BMW 116i. Great car.

flyingalexf68 wrote: The X3 isn't really selling that well.

Might have something to do with one of the most appalingly cheap interiors I've ever sat into - the plastics appear to be made of recycled crisp bags or something. Wouldn't be out of place in a Ssangyong or something.

Agree completely with Don520 about the 1er. One of my main priorities will always be how the car looks, and since I think its ugly as sin, the quality of drive is irrelevant to me. Having a lend of a Golf GTi for the past few days has only reinforced my attitude to the rip off that is the 1 series !


Edited by kdevitt

I agree the X3 doesn't have interior plastic quality to live up to its price the way the X5 does. And I will also admit that my 1st impressions of the X3 were not favourable. But it quickly grew on me despite my best efforts alas!  A neighbour of my brother has an X5 and an X3, and when I see the two parked together it makes me like the X3 more..

I also drove a 2006 2.0D X3 and came away very impressed. It was tight on the road, didn't feel cumbersome at all, nippy enough for what it was, and I really enjoyed chucking it about.

Anyway, tis all academic as

A) I can't afford to drop €50k on a motor

B) If I could, it wouldn't be on an X3 unless...

C) .. I could afford to also have a sports car for fun (Elise, Clio V6, ZM Coupe et al)

Never the less, I like to stir it up!

So coming back to topic Mick.... are ye gonna pick up the family 116i?

kdevitt wrote:   Thats where I think us BMW owners are deluding ourselves. BMW has no such image - they're just another common car that drives well at this stage imho. The 1 series just dilutes the brand even further.

The 1 series is a little OTT, but bmw do have an image. Most bmw's from the showroom are well out of reach to the ordinary joe bloggs. I would love to get a new 3 series coupe but couldnt afford it for almost half the money I could buy a new opel toyota etc. Not saying all people are the same but if you see , say for example a new 3 coupe the person driving is more than likely trying to portray a certain image and that is why they are prepared to pay for that badge. Dont get me wrong I would not begrudge anyone if you have the few bob and can afford it then you would buy a car to that level of income within reason. (here it comes)

Edited by lesurely

T.J. wrote: Give it time - Clarkson (who is the only motor journalist non-car people know and read/watch) will slowly instill in the general public that BMW is mass-production & increasingly common

As much as Clarkson can irk me with his contrary comments on BMWs (preview pic of E90 - he loved it, when reviewing it he didn't - I watch too much UK G2 :D) he is right about the cars being mass-production and to some extent being common.

Stats for the year to date here have BMW's outselling Mercedes, Skoda, Audi, Honda, Fiat, Kia, Citroen, Mazda, Seat, Volvo, Mistubishi, Lexus, Saab, Subaru, Alfa and a host of other stuff - such as Tata???.

Just ahead in sales are Hyundai, Peugeot and Renault - and then the real mass-production stuff - Opel, Nissan, VW, Ford and Toyota.

As a brand, I do think BMW's are becoming increasingly common, but the likes of the M cars will always be rare enough.

This is the best debate since the Roy Keane/Mick McCarthy civil war!!

Edited by Skillie

flyingalexf68 wrote: lesurely wrote: BMW have a certain image ( O' he drives a new bmw he must be loaded) and some people are prepared to pay to keep that image.   I always thought it was "Oh, he drives a BMW, to**er". Anyway BMW's are becoming more common here because we all have too much money (or the bank will lend us too much) and we want nice things. BMW's are nice cars. Even the most basic 116i. Lots of people are happy with a good reliable car and aren't bothered by bells and whistles.

Alex You hit the nail on the head. Too much money around.

Im not decieded on buying a 116 but I still think its a good car. We dont need a 200 bhp golf and I dont like them anyway.

Lets start a pole . BMW. status symble or "just another car"

Mick

I'll be the first to admit that until i drove one i was in the camp where bmw owners were knobs with more money than sense.

Having owned my E46 323 for less than 6 months now i've struggled to find what to replace it with and believe me i've looked, but nothing quite drives like it and i couldn't be a*sed about the badge (i happily considered everything from A4s to Skoda Vrs but still found myself enjoying the drive home more!).

By the way the only reason i'm looking to replace it is my better half (coming from a 1.0 Corsa!) has decided it's 'her' car now :D

Having said that the vast majority of Irish buy bmws purely for the badge(what % 316/318s?) and even though they're all over the place they still attract badge snobbery. Despite the car being 6 years old i've gotton more than a few "how can you afford a bmw?" type questions..

Seriously thinking of a 330i....

Emmet323 wrote: Having said that the vast majority of Irish buy bmws purely for the badge(what % 316/318s?) and even though they're all over the place they still attract badge snobbery. Despite the car being 6 years old i've gotton more than a few "how can you afford a bmw?" type questions..

Tell me about it. Everytime someone sees my Z3 they say "business must be real good then" or "you must be charging too much". If I had a brand spanking new Ford Focus in Silver nobody would bat an eyelid.

Edited by flyingalexf68

flyingalexf68 wrote: [QUOTE=Emmet323]"business must be real good then" or "you must be charging too much".

I must say that's not what i think when I see
someone driving a Z3....