Quote:
Originally Posted by x5love
BMW has always sat comfortably in that price range. Small, sporty daily drivers for the middle class, that's what BMW has always excelled at. Look at the 2002, the legendary 2002. It wasn't a Merc or Rolls competitor, it sat at the other end of the spectrum with great design, build and engineering.
People think BMW is diluting itself with the 2 series and 328 when really that's what they've been about from the start.
Mercedes is the one that's traveled downstream over the years. They began closer to a Rolls competitor, and decades later, we got all the way down to the A, B and C classes.
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I didn't say they were diluting themselves by producing a 2 series and a 328, 325, etc, I just said I don't think BMW belongs in the mid-low $20k base price range for a car... That's just my opinion, and I completely agree with you in regards to the 2002. Just recently I got to drive one for the first time and it really took my passion for BMWs to another level still... It's a great car, and one day I'd love to own a 2002 Turbo. My point is that when you start making cheap cars, which BMW has yet to do, you have to start cutting corners in some way, maybe with quality, materials or levels of engineering, and like I said BMW has yet to do that, but I fear that if they go any lower than they are at the moment, it might happen. Most people that I know look at a BMW with envy, as a nice, well-engineered, high-quality vehicle, and rightly so, they are very special cars. But if you go down the price spectrum and make a car that competes in the same price category of a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, do you think people will feel the same way about them? I don't, and that's all I'm trying to say. They're fine doing what they are right now.