German Car Forum

Interesting topic. In the last 10-20 years, BMW has established itself as the "ultimate driving experience" or "ultimate driving machine". In doing so, they have attracted many car enthusiasts as customers, and many of these enthusiasts are young males with a decent income which allows them to buy a 3 series. What do many young males who love cars and driving do??? They generally like to drive faster and more aggressively than others because they think they are better drivers and they think they have a better car than others (and they think it is simply more fun to do so). It is implied from many BMW owners' comments that they think they can take that on-ramp faster than another car, or they can accelerate faster, or brake faster, etc, etc.

If you read some general automobile forums, there is a consistent theme in many about BMW drivers generally being arrogant because of their driving behaviour (weaving in and out of traffic, not signalling regularly, cutting people off, etc, etc). This may well be a stereotype, and it may be inaccurate, but one cannot deny that some people honestly feel that way. This is the same as people saying rice rockets are loud and do the exact same things, except their cars look more cheap with all the aftermarket accessories.

I think the common problem is the YOUNG, MALE CAR ENTHUSIAST, rather than the actual brand. A richer young male car enthusiast may choose to buy a BMW 3 series, while a poorer one may buy a Honda Civic Si and fully modify it. Both can drive aggressively and dangerously. The difference is that the BMW driver is also perceived to be a richer person, which adds salt to a negative impression (ie...that bastard is rich AND an aggressive driver). Face it, there are a LOT of young males driving 3 series, and even if only some of them drive aggressively, the sheer volume helps to make that negative impresssion upon the general public.

I think you summed it up well and I can confess I did my part to contribute towards that stereotype during my younger years - of course age (and speeding tickets) have caught up to me and I am way mellower on the road now.

Is that driver an idiot or what?

You think, maybe this is part of the reason:
Erlkönig: Neuer BMW 7er - neuheiten - Autozeitung.de

I agree that many BMW owners tend to behave as if they subscribe to a "My BMW makes me a demi road god and o so much more" mentality. Definitely. I also think BMW has alienated repeat customers with their revolutionary design exercises that started several years ago. It just seemed like they were designing cars for the sake of being fashionable and selling more cars to people who wanted to be "different' just for the sake of being "different", and that BMW could get away with it "because we're BMW". Another thing I've picked up on through research and talking to different people associated with BMW is that BMW seems to build their newer cars with a predetermined expiration date, meaning they use materials for parts that are not of the highest quality but will surely last long enough for the predetermined "life" of the car figured during development. Which sucks, because there was a time when cars were screwed together using the highest quality parts with the most precision of methods. I guess weight reduction doesn't work well with quality and durability.

Well, welcome to the brave new cynical world of shareholder value...

BMW's, like most cars today, probably are built down to a price moreso than in the past, but you'd be hard-pressed to actually feel the difference. Today's 1-Series, for example, feels of much higher quality than, say, an E36 or Z3. Years ago, Mercedes was a shoe-in for top honors in interior quality. Today it's reversed, with the 3-Series (for example) coming out on top in comparos (unless the new A4 is involved). Similarly, the 997 is a huge step forward from the 996 in quality, but many still miss the solidness of the 993.

I do believe that BMW is arrogant in not providing a manual dipstick in some newer cars. And, like, many other companies, their oil service intervals seem ridiculously high.
As for sales/service, I prefer not to buy brand-new. The few times I've been with friends/family to buy, the experience is generally good. Some dealers are still friendly when I'm there just to take pics. Others are more rude; last week, I saw an older couple drive up in a Ford sedan and asked to look inside a locked 3-Series convertible, and the salesman rolled his eyes, fumbled around briefly for a set of keys (couldn't find the right one), and generally acted as if they were asking for a pint of his blood. Apparently didn't get the memo about the recession...
Lexus gets top marks in customer satisfaction surveys here and abroad, and it is probably well justified.

As for "being different" just for the sake of it, I don't think that's a new thing. Not sure how BMW arose in other countries, but in the US, they built much of their reputation on being different, and they were sometimes blatantly and explicitly chauvanistic. Back in the '70s, BMW's were the oddball choice. Buying one, in the face of known, established entities like Mercedes, Jaguar, or Ford/Chevy (if you were after merely performance), would inevitably lead to people asking you if you were mentally fit. "$4000 for a tiny BMWhat with only 140hp? Have you just fallen and hit your head?"
Nowadays, you simply can't buy a BMW if you want to be different. There's too many of them around. For me, this shows how deceptive BMW marketing is: how can a 3-Series be "another expression of independence" when there are so many of them around?

I don't think VW or Audi screw cars together as cheaply as BMW.

BMW's have also become a little too commonplace for my liking as well, I can't imagine owning a 3 series feeling too special with so many of them driving around with teeny boppers as their drivers. Then again I see the same thing with all other entry level luxury sport sedans from other luxo automakers, though the number of 3ers driving around probably outnumbers the combined total of all the others. Just can't win sometimes I guess? Even through this though, I think it's quite easy to see how marketing driven BMW is. I kinda get the feeling sometimes that marketing has replaced passion at BMW. Color me cynical.

Based on what? Because if VW/Audi is not doing things as cheap as possible I think they will be glad to hear from you... I even think they will pay you a considerable amount of money for the information.