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      10-07-2012, 06:21 AM   #106
Antares
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Italy
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Drives: dark-blue coupe
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Venice

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ovekvam View Post
If you think the car is too small, you should buy a bigger car. Remember there is a 5 series and 7 series for those who need huge cars.
If the smallest car from BMW is also large, then they will miss out on a big market of people who want smallish cars, like me. I think the 1 series is already is a bit on the large side. I would like to see it narrower and lighter. I am 189 cm tall, and there is plenty of room for my elbows.

My wife is complaining about the car being too wide, making it more difficult to park than our previous cars. She would prefer a slightly smaller car next time.

If I had a choice between the Golf and a Polo, I would take the Polo. I also used to prefer the Compact version of the 3 series (E36 and E46) over the sedan/coupe.
I have two cars.
One narrow (and shorter) that I use when I go in the old part of the Italian city nearby, when I go to the garden shop at peak hours (droves of women maneuvering in and out of parking lots) and for similar tasks when I don't care if the s cheap car gets bumped.
The majority of Italians and also French have similar "no-bump worry cars" for their chaotic cities.
I don't see any common sense in stuffing a superbly engineered BMW car into such a mess and in narrow parking lots.
Cheaper mass market cars are meant for such utility purposes.

The other "real" car is then the car of choice.
5 series was made purposefully to have plenty of space for the rear passengers.
Rear seats are so seldom used by me, that I don't need more than provisional rear seats; the rear doors and seats are hugely practical however: the coat, shopping bags, handbags, books and many other things get a ride on them and are at hand. Reason why I would not buy (again) a 2 door car; terribly impractical.

I don't want a long car; and I don't see any reason why would I drive around a bus behind my driving seat.
Long cars are a cliche of the long past, when the loving husband took his wife and all of his children with him for a drive and a picnic. Okay, in Saudi Arabia, where women are not permitted to drive and one man has many wives, the situation is mayhaps different (if the good women don't get into a fight with each other).

There is a huge world market, from Europe to Asia, where shorter Luxury cars are in high demand.
There is a huge difference between a premium car and a luxury car.
Audi is a premium car. Lexus is a premium car.
Both are derivatives of high-end mass market brands and technology.
Technology is going forward, some mass market brands managed to push themselves into High-end mass market brands (like VW).
Next logical step was to make premium derivatives of their technological know-how (Audi, Lexus,...)

BMW and Mercedes overslept the trend. Instead of making a clear boundary and pushing into Luxury they even wanted to compete with the mass-market brands (Chyrsler, Rover).
Maybach showed that Mercedes did not understand what Luxury means. Mercedes stands for high level car engineering; however a good engineer and technical knowledge has nothing to do with the world of aristocratic touch that distinguished a Rolls-Royce, Bentley and other brands.
If you once asked about the engine power of a Rolls you got the answer "sufficient".

Luxury is well defined; and is certainly not a cramped interior.
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