AMIRZA786

I haven't had a chance to drive it yet, but having driven his previous M440i and another friends M3 Competition, none that was significant. From a dig you can feel it wants to spin the wheels, but it has really good nannies that keep you from ending up in a ditch

RNM GS3

Not a fan of the new G8x cars at all.

Still hate the pig nose.
The cars are much heavier and less direct than the F8x.
I drove new M3 at length and was not impressed.
Its more of an M5 - comfortable, lots of power but less engaging. While the ZF auto is great and much smoother in traffic, it can’t compete with DCT for excitement or timing on the downshifts.
The F8x cars are much more raw and more challenging to drive. The G8x are much
better for going fast in straight line and for daily driving.

Relative to the 440i - i’m sure its great improvement from handling perspective as the M has much wider tires and more sophisticated suspension setup.

AMIRZA786

He doesn't track his cars, this is for his daily commute. It's perfect for him. He would absolutely hate the DCT

jwong77

I'll admit it, the looks have grown on me.

arentz07

I have a friend who has both an IS 500 and an M3 Comp. He says the M3 Comp is the best-driving car he has driven. So I guess it depends on what you are looking for. Now, for me, when I hear "M car", I think agile, engaging, maybe a little wild at the limit, and capable. Do the new M cars do that? I would love to find out. But, based on the BMWs I have driven, I don't expect the "engaging" part to be the high point. Typically, the steering and feel through the front end is the Achilles' heel of the BMWs I've been in, despite near-perfect drivetrain calibration.

AMIRZA786

You just described basically all new cars . Savagegeese just reviewed the M4 Comp, and they said the same thing you said, the car is fast, confident, but practically drives for you. I have a co-worker that has a 1990's M5 with a 6 speed, and it's fun to drive, but it will 1) kill you on wet roads and 2) you literally feel everything. To me, that gets old pretty quick. It's fun to take it out on the weekends, but I wouldn't want to daily drive it, which is why he only drives it to the office every few months

RNM GS3

I had the new M3 Comp in Sport + and Trans in most aggressive setting. The car also had Mperformance exhaust. I could not believe how it drove. Again its more M5 in feel than what M3 used to be.
The F8x was a very raw car and not easy to manage even compared to E9x M3. It was lighter and more direct. It’s just not an easy car to drive on a daily commute. The new M3/4 feels like a very fast and capable car that is easy to drive really fast and you don’t have to work for it. An old grandma can get in and drive it. I think younger folks prefer easy comfortable power and straight line speed. F8x cars will spin into 3rd gear and very hard to launch from a dig.

RNM GS3

Again M used to stand for something but those days are long gone. They drove really different than non M cars. Back then they were all manual only. Albert Biermann went all out on F8x cars and really tried to get back to Motorsport connection with proper cooling and CF components. He left M when they dropped DCT for the new generation cars.

People now just buy it for status and branding.
Its like folks that get a new GT3 and complain its too noisy and uncomfortable.
Same happened with F8x cars - DCT was too jerky, ride is too stiff etc then buy a regular 3 series!

arentz07

My wife has an X3, and her last car was a 2021 330i M Sport. The 330i has some of the worst steering ever. It was weirdly calibrated. Sometimes it seemed a little heavy or reluctant on-center, but other times it wanted to dart. I never feel like I fully grasped where the car was going to go based on my inputs. Did it ruin the car? No, but it certainly made it tough for me to get confident driving it on twisty roads.

Good steering can exist in newer cars. My 2020 Jetta GLI's steering was fantastic. It was somewhat light, but it was both natural and also quick off-center without being darty. Truly the saving grace of that car. It was fun in the twisties.

The X3 is better than the 330i, if only because it behaves like I would expect it to. It's very light, but it isn't over-boosted and is precise. There's not much feel, but I find it easier to control than our 330i was.

And hey, you're not wrong. Most cars now have pretty vague/numb steering. But, there are levels to it. I drove a 991.1 Carrera 4 last year, a car that was often criticized for its inclusion of EPAS. However, by modern standards, the steering is pretty darned good. I actually had some semblance of steering feel while retaining the immediacy and precision of EPAS.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I do wish I'd experienced the sportiness of BMW's past. This 540i can still be fun on curvy mountain roads, but I'll admit it's no E46 M3.

The beaver teeth of the G8X cars has grown on me, but I still prefer the older grilles.

geko29

This is true, but also perhaps the first time I've heard "difficult to drive" as a ringing endorsement of a street car. But it is this way because the F30 that the F80 was based on had the worst chassis and suspension setup (from a performance perspective) of any 3 series in history. Even in 335i guise, the poor suspension meant major traction issues. M division had a lot of work to do, and they accomplished quite the miracle delivering a competent car at all, given the canvas they started with. But the end result was still a car that is less effective at getting its power to the pavement than either its predecessor or successor.

I haven't driven many RWD street cars that can deliver tractable mid-corner power as well or better than the G8x. And those that can, tend to have the engine at the other end of the car.

Striker223

Fair point, I keep thinking in terms of VAG sorry lol! Our tunes are stupid cheap

RNM GS3

“Difficult to drive” - I want to drive the car and have a learning curve doing it. I don’t want a car that makes it easy and anyone can do it, it also doesn’t feel as special/engaging.

There is nothing wrong with suspension setup of F8x cars, its more a case of the low rpm torque which doesn’t allow for them to put the power down well. The CS cars and later Comp models had less aggressive torque curve at lower RPMs but you still have to be able to manage it. The new G8x is idiot proof, just mash the throttle and computer does all the work. Its fast but boring for ppl that want additional engagement, which is a minority.

Take a DCT F8x on a back road and bang through the gears, do some aggressive downshifts. The character of the car is just different but it’s not as good for daily commute.

AMIRZA786

That's the car I want. Idiot proof, doesn't beat me up, doesn't make me work to get around a curve, and doesn't make me have to take ibuprofen when I get home, just mash the pedal and get me to work and back home. Life is already tough enough, thank you

Striker223

I prefer cars that act as something I wear to so speak....I don't want to fight with it to get it to move how I want it to. I want to be able to take a turn following the curb at 55 mph throttle pinned the whole time and not care.....

Thats why I went with Audi