Can speak to BMW’s plan as I did the entirety of the free maintenance period with my ‘16 M235i. The free oil changes can only be performed when the car indicates it’s within 1,000 miles of needing oil service, which worked out to be ~10k miles. Little longer than I prefer, but if you’re treating your engine well it is…

I have to laugh a little bit at the idea that a chevy small block qualifies for anything with the title “of the last decade”

Lordy, this gave me flashbacks

I think it was just with the F-series cars, my F22 M235i does this. I tried it once the week I got it and never used it again, it’s not very good.

Can vouch for this, some companies will fine you for not backing into spots on their lots

Well, shit.

Just ones with the early iterations of the twin turbo V8, they fixed it in decently short order.  Cars with the straight six never had that problem AFAIK.

That’s some painful truth right there

Unfortunately one of the highest theft risk cars in the Houston area, for some reason.

I don’t think BMW quite looks at someone clinging to their E46 as a target demographic for this car

Mmmhmm. If I look at it as time saved driving 80 versus 60 for the (too) many hours I spend commuting on the highways every day, it comes out to quite an agreeable $/hr figure for a $200 speeding ticket every year or so.

Fellow TX driver here, I’ve gotten a single warning, but no fines for not having a front plate, despite having earned myself a couple speeding tickets along the way. I was very adamant when I ordered the car that they not drill for a front plate bracket!

And what percentage of that is fleet and police sales? I’d argue the more analogous car would be the Chevy SS, and we know how that story went.

I agree with the first part and would 100% have been the target audience for such a car, but saying “missed a significant opportunity” is a stretch. Given the state of the sedan market and the nontrivial dip in sports car sales in general, I don’t blame Ford at all for not wanting to mix the two. Making a Mustang…

And a coolant temp gauge!

See, I wish the active cruise on our Nissan Armada had those settings.  Even the closest follow distance leaves several car lengths between you and the car you’re following, which in Houston traffic is a recipe for having several cars work their way into those car lengths.

For the record, the higher end 2 gran coupe will be the M235i.  The only M240i will be the existing F22/F23 coupe with the B58 I6.

And even the modern 3 series has one of the better levels of visibility among the current crop of sedans!

In the glory days, that route was indeed 100% business class on an A340. Unfortunately for the times I flew to Singapore for work, I never could convince the company to book me on that one.