German Car Zone

By traditional I think they mean the default choice for towkays (Hokkien slang for big businessmen). It applies to Singapore. Mindless businessmen here go for the S-Class and the LS.

Where's the anti-thanks button? Maybe this was the truth like 20 years ago.

New M3 – middle age flab?

There are people, lucky people with taste in automobiles – such as the gentleman that runs this website – who drive the BMW M3. Imagine what they’ve been through, waiting for the new one.
A V-8 new one.
What could be finer?
Maybe the old one.
It could be a bit premature to trade the one you’ve got for the one they want to sell to you.
The automotive press is not that happy with the new M3, the new V-8 and higher torque not withstanding.
The beginning was a trashing in the New York Times. Not that the Times is a very good source of automotive information, but they do decide the fashion of the East coast.
They dumped on the M3.
They called it, in essence, the Thunderbird of BMWs.
Doubt me?
“Kind of sounds like the bean counters have turned the M3 into an AMG: all big engine and great numbers and a drive that’s too refined.”
“Too refined” is what they used to say about the ride in a Cadillac, before GM figured out that even Cadillac buyers were interested in real cars.
On the other hand, they did compare it to an AMG.
For those of us that can’t buy real big horsepower anywhere but the Mercedes store, this doesn’t sound like a criticism. Nobody does big blocks better than AMG, except Chevrolet. But that’s not the essence of BMW. BMW is all about balance.
This one doesn’t do it, they say.
Here’s what Autoweek had to say about the new M3:
”For all this, though, the M3 is not quite as tactile in its actions as the car it replaces. The speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion steering, which also offers normal and sport modes, is light for a car boasting such performance, giving the impression of being a tad vague... [y]ou are also aware of the car’s larger dimensions. It never feels quite as wieldy as before when you press hard. It’s not all that much bigger, but it gives the feeling that the M3 has moved up in size. Call it middle-age flab, if you like.”
Vague steering is what Ford and Chrysler sold for twenty years. (And we all know where that got them.)
Middle aged flab?
For middle-aged flab, you can buy an M5.
Better yet, you can buy a Porsche.
After all, Porsche is the ultimate middle-aged driving machine.
Or, as Jerry Lee Lewis once put it in a come-back song in his own middle age – titled
“Middle Aged Crazy:”
“Today he traded his 98 Oldsmobile,
“On a new Porsche automobile,
“He ain’t wearing his usual grey business suit,
“He’s got jeans and high boots,
“With an embroidered star,
“And today he’s forty years old going on twenty.”
Sounds like that’s the market at which the new M3 is aimed.
“Ultimate driving machine?”
Yesterday.
Today it’s the ultimate money making machine.
BMW has lost its roots.
New M3 – middle age flab? - Top Speed

Americans do make me laugh sometimes

Now I (an American citizen) am insulted.

Not all of us are devoted to chevy and ford
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now on the subject of young buyers...

I do believe it makes sense. I think BMW and Audi market more to young adults the Benz. Benz markets to "I have arrived" customers, which tend to be much older. Then again some people like what they like. Around this area younger people prefer C-classes and CLKs compared to A4s and 3s.

Personally, I am not middle age, but I prefer Benz regardless of being a fan. I like there designs more. Then again I prefer the S-class, which you will not see a lot of younger people buying, price being one of the main reasons.

Then you have a lot of younger men buying 3 series. I have also notice that in the US it's almost a division of races. Most young white men prefer BMW where as black men prefer Benz or even Lexus. Woman on the other hand will go either way no matter the race.

I have even notice this at BMW and Mercedes-benz events. In Prince Georges county it is pretty mixed. Now both BMW and Mercedes have had events at FEDEX field (which is a football stadium). When I went to the Mercedes Event there were way more Blacks then White. Now at BMW there were more Whites then Blacks.

So really it may comes down to design, cultural values and beliefs when it comes to younger buyers. But judging the S-class sales, I don't think Benz minds middle age and older people buying there cars.

Really? Irrelevant but still interesting info.

Nothing I say is irrelevent! That issue is important to understand in marketing. Sometimes that is used my marketers in deciding which commercial to show it what areas.

Sure it's relevant for marketing and such but for me personally it doesn't change a thing.

In the UK MB is favoured by the africans and eastern europeans. However they cant afford the new models

Caribbean black and the british white prefer bmw, but audi is right up behind it since the RS4 hit the streets.

Indian Asians like mercs and bmws while chinese and japanese stick with high performance japanese cars and the odd BMW.