Quote:
Originally Posted by TonySCV
It just depends on the reviews you read  .
Personally like you and others I put a lot more stock into reviewers that are doing their reviews from behind the wheel on video. Carlos Lago, Chris Harris, hell even Brian Cooley - it may be tech-focused but at least he's driving the thing and giving frank and honest opinions - all of them have had great things to say about the F10 M5 and when they do criticize - it's all in the context of them setting such a high bar for the car, which in that context is completely appropriate.
Comparison reviews to old gen M5's are just hollow to me. They're all completely different cars. Where reviewers get themselves spun up in a tizzy is when they come in with the expectation that new gen = better, rather than new gen = different. Start with a clean sheet of paper and critique the car you have now - not the one you wax nostalgic on.
Here's Lago's 2014 Comp Package review. It's very complimentary and he compares it quite a bit to the non-comp M5, and talks up about how the comp pack improves the car and how it should be standard, which makes you think he wasn't as wild about the non-comp M5...
But then when you watch him test the non-comp M5, he's almost as effusive with his praise. He compares it to the older gen M5's but not to the extent where he lets it affect his opinion of the current car... "excellent... in a different way". It's pretty clear he loves the M5.
Much the same reason I value Harris' opinion so much. He takes every car at face value. |
I would agree with that...I think that's a rare sentiment in the US auto press though. I feel like every reviewer is just dying to say they prefer the E39, they just don't want to say it because of course it is a silly thing to say. You can feel it. I mean if you were to listen to some of the initial print reviews, you'd have thought the F10 M5 was one of the most disappointing cars ever made...and the M6 even more so. It's pretty clear these things are some of the most impressive road-legal vehicles you can buy, possibly ever. What you said is exactly right...you need to do a clean sheet review. And that's how it should be done. I'm just glad some are able to do that. And if Tiff, Chris, and Jeremy like it, it can't be all bad.