SiDHEaD

The M Sport badges is the classic though.

Anyone who knows what the M badge means, KNOWS it isn't an M and other people wouldnt think twice about the badge anyway... So the result is all they do is look like a cockmuncher.

ADP

330ci
vtr anything

middle of the road almost made it motors......there were loads on my dads old car fleet, you would if that was the best the company was going to pay for.....

Saxo Boy

Kind of on a similar theme:

I cannot understand the mentality of people that buy the absolute bog-basic version of a (so-called) prestige car. Badda talks about the 'fake' top model (S-lines, M-sports, etc). I'm talking about your 318i and poverty spec A4. Take the BMW for example - you lavish a small fortune on the car and it can't pull the skin off a rice pudding, looks crap, has zero toys because they are all expensive options and quite frankly for the money you could have bought a top of the range Mondeo or Vectra with all the gizmo's, etc but not the badge! Do people REALLY believe that when someone see them in a 318 BMW they think, 'wow, he's made it in life!?'

I just think, 'you tw@t, get an 335i/M3 or go home!'

Maybe its just me but if you liken it to football I'd much rather be a hero at the top of his game in Division 1 than be the sh*test player in the premiership!

Nick Graves

Probably exactly the same - a milder lie admittedly.

And dependent on eye/skin tone, one that looks equally loser sometimes.

Bada Bing!

No I agree with you as well. Why on earth they make a 316 BMW I have no idea. Same with why the 1-series exists at all.

Nick Graves

Probably sell more than all the others put together;

They don't make money of of the M cars, because few parts are interchangeable.

Like Gad say, most of the buyers are losers/pretenders.

MarkB

Why do they make it?

Because they are a commercial concern, with a badge which for some reason has come to be known as 'prestige'. They know that some loser will come along, borrow way more than they can afford just to look like the big man on the estate. Sad thing is all the other estate-dwellers will look up to him as he has a Beemer and they have a Ford, regardless of which is better specced, has a bigger engine etc. etc.

The world is full of aspirational losers, there's no better way to make money than to appeal to their greed and snobbery.

Gucci sunglasses anyone......?

Saxo Boy

I don't doubt the motives of BMW for making these cars - ultimately, they are a business. I doubt the mentality of the idiots that buy them!!

I'm a great believer that cars carry an individual character and that you should respect that at all times. This is why I'd supercharge but never turbo-charge an S2000, this is why a classic Impreza should be whizz bang and not linear in its power delivery and this is why a 3-series or A4 should have a decent powerplant with 6 cylinders up front. If you want a frugal 4-pot then buy a cheaper, lighter and better equipped car from the sector below. Having a 3 series with a hairdrier powering it is like pulling the girl you likes mate.......bottom line is you got a sh@g but you really sold yourself short because you couldn't close the deal with the real thing

Bada Bing!

I'm sure I read that the bog standard 3-series is now outselling the Mondeo because of this Elizabeth Duke phenomenon. Even Gucci sunglasses aren't enough though. These people normally have to buy something with a brand name that broadcasts what it is. Like Armani t-shirts which have the word ARMANI!!!111 spread across the entire surface of the shirt.

I have plenty of designer stuff, but the badges are where they should be - on the label on the inside of the shirt.

It's why loads of people are choosing clapped out 4x4's, or Chrysler's as family cars. It's all about projecting the image of doing well, when in actual fact once you get home you know it's spam fritters for dinner. Again.

lovegroova

Yes, they do. Refer to Gad's statement that the world is populated by losers and that will explain it.

Here's a lovely example of this. Someone at work is selling a Y-plate 306 2.0HDi. An unremarkable car that probably does a decent job of transporting a small family around.

However, the advertiser has obviously copied the specifications from the Peugeot brochure. This unremarkable car comes with "Laser" alloys, and a "Sports aerial", what is a "Sports Aerial"?