[Lassaxi]

Basically, all the whining in this thread can be traced to one general complaint: BMWs are not SO much better than everything else anymore. Guess what: this is the product of other car companies making better cars, not BMW making worse cars. I don't know about you guys, but I like having choices when I buy a car.

Today's BMWs are better in virtually every respect than their predecessor models (except perhaps in weight). The difference is that other car companies are not making junk anymore. The stiffer competition is what makes BMW try new things that some of you like (e.g., the N54 engine), and some of you bitch about (e.g., unconventional styling, RFTs, iDrive, etc..). That's how innovation works.

The only thing that is baffling to me is that it took other car manufacturers so long to figure out how to make a car that competes. There is no magic in BMW's formula for producing great cars. The fact that no one else could (or would) match that formula until recently does not mean that BMW is on a downward trend. It means that the competition is getting stiffer.

Should BMW respond by raising the bar? Sure. But to truly raise the bar, BMW will have to tinker with the formula. And someone will always complain when BMW tinkers with the formula. Of course, there'll also be plenty of people who couldn't care less as long as there's a sweet aero kit, 20" rims still fit and they can beat that kid at school with the Evo.

Some of you are probably too new to this forum to remember, but in the early days of the E90, people complained left and right about how the E90 was so much "softer" than the E46, how the "classic european lines" were lost, how the E90 would flop just like the E60 (which actually never did flop), and basically how armageddon was right around the corner. Then the 335 came out. And suddenly, with 300hp and 300 ft-lbs of torque, few people seemed to miss their old E46s.

This is all a long way of saying, no, BMW is not on a downward trend. Others are simply catching up. It's easy to emulate, but difficult to innovate. The only thing that's surprising is that BMW has held on to the lead for this long.