I love bmw's...But the snobbery surrounding this whole mess is killing me :(

Here is the pic of his 4dr 325i that he kill's z's with

Hmmm your right I should rephrase.. My comment is not reguarding the older bmws just the newer 325/328 vehicles.. The 335 is nice which I have driven but still not as fun as the z. It's just too refined but it's a completely diff car. Not to meantion they are ticking time bombs when modified.. Chip it launch it a few times and you'll have yourself a nice broken
axle.

Last I heard he ran his car off the road and secretly bought a new Z.

Oh well gimme an M3 or a 335i and we'll talk. You can keep the rest.

Everybody harps on the 3 series because it's a closer competitor to our Zs, but on a somewhat-related point:

My family loves BMW, they've either bought/leased the last 3 generations worth of 5 series. Yes, outwardly, the fit and finish look great, but after owning the car, I can't see myself driving a BMW anymore. Half the electronics keep breaking (on all three cars! I can make a lemon case for one of them, but all three?!). I think the car's been in service more than on the road! Also, the car doesn't connect me with the road at all. I think of it as if I were floating, or driving a really big boat instead. I've had to drive the BMW a few times when my Audi DDer has been unavailable for my commute, and to this day the BMW is the ONLY car we have that I do not feel any urge to get behind the wheel of.

Granted that being from SoCal (Orange County, to boot!), I'm a little biased. I see enough BMW 3 series driven by snooty lil' high schoolers or kids whose parents purchase everything under the sun for them, who think they're 'all that' or whatever the in term is these days, that I get physically sick sitting in one. I've noticed an overall dip in appreciation for cars in my / younger generations (sub-30). They subscribe to the status that is attached to the symbol, not to the actual car itself. It's less about the drive, more about how you arrive. :facepalm:

It's a shame that BMW is now hit or miss; I absolutely ADORE the E36 chassis, it ranks up there as one of my favorite cars of all time. But the way they're going with design and production, I'd rather my Z, or maybe a Subaru Impreza.

I only appreciate the sporting ability of the Z when driving very very hard in the curves, and it takes time with the car to build up the confidence level to really stuff it into corners. I'd be suprised if a 3-series could match it for outright grip, feedback, and poise...it's a sedan for chrissake. The harder I drive the Z, the better it feels...and I have yet to find any over or understeer on public roads at 2X the speed limit in the bends (with VDC on). The Z is not very fast, power-wise, but this doesn't matter for the driving I like to do, smooth and fast in the canyon roads. I hardly ever rev my car over 5k rpm, and it's plenty fast for me. If I wanted to drag race I'd'a bought a camaro SS for less money...or just kept my Camaro SS for no money.....