If you like feedback, refinement, and handling, and don't care so much about reliability, features-for-the-dollar, or horsepower-for-the-dollar, get a BMW.
If you like performance numbers, value-for-the-dollar, and reliability, and don't care so much about either refinement or isolation, get an Infiniti.
If you like refinement, isolation, and performance numbers, but don't give a hoot about feedback, get a Lexus.
Are car magazines biased toward BMW? No. In my experience, though, they don't consider reliability at all, and don't give much consideration to value-for-the-dollar. They tend to prefer a lot of feedback to a lot of isolation. That's just the nature of auto journalists--it's the same reason C&D said the RSX beat the Neon SRT4. And guess which of the above three companies caters best to the stereotypical journalist?
You, on the other hand, focus a lot on reliability and performance numbers, while focusing very little on feedback and feel. Lexus is perfect for you. But that doesn't mean that you know the "truth" and people who like Bimmers more are biased or deluded. It just means that different people have different tastes.
Mercedes offers a package more like Lexus than BMW (except for long-term reliability, which most magazines cannot verify and thus do not consider), and consequently, MB wins magazine shootouts as rarely as Lexus.
