On paper only. Ride is abyssmal. Torque steer in copius quantities. Interior rattles and squeaks after a only a few months, seats are hard and uncomfortable and oddly shaped. Too much engine mass up front.

A new GTI is an infinitely better buy despite it's power deficit. Let alone an R32 / 130i / A3 3.2 quattro / Megane II Trophy

It's got character, granted, but it lacks the ability to execute in my snooty-full-of-bs opinion.

If the A3, Golf emerged as a threat to small sedans then their first victims would have to be the the A4, Jetta/Bora & Passat.
As for the underpowered 3 series argument, well than 330i would have been killed by those wicked AWD cars from Mitsubishi and Subaru.

They probably did, the Passat and the A4, feel the push from the lower segment. That's not unheard of.

But hang on a minute, let's balance things out here, a lot of people did end up buying a 3 series and probably didn't give the premium hatch segment a second glance because they couldn't care for an expensive hot hatch. To them the prestige of owning a BMW was justification in itself. So, bingo, some 5er owners bought downward into the 3 series segment, some reps got tired of their Mondeos and bought 3ers and some people just bought the 3er because it's a great car.

But to say that the premium hatchback segment exerted no force in terms of competition on the lower end of the 3er market is short-sighted and unrealistic in my experience.

You're throwing too many variables into the pot. The EVO, WRX and STi lack the premium finish and status of a 330i. I never said a 330i was underpowered. I was referring to my own purchase decision regarding a 318i.
Oh, and at top-end no self respecting EVO or STi owner will mess with a 330i. That car's got leeeggs. But that's another story altogether.

So they created models that canibalize their own sales. Hmmm...


Yep, I agree with that.

In my opinion it was a temptation, more sales, more money.
Those people who wanted more than a 318i probably upgraded to a 320 d (turbo diesel), witch is the best seller in Europe.


That was my point, (mostly) diferent costumers.

Yes, of course, why does that leave you sceptical? Same thing with 1er exerting pressure on 3er, same thing with Bora under A4. Same thing with CLS over E-Klasse. It's common these days for one model in a range to lose sales to another such is the car buyer spoilt for choice.

Well I tought that the purpose of another model was to increase sales, not canibalize existing ones (or at least only by an insignificant part).

Well it is. But we are thinking TOTAL sales here, not just those of individual models. So yes, some 3 series buyers may end up going with the 1 series, but as long as there is a reasonable amount of difference in the price of the two cars (apples to apples of course), then those lost 3 series sales will be more than made up by the increased 1 series sales, and thus TOTAL sales will increase.

Which car's got "leeeggs"? I know you're probably referring to the Evo and STi (I hope you don't mean the 330i when compared to the other two), but the way you said it made it seem like you were talking about 1 car singular.

Nope Carbon, I was referring to the mighty 330i in fact. Whilst it may not possess the outright accelerative poke of the Jap rally specials, it has amazingly long legs in top gear. Thankfully, the car is limited to 250 km/h.
But even at that speed, its utterly sublime whereas an STi would be maxed.

Well that's exactly what I said.