: And what have you to say about the Mustang SVT? Sure its cheaper and "SUPPOSEDLY" faster (in a STRAIGHT LINE) - but didn't Ford gets its ass in a wringer when they thought folks were stupid and would NEVER dyno their cars????? Turns out they had EXAGERATED their HP figures by a bit!

: But you seem keen to ONLY compare BMW to Japanese cars, which is a whole different ball of wax. Euro cars are EURO cars, different from the Japanese cars by far. Through the years it is even known that when the Japanese publish HP figures, they are WAY OFF! When Germans oublish their HP figures, it is on the CONSERVATIVE side! The M3 as well as the //M Coupe still hold their own against the newer Audi S4 in a straight line. And the other Euro cars can't MATCH BMW except for Audi. Volvo is still considered an OLD FOLK'S BOX, and SAAB is still unreliable. Jaguar, well, its still Jaguar, ha ha. Lotus is too small a market share. And the Italian cars are too costly and for an even smaller group of drivers. And what about the even BIGGER mystique of Porsche? What's you feeling about them?????

: Another thing to consider - the Japanese are VERY GOOD at being COPYCATS! They hardly ever are the inovators. Take these examples:

: RX7 - Porsche 924/944
: S2000 - Z/M's
: Miata - Lotus Elan (60's)
: LS400 - MB or Audi A8
: Q45 - well, looked like a T-Bird
: old MR2 - Lotus Europa
: later MR2 - Fiero and somewhat Ferrari
: new Lexus coming soon - BMW 3 series

: And three more items to think of when you refer to Japanese cars!!!!!

: 1) most Euro cars, specially the Brit sports cars and older BMW's (1600, 2002, 320i) HAD SOUL and PERSONALITY! Something a "perfect", startup every morning, Japanes car will NEVER have! Nor can they manufactuer that into their cars! Not even the 240Z, which sadly was the beggining of the end of TRUE sports cars and the TRUE sports car owner! Once a sports car (240Z) was made dependable, ANYONE could, and WOULD buy one. No longer was the Triumph, MG, or 2002 owner a RARE breed, a PIONEER. And with that, passed an era of when sports car owners, no matter what brand, would wave, honk, flash their lights, of give a THUMBS UP to each other. There went the comraderie! So just like Pearl Harbor, they BOMBED out of existance the fellowship of owning a unique car. Cheap, reliable TIN CANS for the masses.

: 2) take the Miata for example! To make it LIKE a sports car, the Mazda engineers went around recording exhaust sounds from Brit sports cars, and DESIGNED their Miata exhaust to SOUND like them!!! So IF they want a car to be a certain way, they COPY it!

: 3) take Toyota for example. I worked for them from 1978 till 1989 in parts and service. I can tell YOU a number of idiotic mistakes they made, as well as Nissan! The older Toyota 18RC engine was notorious for timing chains going! WHY? Cause they didn't build them for American driving/roads! The later 20R had some problems as well. And the Nissan early 240SX had similar problems. The 200SX wasn't any better. And though I LOVE Mazda Rotary engines and raced RX7's year ago, they had their share of seal problems.

: Now lastly, I see you have both a C5 and a 540i, huh? And in advertising as well, also quite oppinionated as well, . . . hmmmm . . . .what does that tell me of YOU? Your a SUIT, you sit behind a desk, you know NOTHING about sport driving, you have too much money and time to burn, you shouldn't even be IN a sports car forum, you like to go from stoplight to stoplight in a blaze of smoke, and you probably don't even know what that third pedal called a CLUTCH is as you drive an AUTOMATIC.

: Oh, and I should mention a few more things:

: 1) I'd have bought the Coupe no matter WHAT badge was on it. It reminds me of the old MGC-GT or GT6 which . . . . .

: 2) I used to OWN those old Brit sports cars. And no matter how unreliable those were, I wouldn't have given them up for a Japanese car any day in my life! And the Z/M Coupes give me back that old wonderful feeling! Which, by the way, . . . in those days, you didn't CARE about straight line speed either! It was THE TURNS!!!!!!!! Oh them thar TURNS!!!!!!!!! Every exit ramp an ECSTACY!!!!