Great write up and massive congrats on the G80.
Honestly you have to ignore this bit. Everyone has these odd opinions about M5s as well. I have secretly labeled many people even on this forum as absolute morons for some of their comments over the years (perhaps unfairly
in some cases). If you like it and you gel with it, that is all that matters. You'll hear the same things about the G80 as well. These cars are all the benchmarks in their categories for a reason at the end of the day.
Same goes for the looks, features, drivetrains etc. People have opinions on Bugattis, Ferraris etc as though the looks or "fake" gearboxes or 'dodgy' business practices are the only things stopping their peasant asses from becoming customers
As long as paying customers are buying them, that is all that matters. Ferrari dealerships are some of the friendliest in SA. You can buy any car you want, short of cars that only billionaires could afford let alone be invited to buy. People get upset about a thing that doesn't affect them at all and which likely never will. You can scale this bizarre phenomenon all the way up to hypercars and all the way down through Ms and AMGs to halo versions of ordinary cars.
There is so much noise about this online with Ferrari because Porsche has copied the model for ordinary cars, all caused by people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and (there's a trend here) have likely never set foot in a dealership let alone sat in or drove one yet absolutely think they know everything there is to know about it because their special internet friend told them.
With drivetrains especially it is actually worse than it has ever been before IMHO. Useless horsepower numbers are back... people have no clue what analogue means... people don't even know what to like - they have to be told LMFAO. Ferrari 296 is the best car I have ever driven (by a country mile) and it has a V6 that the internet will tell you is all sorts of wrong and a hybrid system that is the work of satan himself. My Alfa has a 1.75L 4 cylinder engine. If I had R100 for each person who thinks it is sort of like a Mini (or their Polo), I'd probably be able to buy a 296.
The brake squeal is something you will eventually just tune out. It is what it is. My Porsche with supposedly quieter Pagid pads still does it, Alfa even does it - if you want good brakes you have to live with this to some degree. Out of plan you can switch to lower performance pads that are likely fine for the street. With Xdrive you may also have the odd drivetrain noise. That is also normal with AWD LOL.
The quality thing is (as with every comment on these cars) not binary and very subjective. Again people just jump on some valid comments and amplify them without experience at all. e.g.: I heavily criticised some bits of my F90 (a car I love) vs. my F10 for material quality declines and with the G90 (for the asking price especially) I find it to be unacceptable for a 5-series level car. What gives some random on the internet, who may not even have a driver's license, the confidence to brand everything as shit, I don't know. It's like watching people talk about 'auto tragic' 'slushboxes' in 2026. It is a dead giveaway that they have no clue what they are talking about.
What also gets lost in translation is that while the actual quality of materials is a step down vs. prior generations and should be noted, it is not a deal breaker and it is nowhere close to the levels of an objectively 'cheap' car (ie the chinese cars. I would like to note that in the case of Mercs, the majority are indeed on the same level as a chinese car if not worse.
)
You can forgive a lot more for the M2 (though it is objectively not a cheap car despite being the baby). Despite declining quality of materials and fit/finish, you're 100% right that it is of better quality than rivals. It's because the rivals have declined to an even greater degree. We are not that badly off LOL. If you have not had prior gen cars you'd probably never notice it.
Looking forward to your G80 thread! (and to see it!)
