[Happy Motoring]

M is for marketing

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by Happy Motoring

M is for marketing

Is that why you drive an M2?

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by M4BimmerChris

I have the only M4 in my town, I love the attention hahaha, everyone drives mustangs and challengers here. I get so many heads and people screaming population of county is 77k, 33k in city.

Hah, pretty much my situation as well. I live in a suburb of St. Louis, and I've seen one other M4 in the past year. It was black too, which is very understated for the car and fits right in with everything else on the road. Not like my YMB M4!

People around here absolutely love the car, comments galore and it's rare that I won't get some acknowledgment for the car at least once when I go out and run errands. I even get people with their iPhones taking video/pictures from time to time as we're rolling.

I think a ton depends on your area of course. If you're in SoCal or some other big time money area, the M4 is going to blend in like a Prius. It's all relative!

[irishbimmer]

Wish I had the time and money to own and drive all the variants of the M-they are still special to me even here in SoCal where one can see every high performance brand -just walking my dogs in the morning is like a veritable car show as the drivers exit the gates and accelerate down the Parkway.

The M's cannot be beat as a daily driver, in my opinion and I've experienced many of the others out there such as Porsche, Ferrari, AMG. The M offers reliable high performance and for those that bemoan the dilution of the brand, its understandable but along with the dilution has come greatly enhanced performance with excellent warranties and service for the most part.The M has also encouraged an entire subset of imitators which drives BMW to continue to refine the brand.

Maybe the OP should investigate ordering an individual color and you probably would never run into the same species anywhere.

[Germanauto]

It's all relative. The ///M division isn't what it used to be but still beats the competition.

That's clearly still not good enough for us long-time BMW guys though. Feelsbadman.jpg

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by DanG

I have owned BMWs since 1971. While my current M car isn’t my first, it is by far the best BMW I have ever owned. Is it special. It is in the eye of the beholder.

Most people don’t recognize my car and I don’t really get any attention in it. I bought it to impress me, not anyone else.

You must not have one of the louder colors because the ///M2 is plenty flashy in my opinion. It really stands out in LBB.

[termigni]

I have had both non-M and M cars for a while. M cars are definitely special, even my Civic M2.

[Tommysalami]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

... The ///M division isn't what it used to be ...

Why not?

[G35POPPEDMYCHERRY]

I saw we build a regional committee to debadge all posers!!!!

Whose with me

[Ximian]

If the base M3/4 is the heart and soul of a ZCP, CS, GTS, then a 320 is the heart and soul of an M3. By the transitive property of equality, everyone is really overpaying for a 320.

The base Ms are still great cars, but ///Marketing figured out there are some people who don't think a CS or GTS isn't a great value for money so they'll buy one.

[Happy Motoring]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Is that why you drive an M2?

Yes, they did a great job marketing their cars during M track days when I went in 2017. I sold my Accord Hybrid months later and got my M2.

But they are going crazy with the M badges sticking it on everything and everywhere these days. There was a strict distinction of what M was when I had my e36 m3 and m coupe. Those days they reserved the M badge for top of the line models.

[WestRace]

I think there should be a distinction from "special and unique" vs. "better and faster". Those who argue that the older M's are more special and there are those who argue the new M's are better "in every way". Both are correct.

I remember when the E46 M CSL and Z4M came out, there were nothing like them at the time which means they are unique, but when you drive them, there is something special about them. It's just not the rarity, it's in the way they drive as well. Even today, you can't find anything that feels like the E46 M3 (that is unless you have a 911). I've had a E90 M3 for about a year and although it's better any every way vs. the E46 M3, for some reasons it didn't feel special for me so I ended up selling it. I haven't driven the new F80 M3/4 but from what I've heard, they are even more isolated vs. the E90X M3. So I asked myself why? What is "special"? Why is one sport car more special vs. another car?

Someone once said that "I can't define what's "profanity" is, but I know it when I hear it". Maybe it's the same for how we feel when a car feels "special". You know it when you drive it. Maybe it's the connection between the driver and the car mechanical underpinnings. Of course it's more than that since I have driven the Nissan Z350 and Infinity G35 and those cars actually have some good feels but they are fairly crude and unsophisticated and I wouldn't call them "special". So in order for a car to be special, you need some sophistication as well.

For me, from an engineering and manufacturing point of view, it's a lot harder and more expensive to make a car "special". It's a lot easier to make a car feel "isolated" to hide the weakness of its mechanical make up. That's why cars like 911, E46 M, and so are are expensive to make because you need to have very tight manufacturing process to pull it off. If you don't you may end up with cars with good mechanical connections but they'd be crude like the Z350 or the Mustang or Camaro of old.

