To the best of my knowledge, adjusting control arm bushing preload (I’ve also heard it called ‘indexing’) should not be necessary on a standard alignment, since the ride height of the car has not changed. Did he put on lowering springs or something?

So does that engine placement make this car ... Front-Mid-Engined?

Absolutely, the Earth’s climate changes on its own, but over eons. It was an Ice *Age*, after all. The concern with Global Warming/Climate Change is that we’re changing the Earth’s climate more quickly - about 200 years versus 2000 or 2,000,000 - than we or the critters we know and love can comfortably adapt. So…

Speaking from experience, I actually have to say my E60 M5 is easier to service than my E36 M3.  I can get a wrench on every bolt in the rear suspension.  Swapping the rear sway bar took me 20 minutes.  Even removing the intake plenums from the 10 throttle bodies is relatively simple because BMW has service marks cast…

I have owned an E36 M3. Still do, in fact. It makes a terrific track car. The handling is impressively balanced, and the power band of the S52 is just so linear and broadly usable. I love it.

For better or for worse, the tow hooks are kind of a BMW “thing”, like trucks and truck nuts or Miatas and catchy bumper stickers about driving.

Yes.

Now THAT’s a good idea. I’ll have to remember that trick.

Thinking of it, I do sometimes downshift to engine brake into a stop, just for the fun of it and hearing the engine wind down. Always rev-match it, though.

What’s the saying, you’re only as old as you feel? Tell me it’s true! Lie to me if you must!

And remember, wherever you go, there you are.

Well, which is it? Because the sum total of those two groups is all girls, ever. And clearly the moral of this story is not “Never date a girl”!

I don’t know about the hands-off part.

My driving instructor told me, at a stop light, to stop far enough behind the car in front of me that I could see where their rear tires met the road.

Yup, totally possible. The purpose of a clutch is to allow two things spinning at different speeds - the engine and the input shaft of the transmission - to be pulled into alignment with some slip.

Yeah, if you have a manual, there are two things you’ll wear, there:

I love my E60 M5 6MT. But it’s a weird relationship. Would I buy it again? I still ask myself that question.

I think the thing that will really determine the “goodness” of the new M5 is, does it properly capture the old M “formula”. All the older M cars were fundamentally just well-balanced wrappers around an engine; the unibodies were just glorified shortcuts to *experiencing* that lump of metal under the hood.

Yup, I can relate to this argument. I love my E60 M5 to death. The V10 is a special sort of beast. But 500 HP means you reach extralegal speeds very quickly.

Unpredictable, aren’t they? Next they might even make a good car. Who knows!