Dear Criticiser;
If you must know, I fully respect BMW for its design and engineering integrity. What I don't appreciate is people telling me that I doing things which I'm not. And I'm certainly not being totally negative about Beemer. In fact, I love 'em (the current range, of course).
Anyway, I only posted the IS430 because I though other BMW fans like me are interested to know what rivals exist. BMW isn't the only maker of 300bhp+ Sports Compact sedans you know. I welcome all competition, as it will only force BMW to make their cars better. If you want BMW to be the only manufacturer in existence, fine. That's your opinion.
P.S: The only negative thing I've said about BMW was about their concept cars. And I don't always dream about cars you know.
Your's truly,
a real car lover who doesn't love just a BMW.
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Now that's out of the road, I've dug up another competitor.
The Alfa Romeo 156 GTA has a 3.2 litre V-6 with 325 bhp. That's all I know about it, but the fight's going to be more interesting
An estimated 0-60mph sprint is calculated at 4.9 sec. So it'll be too slow to tackle the M3, but judging from the praise I've seen on the Alfa's handling, this one will not be so easily beaten. It will be crushed by the Beemer, but not so easily.
The Lexus probably will have a box problem. I heard that Toyota had some problems trying to fit a manual in the IS300 because the IS200's six-speeder won't cope with the power-to-weight ratio. And seeing that BMW fitted an entirely new box system into the M3 plus THAT M-powered 3.2 engine, OF COURSE BMW'S going to be the King....I hope.