Let's face it Ladds; the days of very sporty sedans that are 'involving' are nearly over. You have to get much smaller a car to get more involved.

people want it all. the sportiness. the comfort. quiet, and loudness when wanted. all the technowizardry....

I'd HATE to be an Auto Engineer in todays world.

 

Yeah, it's kind of depressing that they're all getting fat. I know 550+ horsepower, eight bajillion gears and laser-guided lane dependence airbag night vision pre-brake regeneration assistance is all very nice, but the E39 M5 apparently wasn't exactly dreadful either... But more begets more. Supersaloons are fine for spicing up the worthy stuff and taking the long way home, and I sure as hell wouldn't mind having either of the contenders as my only car (but let's be honest; anytning with four wheels, a roof and not on fire would qualify), but for ultime driving thrills, something lighter is probably the ticket.

 

I drove a 1986 930 Turbo last night....talk about big grin factors!! LOL

 

Try a 1996 993 Turbo, with some Andial work done to it...talk about just plain old fun.


Driving around in my father's '88 560 SEL Merc hard-top onvertible, white w/ blue interior, is just bliss. Ashtray the size of Kansas; steering wheel, knobs, buttons, door handles, etcetera all have held up so well for nearly 25 years and 53k miles it's unreal. As I look at my friends 07 M5 with 30k miles on the clock, I start to understand all sides of the coin of automotive design and engineering and marketing and sales and everything...they just keep trying to keep up with the competition so much that each manufacturer forgets it's roots IMO and focus too much on satisfy too many customers in too many markets.

I thought it was amazing when, I believe it was Zietsch who said this but please correct me if I am wrong about the author/quote itself, but when asked if he, being the CEO of DaimlerBenz at the time, was alright with only having roughly 12 percent of the marketshare of automobiles sales or what-have-you. His response, which was what I thought was so amazing, was along the lines of "well, do you go to Apple and ask Steve Jobs if he isn't alright with only controlling 10 percent of the mp3/Laptop/smartphone market?"

Again, I know I could be wrong in many ways on many aspects surrounding that interaction, but regardless I wish all companies still thought that way, in a good way, and focused on themselves more than what everyone else is doing.