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i've had rwd e60 and rwd e90, currently driving awd f30.
IMO, its not the speed or acceleration that provide most of driving pleasure. I used to love the level of control over vehichle, road feel and predictability that even base BMWs used to provide. Not a huge fan of my F30.
AWD certainly feels different. Some might enjoy the increased "grip", but you loose the RWD sensation. You can feel the power driven to the front axle trying to interfere with the steering. Front of the car jumps up when you start moving. You certainly feel increased height in turns, even during normal driving, although the new super soft base suspension is partially to blame for that. Car is a bit less nimble than RWD F30s i have driven. It's still a great car, with descent handling, just a bit less than the RWD version IMO.
Now, to be fair, i have driven an e90 xdrive loaner, and it had more of a RWD feel than F30 xdrive. So maybe it's an F30 issue.
The reason I got the xdrive is the 2010 christmas snow storm in NYC, we got something like 20 inches of heavy wet snow in one day. My RWD e90 with stock all seasons was getting hopelessly stuck everywhere. I grew up in Russia, so i am somewhat used to driving in the snow with a RWD Lada, but e90 being so much lower and wide tires, it was set up to fail.
Have not had any snow yet this year, curious to see how xdrive will perform if we get any. However considering all of the above, the next vehicle will be rwd, and will just stay in the garage on those few snow days.
But if i lived in a region where it snows a lot, i would learn to live with AWD.
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