[hijack]
BS. My mother-in-law had a 323. Shoddy little POS. Under-powered, pieces falling off, electricals burning up… Mazda is crap in my book.[/hijack] I’d rather she had a BMW.
But that’s just it, I have to take it to the dealer. Example: The “Check Engine” light came on, so I took the car to our normal (and very good) mechanic. Later that day, he called “Yeah, our computer is showing three errors, but it can’t read the error codes. I called the dealership, they wont tell me what it means. You are going to have to take it to them.” I even went so far as calling the local “BMW/Audi/other importy car fixing” place-- they couldn’t diagnose it either.
So I took the car to the dealership and some lil’ seal in the engine (don’t ask me what, I know absolutely nothing about cars) was wearing out and needed replacing. $300 later my car was fine. I gave our regular mechanic the paperwork and his jaw dropped, “That’s a $30 part that would take 10 minutes to put in. I wouldn’t have charged you more than $50 for it!”
Anywho, moral of the story: for most things, the car has to go to the dealership. Don’t get me wrong, BMW has a wonderful warrenty, but as soon as that warrenty is up- you’re screwed.
The idea that BMW=empty status symbol is a tough one for my husband. He has always loved a BMW – since he was a very young sailor with no aspiration towards status. He just likes them. He has researched them (we call it ‘car porn’), test drove them and so on. A BMW is his dream car and has been for years. He wanted a 3-series, but he doesn’t care for the new style. Oddly enough, I like the new 3-series better than the old one, but our tastes in cars are so different that we might as well be different species – I drive a PT Cruiser, for crying out loud. Anyway, he’s looked at lots of other cars in this class – Mercedes, Lexus, Acura and so on, but he always comes back to the BMW… And he gets frustrated with the accusation of pretentiousness – agains, he’s liked these cars since before he even knew what ‘pretentious’ meant.
Harleys are similar. Kevin has rode motorcycles since he was 15 years old and has owned Kawasakis, Suzukis and Hondas in addition to the Harley we own now and the one he owned just before we met. He has always loved a Harley and has wanted one since he was 12. But, he looks like a yuppie, so people think he just bought the bike as a, yes – status symbol, and has only been riding a year. I offered to get him a teeshirt that says “Motorcyclist since 1974, Harley owner since 1982” but he doesn’t wear stupid teeshirts.
Anyway, I don’t know why we can’t put some of this down to tastes – some peole like BMWs and not all of them for pretentious purposes. Other people like other cars. And there are assholes driving all makes and models of vehicles – there are even assholes on public transportation or on foot. Maybe you just notice the assholes in Beemers more, because you notice the Beemers more?
All that siad, I could wait to call Kevin and tell him the Porcupine joke – very funny, whoever posted it!
Only tasteless assholes drive BMW’s. Sophisticated pricks drive cars like this one. 
(Screw yer Bavarian in-line-sixes, there’s nothing that comes close to the sound of an Italian V6. OK, maybe an Italian boxer-12. :))
Nah, BMW’s are fine, and assholes can be found in all sorts of cars. Over here, BMW’s do have the asshole reputation, but I personally get more annoyed by the vast contingent of VW Golf/Seat Leon/Audi A3 lease car drivers, all diesel, who think they’re driving some sort of invincible sports car.
Back to third, floor it, gorgeous roar of the V6, and you’ll leave that silly Gerry econobox in a cloud of its own diesel smoke.
Glorious.
It used to be that drivers of black Porsches were the height of assholiness. I’ve been asleep for 20 years, so someone please tell me when they changed teams.