BMW wins U.S. luxury sales crown

By +Mirumir
in The Neobahn

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Grand Master

Dashel

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BMW and Porsche(!) are boring because they've maintained a distinctive look over the years? Now I've heard it all. Sorry Tobacco, you've failed to show where I can buy a 2011 BMW for $15k that isn't flood damaged. Show me any NADA value that supports your ludacris point. If 1's were that fraking cheap, I'd have three of them by now. So because you live in east jesus, euro's are unreliable? For ****s sake. I'll be the first to admit that silly **** breaks on German cars all the time, I've never had one strand me somewhere however which is the main test in my book. Its goofy sensors, window regulators, or the coolant system. I don't remember rainstorms stopping Jag or Aston from becoming a premium brands.

BMWs are (with the exception of the entry current gen 3's) easily 'ultimate' driving machines for their classes. As BGM notes, the list of competitors with a passion for 50/50 distribution and RWD are few and far between. Some fake wood accent does not a luxury car make. Dan, I think we can all agree that you list premium lux. Many of the ones you cite however do share more ideology with the lesser segment than your average daily driver.

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Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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Then they need to add that. But again, ultimate meaning can't be improved on it is as far as it can go, nothing else you can do to make this better. Bmw falls short on this on every product they sell. You can make any bmw better than the way it rolls off the production line in some form or fashion. Because you can make improvements on the bmw design, this makes the bmw saying as ultimate false. Indicating ultimate means that there can be none better, no modifications can be done to make this faster, handle better, be more comfortable or offer any more creature comforts. We can throw a jet on the back and make it faster, we can throw bigger tires for more grip and possibly more suspension to be able to go around the corners faster, we can certainly put a roll cage in so that if it were to flip the car wouldn't crush down on itself and give it more rigidity....there is a lot that can be done to these cars to bring them closer to being "ulitimate" but to say they are "ultimate" as they are is false as being ultimate is stating that there is none higher.

God, for instance, is an ultimate being.

If God were a car he wouldn't be a BMW.

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Grand Master

ILikeTobacco

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BMW and Porsche(!) are boring because they've maintained a distinctive look over the years? Now I've heard it all. Sorry Tobacco, you've failed to show where I can buy a 2011 BMW for $15k that isn't flood damaged. Show me any NADA value that supports your ludacris point. If 1's were that fraking cheap, I'd have three of them by now. So because you live in east jesus, euro's are unreliable? For ****s sake. I'll be the first to admit that silly **** breaks on German cars all the time, I've never had one strand me somewhere however which is the main test in my book. Its goofy sensors, window regulators, or the coolant system.

BMWs are (with the exception of the entry current gen 3's) easily 'ultimate' driving machines for their classes. As BGM notes, the list of competitors with a passion for 50/50 distribution and RWD are far and few between. Some fake wood accent does not a luxury car make. Dan, I think we can all agree that you list premium lux. Many of the ones you cite however do share more ideology with the lesser segment than your average daily driver.

You aren't going to find it advertised because people would instantly snatch it up anyway. Go to a military base that has frequent deployments if you have access to one. On those bases, they have a quick sale lot where people park their cars they are trying to get rid of. To get an even higher chance of finding one, go to a training base that a lot of military personal go through that also end up in coming from/going to Germany/Japan. What you'll find is cars that are priced crazy cheap for cash only because soldiers don't have the rank to take their cars with them.There choice is to either quickly sale the car or let it sit in a storage unit for 2+ years while making payments on both the car and the storage unit. That is on top of the price of whatever vehicle you are going to be driving while stationed somewhere else. You lose more money keeping a car while stationed somewhere else and making payments than getting rid of it immediately and cutting your losses.

I didn't fail to show you where you can buy it. I told you exactly where. You failed to go look. You won't find advertising for them online. BTW, its not just BMW, it's all brands of cars. The prices at these lots are ridiculusly low depending on how long the soldier has to get rid of it. My dad gave away his 1996 Audi when he left Germany because he couldn't find anyone that wanted to buy it. It was only worth 3k in 2000 and 25k brand new.

BTW 2011 isn't a one year old car unless you already put 12k miles on it to most people. Only been 2 weeks since 2011 :p Buying a 2011 car in the latter months when the 2012 ones are out already gets you 3k to 4k of the sticker price if you are buying in a big city. That's not even counting the 3k - 5k hit you take from driving it off the lot. My 2011 MazdaSpeed with with 4k miles on it is already only worth 22k. It was worth 24k when I drove it off the lot brand new.

Also, remember we are talking about the low end model that soldiers and high schoolers drive around it. Brand new at about 31k after a years depreciation, they are worthless. You say you'd buy three. I would laugh at you for buying one because all it says is I want to join the BMW bandwagon but can't actually afford it.

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Grand Master

ILikeTobacco

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So because you live in east jesus, euro's are unreliable? For ****s sake. I'll be the first to admit that silly **** breaks on German cars all the time, I've never had one strand me somewhere however which is the main test in my book. Its goofy sensors, window regulators, or the coolant system. I don't remember rainstorms stopping Jag or Aston from becoming a premium brands.

