport, M Performance), they will always preserve enough mechanical and esthetical specificities to not dilute the intrinsic qualities and the image of the real M cars.
Knowing that well, I guess an M driver shouldn't be pissed that a more downmarket version of the same model would have an M logo on its trunk lid, unless he values his own car mainly for its logo. Motorsport is not just an M logo, it's fantastic cars to drive (I never owned one, but it seems so...) and if those drivers really value their cars, they won't quit BMW merely because BMW are selling a piece of the icing on this M cake to more modest customers. And again, even with an ///M335i logo on the trunk, the car will look signfificantly different and clearly not as iconic as the same car wearing the ///M3 logo, a rear spoiler and quad exhausts.
If I drove a genuine M, I would probably be happy to see M Sport and M Performance models here and there on the streets. Not because I would be thinking that others crave for but cannot afford what I can, but because I would be flattered to see that many people appreciate and respect what genuine M cars stand for
