I think people who have a BMW because “Hey! Look at me, I’ve got a Beamer! Ain’t I speshul and cool and fantabulous!!!11!1!eleventy!” are, quite frankly, pathetic. I think that about anybody who gets stuff because of the name rather than because some aspect of the actual item fulfills some need or desire of theirs, though I would never express that opinion if nobody asked me what I thought.
That being said, I have no opinion on people who have a BMW because they like the car in and would like it just as well if it were a Honda.
My husband used to drive an X5. I thought the steering was really stiff. It was really hairy turning corners at high rates of speed. On the other hand, he loved the way it handled. He’s replaced it with an Acura SUV, which I like a lot better.
BMW has done an incredible job marketing their vehicles as the “Ultimate Driving Machine” – by doing so they have given their owners a justification for their purchase. Every BMW owner I have met claims to drive one because of the way it handles. No one has ever mentioned the status aspect. Essentially, they are claiming that they require a vehicle that matches their incredible driving abilities, and the associated “status” is an unintentional side effect. Humorous and indeed a little sad.
Of course, I have not met every BMW owner, so my sample set could be biased.
Porsche driver here - so fuck all of you plebes. MeanOldLady? you can measure it any time
(kidding, seriously)
I don’t think the yuppie-mobile status is quite as dead as some might hope, unfortunately. BMW offers incredible lease options that keeps the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses types coming back for more every 3-4 years. It’s really hard to beat their lease rates for such a good car, and 4yr/50k maintenance is nothing to scoff at. If you’re into the lease thing and upgrading every couple years while owning nothing, BMW makes the perfect car for you.
This slightly undermines the driver-oriented image that BMW would like to promote but fortunately doesn’t undermine their engineering prowess and vehicle performance. Well, not much anyway. The cars themselves are usually fantastic, but I’d expect about 1/3 of their drivers would be happier in a Lexus.
You are probably the only person I’ve ever encountered who actually prefers the 986/996 interior. I’m glad you’re happy with it, but it’s definitely not a highlight in the Porsche design manuals.
Also your penis is probably minuscule. Beyond tiny. The dealership would charge you for making them bring out the microscope.
Well, to tell you the truth, we kinda bought our BMW ‘accidentally’. Hubby had been in the market for a new car (well, late-model used). He did want something with a little luxury to it. We had already decided on a small SUV/crossover type vehicle; with two of our three kids pretty much grown, we didn’t really need a mini-van anymore, and we do get a lot of snow sometimes up here and wanted something that could handle the weather.
We had narrowed it down to a Mercedes (whatever their small SUV is), a Mitsubishi, and an Infiniti. We went back to the dealerships to test-drive those three, one final time, to make a final decision. We were going to buy a car that morning.
At the Merc dealership, hubby had to disappear for a bit to use the bathroom, and while we were waiting for him, the dealer took me over to look at the little Beemer they’d just gotten in the night before. I thought it was adorable, but it was a little newer and a little more loaded than the others we’d been looking at, and I thought it would be out of our price range. When I found out the price was right in the neighborhood of the others we were considering, I talked hubby into test-driving it and we both loved it. He’s more of a ‘performance’ driver than I am, but we were both also really impressed with the comfort and nifty features. So we decided on that car instead, and haven’t regretted it.
The ‘status’ aspect is, indeed, only a fringe benefit. Especially since if anyone knows anything about BMW, they recognize it’s ‘only a 3 series’, and not all that pricey. But I can’t say it exactly bothers him when cute 20-something girls smile at him and wave, and he knows it’s the car, not his devastatingly good looks, that get their attention.
Funny, related story, though. While we were car shopping, we did test-drive one mini-van. It was a Toyota Sienna, fully loaded. Now, it was brand-new instead of 10 months old, but it was $10,000.00 more than the Beemer. I did comment to him that we could have spent 10 grand more, and no one ever smiles and yells “Hey, nice Toyota!”
And I’m in the company of many like-minded individuals. A few years ago I attended the Porsche Boxster Summit in Blowing Rock, NC. This event is held every year and hundreds of us Boxster owners from all over the country descend on this little town. I drove from NJ myself. Of the 400 or so Porsche owners I met or interacted with, not one of them liked the updated interior…unless of course you were there and lied out of fear.
CRAAAP!!! And I already cancelled the surgical consult!!
What on earth are you talking about? Are guys with top-of-the-line lawnmowers buying them to suit their mad lawnmowing skills? Do PS3 owners represent the best of the best in the video gaming community?
People who are mediocre or even shitty drivers can still enjoy driving.
Now that you mention lawnmowers, there’s something of a which-pretentious-dick-has-the best-riding-mower competition going on in my neighborhood, which is quite funny. I’ll never be convinced these behemoths are necessary for half acre lots.
Yes, there are Beemers with 280,000 miles on them and well above. My ex-wife’s 325i has about 230,000 miles on it and still looks and drives great. She has a very long commute so she racks up lots of miles. The repairs are very expensive but there is no sign of it failing in any way at all and the interior is almost perfect.
Again, the reason that most BMW drivers seem to be aggressive is that the cars handle a lot better than most people’s. It is almost painful to drive on at 65 mph on an open stretch of road. You have to force yourself to do it if you have to for some reason. They are built for high-speed cruising and excellent handling. Anyone that has never driven a newer one would not understand no matter how good or bad a driver you are. This isn’t audiophile type talk. The difference is huge compared to a normal car.
Interesting. Now that I am aware of the prickish behavior of luxury car drivers I am seeing it everywhere. Yesterday I was on the highway and saw someone in an Audi TT changing lanes randomly, no turn signals, no courtesy space, nothing. And the funny thing was that he wasn’t in a hurry. He just seemed to like cutting people off. I actually passed him a bit later, and I was going the speed limit.
And today I was behind a white BMW 1 series at a red light. Apparently waiting was beneath him, as after about 15 seconds he just went through it. It wasn’t a question of accelerating through a yellow light. He was at a full stop at the red, waited 15 seconds, and then went. And it was a left turn on top of that….
For every prickish luxury sports car driver I see, there’s also one that goes along at 10 or 15 MPH below the speed limit. Which makes me wonder, why do you get a high-performance vehicle if you’re going to go BELOW the speed limit?
