[mmmmm235i]

I agree with the general sentiment in here that this is a serious sign of where BMW is heading and how they are handling the competition. The 235, however, is an outstanding car and if you see the size that the C-Class, Infinity, and A4 have ballooned too it is obvious you see the A3, CLA, 2 series coming out to fit the sports sedan category as opposed to luxury sedan. Although these bigger cars still deliver in terms of number the road feel and size is noticeably different than in the smaller cars. You just don't feel that solid yet nimble feeling, its just solid and comfortable. For those of us who want the performance and fun factor there are still cars for us, they are just being branded differently and it is apparently working for BMW as their sales continue to set record highs. So in the end I"m happy to be driving the "new, old" m3 that replaces the outgoing fun to drive e90/92 platform, which was the first BMW I ever owned.
The terrible steering in the 3 and idk about the 4, has made it a floating luxury cruiser like I used to think of Mercedes. The steering in the 2 is vastly improved especially with the adaptive suspension, which gives plenty of feedback. Looks like those of us coming from a e9x 3 series or e82 1-series who picked up an M235i and on all accounts are happy with the results chose right to stick with what BMW was good at and the 10 Best list seems to agree.