you are really missing the point (archive)

I'd love to go off here and expound on the intrinsic value of BMW over all the cars you elude are better absolute values... but I can't. If cost is a major consideration in your buying decision, then BMW is likely not the best value. However... using acceleration as a comparison is equally bogus, as 98% of drivers could never get there cars to equal the test-track derived numbers anyway, in acceleration, skid-pad, or braking. Most drivers SUCK, are unable to tell an apex from a bag of crap. Bad drivers in great cars are just bad drivers in dangerous equipment. They will eventually kill themselves and someone else (hence insurance rates). So, who cares if a freakin' Lexus can equal a 3 series statistically? The fact that BMW's include solid safety features is a primary feature for the typical numb brain behind the wheel!

A Corvette, BMW, Porsche, driven at 40%, is no better than a Hinda Civic driven at 80%. Until you are regularly driving a car at 100% (or need it to do 125%), untill you can extract 110% from any car... ultimate performance statistics are meaningless.

As far as the Corvette being such a great value? Whatever.... If I could overlook it's been-there-done-that styling, it's lack of finness, the fact that its fit and finish are so.... Cheverolet like, the whole crap dealership experience, the leaky motor, vague handeling, the dealers $5,000 premium (putting the car over $50,000), the leaking roof panels, and road noise...I might have bought one. I didn't like the thing. C-5 or not, it's still a Chevrolet, feels like one, and looks like one... and, yes, nothing I wanted to be seen in. Something like 90% of all Corvettes today are sold with and auto-trans. So whose the king of poser cars now? Obviously performance is a secondary component in the buying decision here.

So why BMW? 1.) Rear wheel drive. Most competitive products are not, 2.) Excellent transmissions and engines, last forever and don't loose performance over time, 3.) Esthetics and the German feel, japanese and american stuff is either mushy, too plush, oddly designed, or oh so gadgety, 4.) Road feel, nothing equals the way they fell, period, 5.) Performance, with all of the above fulfilled, the performance is excellent... and reachable. A good driver can get BMW's to produce max performance, in any other car out their, I believe it takes a much better driver to pull the performance potential from their cars.

Are they the fastest? NO, Are they the best performing on the track? NO, Are they the best performing on the street? Possibly, Is the price/value well balanced? NO, BMW's are spendy, and expensive to service, Are they the best built?

So, why buy them? Cause, if your rate all the tings they are not the best at ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, against everyone else, they are still better OVERALL than anything else on the road, bar none!

I also have a romantic soft spot for the underdog. BMW has always been the underdog. Not the luxo company Mercedes is, not the performance king like Porsche, not exotic like a Ferrari... but somehow they have put together a product line that is so... BMW, and that specific characteristic just fits me so much better than everyone elses... and for that I will pay a little extra.

When it comes to the M coupe, I say it is a singularity in time and space, without equal. So at $40,000 +/- it's a freakin' bargain!

As far as whether anyone thinks theya re a good value or not, based on statistical data vs. price? They can bite me. I did the driving comparisons before I bought... I got the best value I could find, period.

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