Point is, not everyone has to like it.
Not at all. Only the majority.
Point is the crowd demanding the more refined car is much larger every year then the the others who demand sportier car. And BMW simply can't ignore that.
Even M5 will be more refined - much more pleasant for daily city driving than the current car. Yet it will be more Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde type of car. A car with double personality. Standard vs M mode. With quite a difference between the modes. Civil vs racing.
But it's sure BMW are loosing some hard-core aficionados in some segments since the cars are getting more refined - but the new customers outnumber the ones leaving BMW for the mentioned reason. But the competition is limited in a certain price segment.
Sure the difference in character & aim between eg. E34 and F10 is enormous. And so are the (majority) customer preferences & demands.
Mind in the past (before yuppies discovered BMW) BMW customers were more hard-core driving enthusiasts. But with years more luxury buyers (still the ones with sporty preferences) have come to BMW - yet the were not as hard-core as existent customers. And today hard-core aficionados are a minority - catered with cars like is, M, PP, CSL, GTS. While for the vast majority of others standard cars are more then enough sporty.
Yes, compared to past BMWs today's BMW cars are much more refined & less raw - and therefore to some less fun to drive. But to vast majority today's cars are enough exciting to drive. Since their demand & expectation are lower / different than the ones of past customers.
So, BMW is "sacrifying driving pleasure" because customers demand so, and they are satisfied with sporty level delivers in new cars.
To put it this way: the ratio between sport & comfort is changing. More comfort with years on expense of sport. But that's the ratio customers demand. If the Company / brand does not follow customer demand & needs, it fails. Offering as raw cars today as the E34 was would mean much lower BMW sales - at the same prices as today. For the sake of what? History? Brand integrity?
Mind brand is something that helps selling products, and selling products - and so making a profit - is the main goal of a business. Not the guarding the brand values of the past.
Everything is evolving. And so is the brand. It exists within a certain time. It's flexible, not rigid. It's relative, not absolute. The core values are not changing, but the interpretation of these values does. And that's time & place dependent.
