Why I hate the new E60 M5

"The mortal sin for any automotive manufacturer is change for the sake of change."
-me

BMW, like Porsche, has a history of carefully reevaluating its cars and upgrading their capabilities and styling to suit changes in the marketplace and with consumers. With the E60 M5, and in fact most of the Bangle-era cars, BMW has stupidly alienated its core customers in exchange for advancing the technolgy of their vehicles. Sure, technological advances are certain and necessary, but how quickly and how ergonomic? I-drive, Bangle's styling, active steering, and essentially-unmodable engines, BMW has over extended itself and reduced the appropriateness of its vehicle line.

Radical change is never good if the baseline was considered perfection.

Since many have asked, here are some of the reasons why I didn't place an order for an E60 M5:
- I-Drive sucks. As a completely computer-literate person I am saying: IT SUCKS! It is a bad design of a debateably useful feature. BMW should have just ripped off Audi's MMI, it's not perfect, but it wouldn't keep me from buying an Audi (their reliability would).
- Styling. Sure, it's more modern looking, but Bangle can't see the forest for the trees. His designs have lots of good, interesting details that don't add up to a good looking car.
- Performance. It's not that much of an advance over the E39 - except in M mode and accelerating over 100mph. My S2-M5 is faster than the E60 up to speeds I actually see in daily driving, and handles as well.
- No stick. Automatics are not fun, regardless of the jargon or shifter location. Yes, I know a stick is coming for the US, and I credit BMW a little on that call.
- Mileage. Yes, mileage. Or more specifically, driveline efficiency. This goes back to my first thought about the E60 M5: They chose the wrong engine for that car. If I wanted to go fast and suck gas like there's a hole in the tank I'd buy a Ferrari. I'm not saying this because I am cheap, but filling up takes time and it's annoying. Besides, my S2-M5 has nearly the same power as the E60 and gets an easy 14mpg around town with play and 22mpg on the highway. It would bug me to drive a car that's not really faster in any practical sense, pay more to do it, and THEN pay more at the pump. I just think that's stupid.

I'm not resistant to change, I've changed a lot of components on my E39, I'm resistant to poorly-thought-out change.