CVTBenhogan

I thought the F10 had a lower center of gravity than the E60????

Anyway, to land third in the test is downright scary. I'm disappointed. The weight issue is a real problem. That said, everyone needs to test drive the cars and then decide. I remember driving the A6 when comparing cars in 2006. The E60 was hands down the best car. I can't imagine the newer A6 could be much better, with the horrible front-end weight basis and high center of gravity. Wobble. I think C&D rated the F10 against what they expected a BMW to be and their disappointment eroded objectivity and pushed the F10 rating lower than it should be. Not surprising given the longstanding edge BMW has enjoyed over the years. And this edge has narrowed sharply in recent years. I think BMW has shifted their focus. And maybe it will pay off and eat more Lexus sales.

As I posted a while ago, the blissful days of the German sport sedan are over and it?s become a technology game. I think BMW will come out of top here as well, as they just have that habit of building the best sedans. For me though, I'll miss the pure sport sedan and will look for smaller nimble sedans or a 911.

In the meantime, my 550 is doing its job nicely.

CVT

pharding

I think you have to consider the source. My experience with Car and Driver has been that they are prone to over react to innovative BMW technology and blow their opinion of one innovative feature way out of proportion. Since the i-Drive came out they have blasted it. I have had it on 2 BMW's in that period and I have always wondered what the big deal was. I certainly did not find the issues those cars that Car and Driver saw in the E60. Their review of the F10 does not surprise me.

swajames

Their primary criticism of the F10 was the level of feedback provided by the steering. This wasn't an article that criticized the technology in the car or saw the result impacted because of it, the F10's placing, and this was after all a car with the sport and dynamic handling packages, was largely attributable to the steering and its consequential impact on handling.

CVTBenhogan

I think the poster has a point, to finish 3rd and to a pig like the a6 is mind boggling. Steering feel is subjective. Swajames. I give you two to one the f10 doesn't finish behind the old a6 in other major auto mags. You on?

btw. Jeremy Clarkeson thinks the f10 to be essentially a stunning automotive acheivement. Why would he say that?

swajames

He does indeed have a point, but it was was essentially to "shoot the messenger".

Focusing on just the test winner for a minute, the A6 platform is better than many might credit - it's far from a "pig". Perhaps some may have forgotten the discussion about the S6 a couple of years ago. The lowly 435 bhp S6, built on the same platform as the car in this test, outplaced the M5 in all of the major three-way comparisons between the S6, M5 and E63. These tests don't always go the way we might predict. In another C&D comparison test, the 2009 E60 535i sport came second behind the 2009 A6, and that A6 didn't benefit from the upgrades in the 2010 and beyond models which are reasonably significant. Interestingly, C&D never once mentioned iDrive in that comparison test, somewhat undermining the claims regarding their prejudices made earlier...

As for Clarkson, the point isn't whether or not the F10 is a solid car. It undoubtedly is, and Clarkson says as much. The issue under discussion here is the extent to which it and other recent cars such as the 5GT are heralding a different direction for BMW. It is also the latest in a number of unexpected losses to Audi. Whether or not we pay any attention to the writer's conclusions in any of these comparisons is up to us, but it's pretty clear that Audi is on a roll at the minute.

acorradi87

JeffNNJ

Not sure how it is out there but I have not seen a single Panamera on the road that didn't have a dealer plate. The dealer down the road is jammed with them.

swajames

The Panamera is Porsche's best selling car this year. It's massively outselling the 5GT despite the much higher cost of entry. June 2010 was the best month of the year with 739 sales in that month alone compared to the 5GT which sold only 1143 units in the 5 months from January to May. Not bad for a car nudging 100K on average. Cayenne numbers are down as the new model is imminent, 911 numbers are holding up (it is the second best selling model) but right now the Panamera is indeed the top selling Porsche.

CVTBenhogan

As always thanks for reminding us how great our BMWs aren't. As reminder the stock c6 platform is by far not a great performer or drivers car. Period. There are plenty of test saying so. I've driven it's pig

The s6 is a diffrent car

the gt5 is irrelevant herre. Love the panamerica

swajames

It's not a question of how great BMW's aren't, CVT, it's a question of how great BMW's used to be, ought to be and could be from the perspective of the enthusiast.

The question is whether that's the market BMW now wants to serve. There's no doubt the F10 is a fantastic car, the point that is being debated is whether the 5 has become homogenous with the 7 Series rather than what it used to be, which was a close to perfect blend of the sportiness of the 3 combined with the larger size and more upscale environment of the 7. The F10 simply seems to have less of the soul and spirit of the 3 and more of the grandeur of the 7. That's not necessarily a bad thing, that combination still results in a fine automobile, but the E60 seemed to me to get the balance just right (as did the E39 before it) whereas BMW is clearly looking to take the F10 in something of a different and less enthusiast-focused direction. I'm not alone in that thinking judging by plenty of posts in this very thread and on the forum in general. BMW's own revised marketing strategy is highly instructive - we no longer drive the "ultimate driving machine", we're now asked to look for "joy" in our driving. A subtle, but highly significant distinction.

Finally, the current S6 (and also the RS6) is indeed built on the exact same C6 platform as the standard A6.