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Text is below. Definitely the most negative review thus far amongst almost universal positive acclaim otherwise. Has anyone else experienced the "lazy turn in" and mid corner understeer he refers to?
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RANDY POBST'S IMPRESSIONS
On handling... "The 1M is an improvement on the 135, which I've spent some time in, but NOT my favorite car. In fact, between you and me, I hate this car. It won't turn. The thing I didn't like about the 135 was its mid-corner understeer, its reluctance to turn once it was in the corner, and the 1M still does that. And it's the primary thing I remember after driving the car. That it is very lazy on turn-in."
On the transmission... "The shifter is slick, and light. I really enjoy that. You gotta do it just with your fingertips. If you try to muscle it with a fist, you're gonna get the wrong gear."
On the seats... "I like the seats a lot, very comfortable and supportive, except...too high. I'm a tall guy; this reminds me a lot of the older Volvos or Range Rovers where they mount the seat really high so you can get a good view. Which is great, but I'm tall, I'm already high. I want to be down in the car. And I couldn't lower the seat enough, and I just felt like I was sitting on the car, not in the car, which I'm not a fan of."
On the steering... "Steering, relatively slow ratio, which I actually like because I think everyone turns in too fast. I've always liked BMW for building that into their cars. I just didn't like what happened with the handling as I turned the wheel, there was just not enough response entering the corner. And braking hard made it worse. A lot worse. I mean, that car would go straight if I was in the brakes very hard at all. So, I found it very disappointing."
On the engine... "The engine is smooth, the power is reasonably good, but in today's world, that's not a fast car. I'm telling ya, it is not a fast car in today's world. Maybe because I've just spent too much time in 500-horsepower cars."
Overall... "It's almost like it was built by safety engineers. But only until you get on the power, and then, getting on the power, it's not really good at putting the power down, either. I'm just not impressed with this car. I like the M3 so much that I find the 1M to be very, very disappointing, though the M3 understeers too much, too. I think the lawyers are running the handling department at BMW right now, and they don't have to. Just make it handle like the 1988 M3 did -- that car was perfect. You know, I hate to pick on what is obviously overall is a pretty good car, but in today's world there are not very many cars I hate...I hate this car."
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