Yes, BMW has you to think that their engines great, which they are, just that relative to the best engines from the rest, they aren't heads and shoulders above.
Toyota/Lexus has an undeniable advantage over all the Germans, in that they control their electronic destiny - Denso. Denso is 100% owned by Toyota and it is the leader in automotive electronics now, when even Ford has started to use it in preference to Delphi Automotive electronics. I was pretty surprised.
Electronics is all important as major advances today are only possible because of the electronics. For example, Toyota's new direct/indirect gas injection engines require such careful and complicated electronic control, plus incredible machining technology for the head, while BMW, relying on Robert Bosch, cannot innovate this way. So BMW relies on simpler technology, like Valvetronic, while very elegant, cannot achieve the incredible torque curve of some Toyota engines like their new 3.5L which is today's best mainstream engine among all. Moreover, Valvetronic does not give the advantage of heat reduction which DI gives - and now, this `side effect' of heat reduction has become the main reason why DI is great.
Valvetronic also suffers from a engineer's crisis of confidence, as it relies on a electromechanical acutator - a motor, which is inherently a scary thing, for the main `throttle control'. Why BMW did it was presumably to bypass the Direct Injection patent issue, but the inherent confidence crisis on Valvetronic motors has caused BMW's new cars to use DI instead. That's a few hundred million dollars of R&D down the drain.
I read in this forum last night, and there is a certain poster which mentioned that BMW has to rely on inline 6 cylinder engines not as a technical point, but as a marketing reason. I agree to a large extent. That's why, I said, that BMW's marketing has to take a back seat to engineering now, just for the next generation of engines and concepts for BMW to continue to innovate without the ill-founded shackles of marketing.
All this lengthy discourse, is to mention, that BMW is a victim of its incredibly successful marketing and also shackled by its brand reputation. It's a good problem, but BMW must handle this now. Their surge in sales the last 2 years has suddenly stopped. I suspect that this is because BMW is the `EXECUTIVE'S NICE CAR DURING UNCERTAIN TIMES' and the last 2 years have been rather tentative. The economy this year should be confident enough for high execs to buy a step up BMW, like a Porsche, Maserati, and the new M3 and old M5 should be a bust at least in `confident economy' countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai. Also, the M3 and M5 are compromise cars, and a `confident economy' might permit many prospective customers in this segment to buy `no compromise' cars, 2 of them or more.
Suddenly, the BMW brand has become boring. The M3 has become a V8 instead of a I6 traditionally, and that's the end of an era. The M5 is ageing, with no successor near, and their engine has no hybrid successor in sight to lend the endless torque of an electric motor. Their M coupe, Z4 Coupe, are much lesser machines than the Cayman S and Cayman. Their Z4 pales in comparison to the new Boxster and Boxster S. Their 7-series faces threats from the excellent hybrid Lexus LS. Their 5-series is ageing now, but gracefully, and will maintain a good revenue stream for BMW, but the 5 isn't exactly a halo.
Which leaves us the 3 series. The most imminent threat of the IS series has struck, and the upcoming Mercedes C-Class with Toyota-style quality controls is poised to strike it further - and this time, seems that the C-Class 3rd generation strike is incredibly strong. Even I would consider a Merc now if I were in this class of car. The new quality controls will make the C-Class EXCELLENT.
And as with the 3-coupe, currently the leader of the band being the 335i which the poster called elmariachi is buying, it is without peer. The new CLK will be at least 1.5 years off. The Audi has failed. Lexus has no such competitor. Porsche Panamericana is a weird animal, not here yet, and otherwise Porsche has no competitor. So it leaves the 3-coupe to uphold BMW's honor, and it will. Except the M3 of course, I expect it to fail - since this year, the people who can afford an M3 to consider the excellent 911 997 and ... surprise ... Mitsu Evo X and Subaru WRX STI - just because there is no more need to compromise in a hot economy.
Let's just see whether my mad ravings will come to fruition.
