^the dipstick thing is so interesting...it reminds me of the SMG: it was a POS but dammit the germans insisted it was better than a manual because it was "advanced".
The problem w/ the lack of a dipstick isn't really the technology itself, it's that they use $.05 sensors that suck, break, and are unreliable. I'm sure you could engineer that to work flawlessly, but then it would cost too much relative to having a dipstick.

 

I'm not sure they are even talking about being fun...are they?
I think as far as they've gotten is to become more serious about performance.

In fact, I think probably MOST performance oriented cars are not "fun" cars to drive on the street. Going fast is fun. Being an idiot is fun. Tracking the cars are fun. But just driving...I don't think you're going to find cars that are more fun than say an elise, an s2k, a miata at any price.

That said, I don't expect a "fun" F-car unless they offer something along the lines of an MR2 with the F treatment...which I doubt is really in the plans.

 

Yeah.. by all means, use a pos sensor ALONG WITH the oil dipstick (which many 20XX MY bmw's and mercedes had), but don't just go with the pos sensor. It's all too common that they crap out/act up, and wtf do you do if your oil light comes on, and you can't verify whether the $1 pos sensor went bad, or you're really low on oil? I've seen a few sensors go bad on early MY mercedes, but fortunately they have dipsticks, so you can continue on your trip and get it fixed at a more convenient time. Like I said, cars are becoming Rube Goldberg machines. No thanks.

It'll be interesting to see how the european reliability holds up in another 5+ years as many of these newer euro luxury cars get older and put on more miles.

 

I just think it interesting that BMW will have a 7-mode suspension and 3-mode fuel map, and 300 pound 16-way adjustable seats, but can't be bothered with a simple dipstick. The cars are so expensive any more, why eliminate a dipstick?

 

Because most new luxury car buyers are too lazy to check their own oil or even know where the dipstick is!

"Check oil light? Going to the dealer... right after I pick up my Yorkie, Princess, from the doggie day spa."

 

 

Because that would be simple, and simple = cheap. If they can get some poor sap to think his car is special and "complicated," more profit for them.

 

OK, I'll agree w/ you on much better economy, but how do you get much better reliability than BMW's most reliable car (mine has been 100% reliable today). Similarly, I think longevity is too early to tell for these models, but I think they should both last if maintained well.

 

mr2 with ferrari treatment? Its been done bruh...

 

If they are lazy, that's fine - I don't see the need to remove what must account for pennies per car when you are selling $40k and up product. It really strikes me as more for marketing hype than any good engineering reason. Its just part of the further demise of BMW as a motorsport company as it becomes the VW of Germany.