The 3-series has been 100% pure “commuter appliance” since the E90 chassis. Even the M-versions are pretty blah.
The 3-series has been 100% pure “commuter appliance” since the E90 chassis. Even the M-versions are pretty blah.
In reply to LanEvo :
We test drove a 2017 330i sport package, and while I agree it was not a finely-honed, pure driver's car, I'd rank it a fair bit above "commuter appliance". The only reason we didn't buy one was the available color combinations among the couple of program cars we were looking at.
I've got one. I remember being really impressed with the test drive. But when you live with it for a while, it loses the shine. Throttle and brakes are grabby. Steering has no feel. Chassis is tuned for understeer. The real shock is the horrible, wooden ride quality. Every bump crashes through the whole car. Zero finesse over "real world" roads.
LanEvo said:The real shock is the horrible, wooden ride quality. Every bump crashes through the whole car. Zero finesse over "real world" roads.
Honestly, I feel this about a lot of newer cars. IMO, most are undersprung, underdamped in rebound and overdamped in compression. So they feel stiff and "sporty", but ride like crap over small road imperfections, etc. And then they're soft, squishy and bouncy on large dips in the road and such.
LanEvo said:The real shock is the horrible, wooden ride quality. Every bump crashes through the whole car. Zero finesse over "real world" roads.
I got a chance to sample a car I wanted for a long time. An E39 540i with the M-Sport package. The next best thing to an M5 without having to sell a kidney or three.
I realized that my $4000 Volvo is lighter, has more horsepower, has much better brakes, an interior that feels like a grown-up car instead of K-Mart quality leather glued over Little Tykes plastic, and infinitely better handling because of the electronic damping control that I used to rail against until I discovered just how good it could be.
Push a button - you're driving a LeSabre! Push another button - you're driving a Margay! Push a third button - HAL monitors how you're driving and decides how to control the chassis, and damned if HAL doesn't actually know what he's doing. And that is just ride quality: The actual handling is pretty dang good as well. The base chassis is competent, and then HAL is allowed to play torque-vectoring games with the AWD system and ABS. You can even try utterly stupid things like stabbing the brakes mid-corner at max lat, and just as you start to over-rotate, HAL steps in and says "Dave, I can't let you do that..." (I think this actually comes up on the DIM display) and it feels like the Hand of God realigns the chassis. It's actually pretty fun to see how far you can get crossed-up and watch HAL step in and right it.
Of course you can actually disable all that stuff, if you want to drive slow and whatever. But that is what the RX-7 is for.
LanEvo said:I've got one. I remember being really impressed with the test drive. But when you live with it for a while, it loses the shine. Throttle and brakes are grabby. Steering has no feel. Chassis is tuned for understeer. The real shock is the horrible, wooden ride quality. Every bump crashes through the whole car. Zero finesse over "real world" roads.
Every car I've ever owned lost its shine after awhile, the nature of the beast.
rslifkin said:LanEvo said:The real shock is the horrible, wooden ride quality. Every bump crashes through the whole car. Zero finesse over "real world" roads.
Honestly, I feel this about a lot of newer cars. IMO, most are undersprung, underdamped in rebound and overdamped in compression. So they feel stiff and "sporty", but ride like crap over small road imperfections, etc. And then they're soft, squishy and bouncy on large dips in the road and such.
In addition, the giant wheels and rubber-band tires on new cars don't help the ride, either.
I bought a full size 4WD pickup with a 6MT new, so I’m doing my part. However, if I ever get to replace the WJ Grand Cherokee, it will be an auto because that’s the right transmission for that kind of vehicle.
Modern suspension: based on my relatively small sample set, including a BMW - terrible. They have the tools, so they’ve chosen not to bother to get it right. That BMW was both underdamped and harsh at the same time. It’s just not a priority.
Driving my modified 1990 Miata back to back with the 2019, you can really see where modern cars can be so much better than vintage ones. And you can also see where they’ve lost the plot a bit. The fun part is figuring out how to take that vintage feel and make the new car work that way. Something as simple as a different alignment can do a lot.
Don’t judge the E39 M5 by the 540, they’re further apart than Jalopnik would have you think ;)
You'll need to log in to post.
