Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
Well, having been around the BMW brand since the late 1970s, through the 1980s YUPPIES era, the steady state 1990s, and into the 2000s, I can say, for the 3 -Series, the F3X marked a change in the BMW brand. The F30 lost "Benchmark" status. BMW left its DNA out of the chassis. To us enthusiasts, a sport sedan has great handling and chassis dynamics along with 3 pedals. The G20 doesn't offer a manual. BMW has ALWAYS offered a manual transmission in the 3-Series. The company is very profitable, it could easily afford a manual offering with both the 6 cylinder and the 4 cylinder. There is no reason for BMW to forget its enthusiast base while it caters to soccer mom's. Every other manufacturer makes a 4-cylinder automatic. BMW used to be different. While most buyers wouldn't know a straight-six from a V6, the people from whom BMW earned its reputation (and why most people covet the Roundel), deserve a non-M sport sedan offering from BMW.
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I agree with you on most but if it manual transmissions don't sell, it doesn't sell. I have accepted it and no longer going to harp on it like electric steering because the market has spoken.
As for The F3X being somewhat of a turning point, I do agree with you that it is a vehicle that BMW changed a lot relative to its history but overall, assuming it's spec'd to a certain point, it's still a 3 Series in a sense that it's still offers a great overall vehicle.
But with that said, this is where the "enthusiast" doesn't seem to know what they want. I can tell you of a dealership that has no less than 18 units of 340i's left in stock all decently spec'd or spec'd with all the M Performance bits. From what's available
today, the so called enthusiasts are not even jumping on these 340i's that can be had at the old BMW pricing/rates and then some, instead they're jumping on G20 330i's and are happy to pay on average $750+/month. So if we're go by the notion that BMW are building less "driver" orientated cars, how are 340i's being overlooked by G20 330i's by so called "enthusiasts"? It has to be one of the following: the specific enthusiast market is so minuscule (which we already know is true), or they have gone with the masses and decided to go with what is newer is best. In either case, BMW is just following and giving what the market is asking.