M3 embargo lifted

[r0tor]

Flood of M3 video reviews released last night.

Seems that after looking past the absolute tragic styling that the car is pretty good to drive in it's own right.  It also appears in the few reviews where it is compared against the competition, it falls short on all the categories that use to make an M3 special (or fun to drive, handling, feel, ect)

[veeman]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rJM92tXh-f4

Most reviews I've read bash the huge kidney grill. I think it looks pretty good actually but I'm used to seeing the massive oversized grills on Audi and Lexus and they've grown on me. 

In the U.S. you can get one with a manual transmission.  Weird they offer it in the U.S. but not England. 

[SJ_GTI]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rJM92tXh-f4

Most reviews I've read bash the huge kidney grill. I think it looks pretty good actually but I'm used to seeing the massive oversized grills on Audi and Lexus and they've grown on me. 

In the U.S. you can get one with a manual transmission.  Weird they offer it in the U.S. but not England.

Might make more financial sense to offer more variants in a bigger market.

Or maybe the Brits are a bunch of poseurs and not real car enthusiasts like us Yanks. 

[r0tor]

I think the M3 looks absolutely terrible.  Once I get past the horrific grill I notice the terrible hood and other weird details.

I also think once again this generation drifts further away from it's mission statement.  It gained way too much weight. They ditched the DCT for a ZF 8 speed, not because the ZF is better (it's better for around town but a good DCT is still better for a performance car) but because they wanted to make it have the X3M drivetrain do they could add AWD - which adds even more weight and moves it further from being a family friendly track focused car.

[r0tor]

I think Mr Harris's review was pretty fair

https://youtu.be/YRpvDsWvtkc

[cawimmer430]

The more I see these on the road, the more I like them.

Seriously. I actually think the large grille actually looks fantastic on these now. It really blends well into the design. Remember, a few months ago I thought these were the ugliest modern BMWs (aside from the new 1-Series). Now? I actually think they look great. The design has grown on me.

[FoMoJo]

Other than the ugly nostrils, the entire front end look very plasticky. 

[Lebowski]

I don't think it looks all that bad.  I didn't like the Audi big mouth grill initially but it grew on me, I suspect this will grow on people as well.