[Thescout13]

Originally Posted by ShawnPaul

I still take issue with a 6 foot tall, 4000lbs "Motorsport" vehicle. All the SUVs should have kept the IS tag like the x5 4.8IS back in the day. I can't get by the branding; it leans towards accountants trying to cash in the credit from previous management and engineers that made something special. They may well be good vehicles, but the drive to put as many m badges on anything as possible is killing me and hint towards no real value anymore. Bmw is even going to start making vehicles with Benz too... all is lost.

I love how people refer to a "real M" or "Motorsport" (the company name/trademark) like it's some ephemeral thing that has to meet some objective standard. It's not and it doesn't. No M no matter what model has had much in common with the previous generation of it other than the name. But more importantly, an M is a car made by a company that's a sub of BMW. So if it's made, designed, and fully engineered by M (which would exclude M Performance models which I agree are cashing in on marketing) it's by definition an M. Full stop.

We can disagree whether you feel it's a "real M" or not whatever the hell that subjective statement means. But objectively it's an M, and there is nothing wrong with a company (M) who is the sub of a larger company, making the fastest and most performance oriented version of that model. Kind of like how BMW has done for every staple model (except the 7/8, X1/2 series) since the 80s.

Now if BMW does some shit that's the equivalent of naming an SUV or a truck a 911 or a Camaro or a Mustang, then I'm 100% with you. Don't call and X3M an M3. But I don't see how a world that has an M3 AND an X3M is a bad thing.