Try not to change the context of what people say to suite your point. Just going to annoy people. Cars break down. Even new ones can. When they do, if your under warranty, you have to take it to someone that is licensed to service your car under that warranty. If you live 100 miles away from a major city where there is a dealer for an import car and thus someone who is allowed to service your car, you are screwed. YOu have to take a day or two of work just to get your car fixed, or rent car for the week so you don't miss any work. Even if its the air conditioner that's busted, you end up in that situation. To get anything on my MazdaSpeed fixed, I have to drive 150 miles. It doesn't matter what it is. There is even a Mazda dealer in town but they are not allowed to touch my car because they are not licensed to sell or service the MazdaSpeed. Apperently that takes a special license which I think is retarded, but nothing I can do about it.

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Grand Master

vincent

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Yeah, but eveyone seems to drool or stare at a bmw when it drives by in the states. To me they are about a luxurious as a Mustang GT. They are very common place, and I even mock their sloagan "The ultimate driving machine"....they are about as ultimate as a Civic. Some people defend them up and down, they wouldn't know luxury if it bit them on the nose and rubbed their privates while doing it.

Imo, real automobile luxury is a Cadillac.

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Grand Master

+Gary7 Subscriber²

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Still amuses me as to what qualifies as "luxury" here. BMW is far from it. In Germany, mostly the poor Turkish immigrants drive BMW's. That or GI's lol.

And here I thought all you German's drove VW's. :)

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Grand Master

Dashel

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sc, that is a pretty convoluted assessment of what 'ultimate' means in a marketing sense. By your definition, there can be no ultimate because then the car is god. Its ultimate, not that nothing can be improved, but because few makers can compete with them in their own game - ie for the 'driving' enthusiast. It is the ultimate 'blend', just like my D.Lynch coffee.

Tobacc, I'm still not sure what your point is. Where you are finding these bottom barrel deals is irrelevant (since it applies to any car). Basing the worth of a vehicle on 'soldiers (who) don't have the rank to take their cars with them' is pretty silly don't you think? NADA value counts, your example means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Brand new at about 31k after a years depreciation, they are worthless. You say you'd buy three. I would laugh at you for buying one because all it says is I want to join the BMW bandwagon but can't actually afford it.

Now that is funny. Again, even an entry 30K one isn't going to lose HALF its value after a year. Maybe I would buy them because unlike you I've driven the 128's and can appreciate their driving characteristics in relation to older models (E30). Its a FUN car to drive. That you think its a status or bandwagon thing speaks volumes. I'm a car enthusiast(.) and BMW has always rewarded that.

I still dont' understand what point you are making. Reliability of a vehicle has little to do with your proximity to a good shop. My guy is amazing and cheaper than what most pay at the chain stores on their Dodge. Sure, if you live out in the middle of nowhere, then you will need to factor in a few extra visits to the shop over its duration. Just like you would for any other sport/lux.

Speaking of reliability, my friend had to have the tranny in his MazdaSpeed replaced because a gum wrapper found its way around the boot and into the guts. Its all relative.

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Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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That is correct because ultimate would be a race car or jet car that massages you, makes your favorite drink, knows what volume you like to listen to music on, while it is pleasuring you. It doesn't exist. Text book definition of ultimate is meaning non higher, it is an absolute that nothing can compare to, the highest level of anything you are referring to. In this case a automobile, there are autos that are closer to being ultimate than anything bmw puts out. You may consider a veyron the ultimate driving machine as it is a luxurious sports car that held the highest top speed of any production car...at that point when it did it was ultimate in top speed and possibly luxury.

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Grand Master

+Mirumir Subscriber¹

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Imo, real automobile luxury is a Cadillac.

imho Cadi is the most successful U.S. car brand! Recently, it's achieved the unthinkable - they have completely redesigned their image in the shortest period of time (less than a decade). They've gone from a luxury (sofa-on-the-wheels) car that only pensioners used to drive to sporty and stylish cars which appeal to younger people. It's all thanks to their new arts and science philosophy, the CTS model, and the promo in the Matrix Reloaded ))

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Grand Master

Dashel

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Did the 'ultimate' version of Vista also send you into fits? Pretty sure they are using the first definition, and not the lesser as you are:

"last; furthest or farthest; ending a process or series: the ultimate point in a journey; the ultimate style in hats."

I love the new Caddys too. :)

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Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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My meaning of ultimate:

Superior in every way. The best of the best. Nothing higher. The final step.

Vista ultimate is the ms os of the time that included the most features for consumers and business users. It was the ultimate vista. I don't know how I am grasping at straws, maybe you don't understand what ultimate means and that is why you have a hard on for my definition which coincides with the dictionary definition.

Bmw is not best of the best or last of the line. It is higher end for most, but its quality isn't as high as say Rolls Royce or Bugatti, it doesnt even touch the performance of Ferrari or Lamborghini. Those are what I would consider ultimate machines as they are the best production cars. A Bumbling Mans Wish is not ultimate unless you are a very poor man with low expectations.

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