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      09-27-2013, 03:04 PM   #90
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Drives: Smog machines
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Austin, TX

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Quote:
Originally Posted by touringfanatic View Post
Simply heretical and wrong. They're not going to gain anything but ruining probably the best driving hatchback known to mankind. Reasons for which they call this an improvement are ridiculuos and they're trying to keep up with the competition they already outsell. Those who don't comprehend the loss ought to drive any of the e8x 1series models. It really was the ultimate driving machine in its class that is going to be killed for ultimate grocery runabout. BMW won't see any justifiable financial gain either in the end because this decision is a fundamental misunderstanding of the marketplace (In my modest opinion their decions were made because of the success of the current a-class and the thing they're so wrong about is that is more successful because of the much improved design and not the more spacious fwd arangement) .
I'm not really arguing for a fwd car, but having worked in Germany when the E87 came out, and having access to a car pool where you could pick it or a Golf (plus many others, but I drove those two frequently, plus a few E91 wagons) it was not the better car. Sales numbers and magazine reviews clearly back this up. The 1er understeered more than the Golf, had the stupid RFTs and the resulting choppy ride, the transmission tunnel rendered the middle rear seat a joke and the FR layout made front seat leg room relatively short when compared to the Mk4 and especially the Mk5 Golf.

This didn't keep me from buying an E82 135i when they came out over here, but it still had lots of inherent understeer, RFT tires (until I replaced them) and less room than a Golf inside. But it at least had the power to induce plenty of throttle based oversteer and also had much better brakes than the other E8x cars.

If BMW is going to compete in this market, MINI can only do so much and without starting yet another silly sub brand like the i cars, this seems like the only solution. Provided (and this is huge for me) they offer a rwd sedan that's smaller than the F30, I don't mind if there's a smaller, fwd car underneath it that offers more practicality and more efficiency. I just hope there's more than what MB is offering with a larger C Class and the CLA which is not much smaller than the F30.
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