Originally Posted by The HACK
I don't often agree with your average internet poster, but you're actually dead on with regard to most of your personal observations. Bravo, so you HAVE driven the MZ4 Coupe instead of just regurgitation what others have said. Thank you for being an informed poster.
The super stiff chassis actually responded extremely well to stickier tires. The MZ4 Coupe was saddled with the 2nd generation ContiSportContacts and they're average at best. All that jitteriness goes away once you put, say, a Michelin Pilot Super Sport or Nitto NT-01 on the car. Very few car transforms and responds so incredibly well to a simple tire change, and this car does it insanely well to my experience. At one point, my track buddy in a new F30 340i was amazed at how quickly I'd pull away in some of the twisty sections of a local track.
It's true due to the ECU difference, options for more power on the S54 in the MZ4 Coupe is no where near as well developed (in fact, it's non-existing) as the E46. If you're after power from this chassis, short of an engine transplant, you're not getting it. Then again, I don't think it NEEDS more power.
There's plenty of chassis support for the car though. All the upper end custom dampers like Öhlins, JRZ, Moton, MCS...etc, they all can make you a set of dampers and springs combo to fit this car. Even remote 3 way shocks. Getting top end aftermarket support isn't an issue. On the consumer and lower end, yeah, choices are more limited, but still, you have companies like Ground Control, Bilstein, and KW supplying enough to cover most of the gaps.
The rack does take some getting used to. I recall letting the same track buddy drive my car and he nearly drove it off of a twisty mountain road on the first turn. After that it was "omg holy sh*t" every turn, not because steering is bad, but he was having cargasms with how responsive it is. So far I've yet to drive a modern BMW that gives the same sort of feedback and feel that this car does. Not even the E36 M3, which is lauded to have one of the best BMW racks of all times. It's not twitchy at all. It's insanely precise is how I'd describe it. There's zero dead feel on center, move it a hundredth of a degree off center and the front end responds. It is incredible. Nothing short of exotics is even remotely close to it. Whenever I swap back from the Corvette to the MZ4 or vice versa, I'm always amazed at how insanely good this car is, and to a man most journals agree that the C7 actually has one of the best implementation of a modern EPS rack, and it freakin' PALES in comparison to the MZ4 Coupe.
But it is incredibly short and quick. I'm not going to lie. It DOES take some getting used to. The only car(s) I've ever driven on track that rivals it in feel and responsiveness is a Lotus Exige 240S. For reals.
And that car is just a go-kart waiting to spin you into the nearest wall, but OMG. OMFG. The Exile S is on a totally different level of car. That thing is the essence of a car designed by engineers that gave zero f**ks. The mandate for that car appears to be, we're going to make the greatest driver's car ever known to man, comfort be damned.
Last thing I will add, is you don't need to see the front end to know where you're placing the car. Performance driving on track, outside of your fundamental "vision" exercises, is all about feel. I have far more trouble placing the Corvette C7 not because of its long hood (by comparison, the hood on the Corvette C7 is SHORT) but because the EPS steering doesn't give the same sort of feedback the servotronic hydraulic steering on the MZ4 Coupe does. The tactile feeling of the steering on the MZ4 Coupe actually lets me know how much weight is on each individual tire and where my contact patch is at all times. It's weird. Once you know what to sense and feel for, the steering on the MZ4 Coupe tells you EVERYTHING.
Now, if you want to circle back, and say that the MZ4 Coupe was a sales FAILURE because it does not have mass appeal? That is absolutely true. The MZ4 Coupe didn't sell, not because it isn't a good car. It didn't sell because it is too damn good car and frankly, not many people wanted a BMW THIS driver oriented.
Which brings me back to my original point. There simply isn't enough of a mass appeal across the entire gamut for them to justify 2x C7 sales (that'd be 70,000 units per year). In fact, if the sports car market is anything to go by the last 5 years, 50K is optimistic for the overall market of the $50K and above target. Based on that projection, by this time next year, there'll probably be plenty of C8 Corvettes on the lot if they're doubling production from C7 production levels IMO.
Which isn't to say that it won't appeal to plenty. Heck if I didn't buy a Corvette just last year, I'd be seriously tempted too, as I've said multiple times. But if I'm really ANY good at what I do for a living, I suspect my projections are pretty solid.
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