I have no doubt that the new F80 M is a good car but maybe I am just being prejudiced but something about them that is a bit derivative. Well maybe it's just me. And it doesn't help that there are a lot more alternatives nowaday. If you don't like the M3/M4, I think there are other cars that are just equally good. Interestingly, if you want the feel of the old M cars, you can buy a new Mustang, or Camaro, or Cadillac ATS-V or CTS-V, or Corvette, although I still don't thing American cars have as sophisticated as the German cars. New BMW M cars are fast but I think they lack a bit of personalities. Maybe that's what people are complaining.

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by Tommysalami

Why not?

Like BMW as a whole, they've gotten less raw since the F-chassis cars arrived. Most recently I was disappointed after driving the M4 as the E92 M3 was such a different experience. Regardless, it's all just a reflection of modern day consumers I suppose. And the cars are putting up better numbers than ever, superior to the competition as well.

I supposed the M2 Comp is the only ///M for me.

[WestRace]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

Most recently I was disappointed after driving the M4 as the E92 M3 was such a different experience.

And there are people who think the E92 M3 is not as raw or special as the E46 M3, and the argument is that as cars are getting faster, they will inevitably become more isolated and refined and less raw.

But then when you look at American sport cars such as the Mustang, Camaro, ATS-V, CTS-V and Corvette, they are getting faster and faster with the driving characteristics of the old M cars. So the argument that faster cars need to be more isolated probably does not make sense either.

I think you can have both, but it is more expensive to make cars like that so for a given price point, you either have one or the other but not both.

[Maynard]

I think you are wrong to assume //M cars are supposed to be either 'the best' or the top tier; to me they were initially marketed as racing homologation specials, and the //M was signifying that track/racing focus. Over time, this became conflated with 'the best' and has become a marketing gimmick - not just for BMW, it seems to have affected the entire universe (check out a mid-80's "z-28" that is a sub-200 hp stripe-job, or Porsche putting whale tails on anything that rolled). Kind of ironic that they now have to de-bulk them for track duty.

[pz619]

I really don't care what they call it or how many people have it. They can change the brand name to "M" for all I care. The important thing is if you like/love the car that you drive. I love my car but it being a called a M2, Super M2 Competition CSL GTS, or just "2 series" doesn't diminish how I feel about the car. Nor would it diminish the experience if every man, woman, and child on earth had a m2.

[Fritzer]

Well they certainly dilute it with all the "M-Sport" and Mx35i/Mx40i models. They really like to throw around that badge, so it doesn't mean nearly as much as it used to.

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by Happy Motoring

Yes, they did a great job marketing their cars during M track days when I went in 2017. I sold my Accord Hybrid months later and got my M2.

But they are going crazy with the M badges sticking it on everything and everywhere these days. There was a strict distinction of what M was when I had my e36 m3 and m coupe. Those days they reserved the M badge for top of the line models.

Well, I disagree to an extent. I have owned BMWs since 1977 and have had 18 of them. Many of those had M badges on the steering wheel, the gear shift knob, the wheels, etc. and they were not M models. They weren't even M-sport models. BMW has long put M badges on parts that were developed by the M division. They may be a little more prolific today, but it is definitely not a recent happening.

[BM dnobagaV]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Well, I disagree to an extent. I have owned BMWs since 1977 and have had 18 of them. Many of those had M badges on the steering wheel, the gear shift knob, the wheels, etc. and they were not M models. They weren't even M-sport models. BMW has long put M badges on parts that were developed by the M division. They may be a little more prolific today, but it is definitely not a recent happening.

This brings up a good point regarding Mercedes. They put AMG on 80% of their rims, even if the wheels are super basic. It's infuriating & nonsensical.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by irishbimmer

Maybe the OP should investigate ordering an individual color and you probably would never run into the same species anywhere.

Lol. In 13 years owning my ///M, I’ve only seen the same color M as mine 2 times (outside of car shows, BMW gatherings, or track events). And I used to commute 3 hours a day, up to 70+ miles. And I live in So Cal, the car capital of the world.

I drive one of the last moderately rare and special ///Ms. Hence my perspective.

https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1580783

[DanG]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Well, I disagree to an extent. I have owned BMWs since 1977 and have had 18 of them. Many of those had M badges on the steering wheel, the gear shift knob, the wheels, etc. and they were not M models. They weren't even M-sport models. BMW has long put M badges on parts that were developed by the M division. They may be a little more prolific today, but it is definitely not a recent happening.

I agree. My old 318ti was an M Sport and had M badges on both fenders.

[irishbimmer]

You are right! A very rare car indeed.