Quote:
Originally Posted by icenine
So there a BMW is much more competitive and seems to be a wash (as far as price) with the Honda Civic. In other words marketing the Beemer as a marvel of German engineering in the USA is a factor behind the price increase here.
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In the US, pretty much all BMW's are considered luxury class cars due to only larger engine choices and all the bells and whistles forcing luxury car pricing. In Germany, they tend to distinguish between a BMW with smaller engine, cloth seats and limited do-dads with those with bigger engines and performance options.
We went to BMW-Welt in Munich last week and saw some pretty extraordinary stuff. Most impressive to me were the new i8 and the M6 Coupe. The M6 Gran Coupé on display was quite something with nearly 30,000 Euros of extras piled upon its base ~130,000 Euro base price.
FWIW, Audi has made a big turnaround in Germany in recent years in terms of prestige, quality and performance. I rented an S-line A4 Avant (station wagon) turbo-diesel and that thing just flew on the Autobahn. It's sweet spot for Autobahn cruising was 160-170 kph (95-100 mph) while getting staggeringly good mileage. Very nice.