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I should be BMWs target audience, 25 year old six figure corporate earner with cash to burn. I currently own a E92 M3 Competition that I bought a year ago and have tentatively started figuring out what my "next" car in 3-4 years is going to be.
Unfortunately it seems like the brand I loved as a kid simply has nothing to offer me due to a mix of strange styling and a lack of focus on driving dynamics. I drove the G80/G82 on the track at a BMW performance driving event and if the external ugliness didn't turn me off from it, the driving experience did. It's an insanely capable car... but it just felt numb from a mix of lack of steering feedback, lack of soundtrack, and a characterless ZF automatic.
The brand has seemed to moved in a direction of catering to customers who want something fast, sporty, and tech laden, and not necessarily caring as much about driving dynamics. I still think the cars are good to drive (I think the SUVs specifically nail this perfectly as they aren't supposed to have a major focus on dynamics anyways) but they seem to lack the specialness that made BMW, BMW. If I were in the segment for a normal 3 series I would most likely buy an IS, CT4, or Giulia instead since all those cars seem (atleast in reviews) to be more focused on driving dynamics than BMW.
For me, the G8X is ruled out. I was excited by the G87 M2 until I saw that it weighed more than my E92 and had some cross-eyed action going on. Ironically the modern BMW I like the most is actually the Supra; if BMW made a Z4M coupe with a manual and focus on dynamics, I would absolutely buy it in a heartbeat. Otherwise I have my name down on the Emira and am looking at the Cayman range.
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