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I think both 2K and Wolf are little on the extreme in your opposing points of view.
Yes the M3 is not what it was. It's heavier and more complex than ever, and it has broken a tradition of M3s using i6 engines. And yes the V8 is incongruent with concerns over fuel economy etc. As much as you're entitled to disagree with styling elements, "gratuitous" implies they have no purpose, and I'm not sure that's the case.
On the other side, as good as the M3 may be, it's a few degrees closer to the Bugatti Veyron end of the spectrum and, as such, is quite a few degrees removed from the original M3 concept. It's heavier and, as such, depends on a bigger powerplant to generate impressive numbers. With enough technology and a large enough sticker price, the wonder that is the M3 is inevitable. But so are Ferraris and Aston Martins.
To say the 3-series, as we knew it and loved it, is totally dead is perhaps extreme. But our good old buddy from high school has grown up to be a stock broker and has changed. Same guy, but it's Scotch and Caviar instead of Beer and Pasta. That rubs some people the wrong way...
Personally, if I could afford one, I'd drive one and every day that I'd have to walk past the tacky hood bulge and air vents to get behind the wheel and light up that V8 would be the best day of my life!!!
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