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      07-10-2012, 10:29 AM   #332
Artemis
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Drives: BMW M2 Competition
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Belgium

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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1560 View Post
one year with the 1M:
[...] - 23865km
[...] only one BIG regret: Black, I should have taken V-Orange
13100 km since Sep 2011 with my VO.

De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum. However, why are you convinced that, with what you know now, you would have opted for VO instead of BSM ?

Personally I never hesitated about my color choice - intentionally ordered VO:
  • first and foremost, I liked the VO color on the 1M ever since I saw it in 1M pictures/videos; to my taste, it suited/suits the 1M well, underlining the car's special and sportive nature (I doubt whether I would opt for VO on an ordinary family car; VO on F20 1er and X1 does not evoke the same special vibe);
  • general good feedback VO got in the early press (specifying that it was even better in real life than in pictures, which is true); more likes than dislikes;
  • VO was, is and will always be the benchmark color for the 1M; spot a 1er in the streets in VO and you know straightaway that it's a 1M; IMHO even over a couple of decades car enthusiasts will refer to "that small orange M classic"; BMW may offer VO on as many models as it deems commercially appropriate, the 1M will always remain the first: Charles Lindbergh was the first to cross the Atlantic in a solo non-stop flight; many after him emulated his feat in a faster time ...but everyone only remembers Lindbergh.
So during the ordering process, I crossed my fingers that VO would live up to my expectations.

Recently had the opportunity to see ruf's BSM up close and got to say that I really liked it. BSM is more "beasty" and "threathening" on the 1M than VO. On the basis of that experience, if I could turn back the clock with what I know now, I think I would hesitate between VO and BSM for a few minutes, but in the end would decide to have a go at VO anyway. AW 1M is another story: not my cup of tea (I do not want to offend anyone, it's just personal taste).

Strangely, if the 1M would have been offered in Inka Orange (M3 GTS benchmark color) instead of Valencia Orange, I think I would have opted for BSM. VO is undoubtedly an eye-catching, punchy color, but less "flashy" or "screaming" than Inka Orange. To me VO has more grace. It attracts attention in a good way. Inka Orange has a higher "showing off" factor.

But, as I already posted in previous comments, if BMW M really would have liked to make a statement with the 1M, it should have made the 1M available in the three colors of the ///M logo only (as you might recall, in the early stages, before testing by car journalists, there was the fear at BMW that the 1M would be rejected by the car community, and especially by the BMW fanbase and M enthusiasts, as being not a "real M car", that is was not "M pure" etc.; all scepticism was rapidy brushed away after the first raving reviews in May 2011; anno 2012 no decent car journalist will pretend that the 1M is actually not worthy to get the ///M badge).
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