BMW’s sector-defining 3 Series has turned 40
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
BMW has had a target on their back with the 3 series since the 90s though, and with every new generation pundits predict the fall of the 3. I think some of the criticisms are warranted, its getting really porky, expensive and not as fun to drive and toss-able as it once was. However, you could say that about most cars in the segment(A4, C series) and the a lot of the reason for this is safety requirements and buyer preferences for more luxury items these days. If I were to buy a BMW, I think I would want a late 80s 6 series. Those are beautiful cars, I shudder to think what the maintenance costs would be though.
(EDIT: I have had a 1998 E46 328i for ~2 years now, and I'm not exactly enamoured by BMWs... it's had a lot of repairs recently)
Engine technology has come a long way in those 20 years, you have to get into econobox cars to find 136hp vehicles now.
Motor Trend drives/discusses E30, E36, E46, and E92 M3
It was such fun to drive, unless it was raining and I had to go around a corner...
My Dad still owns a garaged (undriven for 15 years) BMW 635 CSi from 1984. It looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwlXVqo7NrI
Is he interested in selling it maybe?
I don't see owning my BMW as a status symbol. Maybe more of a performance symbol though...because it certainly does perform.
i drove this car for 4 years and sold for..... $2050 to upgrade for SUV since we got kids.
Over time i had to replace water pump, belt, i had issue with hood locked due cable moved from its place, shocks, but it was pretty routine stuff.
i had to do my own research (which is possible to do with cars 10+ years old) - 3.2L engine cars were reliable, while 2.7L ones were crap.
Now I drive 2007 Ford Crown Victoria which I bought for $3400.... full set of brake pads and rotors under $200 :) and can be replaced without reprogramming ECU with simple tools you can get even in walmart :) And being police interceptor model, it is alrighty on the road (obviously can't compare performance wise with bi-turbo bmw engine, but i spend most of the time in the traffic, so ice cold AC is actually what I care about :))
The 3 series has been around for much, much longer though.
Have you seen the latest trends of BMW? The way how they're going downhill and how Cadillac and their "sport-luxury" sedans are catching up makes me feel like the perception of BMW is an anachronism.
That's why even Hyundai is catching up and the premium brands are standing still. For existing owner, there is no reason to switch from E46 or E90 to F30. The older ones are more fun.
Do they need to pipe in engine sounds into the speaker system like other brands do (Lexus)?
But I guess for those who buy cars for 4 years, that's fine.
The old diesels or atmospheric petrol engines in sedans were build to serve almost forever (petrol 500k, diesel 1m). Even "newer" (cca end of nineties) turbo-diesels were robust - I was once in a taxi (Skoda Octavia), that had 800k on the odometer...
On the other hand, new compact cars with their 1.0 - 1.2 three cylinder, turbo charged engines will be done in the 100-150k range. Again, if you want to buy a new car and get rid of it after the lease is paid, they will be fine. If you want to keep it longer, look somewhere else.
BMW is going to PHEV/Hybrid all their cars within five to ten years so I expect we will get used to it. Far better option than lugging around eight hundred or more pounds of battery. Figure your going to end up with quite a few three cylinder engines and such until eventually replaced by some form of fuel cell and buffer battery.
I don't think BMW is losing its handling prowess, I do think others are catching up and a few surpass them here and there; Jaguar is getting good marks.
My father used to say I can roll down my own windows. I thought at the time he was being to hard on the industry. They finally engineered servos that worked longer than a year.
He would flip if he saw just how complicated vechicles have become, and how he would wouldn't be able to buy a service manual, and do most of repairs. My father bought very few new automobiles, but always bought a factory service manual, and did all his own repairs. His last vechicle was a 98 Dodge Dakota. It was still simple enough for him to work on, and now myself to work on. (My father passed away a few years after he bought the Dodge.)
I will hand it to certain companies, like Toyota, who engineer complicated vechicles, but these vechicles are putting easily 250,000 miles on the odometer. Yes, a lot of the fancy features/gadgets stop working, but the vechicle still runs, and gets through smog.
Needed advances in technology--yes! Fluff/gadgets--no! But I'm just an older guy who really never got the need for so many retractable beverage holders.
// sorry for your loss - glad the vehicle lives on
To me the i8 (and even more so the i3) looks like some sort of weird Japanese spaceship from the future and not at all the subtle luxurious classy design that I expect from a German Premium wagon. In short it's to much attention, screaming "I'm here, look at me". I'm not a rapper I want timeless class not flashy bling.
I must like that look then - i rather like the looks of i3 as well!
NB And I'm not even a huge fan of BMWs after owning an X5 for a while....
But I understand you after owning X5 ;)
Mind you when I first saw a Tesla (I've only seen one) I did think "That new Ford Mondeo looks really nice"... :-)
If you hid the badges on the side profile of the F30 and told me it was a Japanese car from 1998, I'd probably believe you, but conversely if a rebadged E46 were launched tomorrow, nobody would accuse it of looking "dated".
I actually went with Audi but all of the big German brands MB/Audi/BMW are in a completely different league than Cadillac.
Where they fall down is in the interior styling and materials.
Source, daily driver is a 2013 3 Series and my brother is one of the engineers doing NVH testing on the CTS/ATS, we compare notes frequently. And, as part of his job he did have to test the other vehicles in the class.
Honestly, after a relocation I can't really justify the cost of the BMW so when my lease is up I'm going to be REALLY sad to get rid of it, nothing else seems to really come close.
However, previous generation of CTS has one of the best interiors I've seen ever.
I'd blame terrible drivers in New England on bad UX in the cars... but I know it's caused by them also eating a sandwich, doing their makeup, and talking on the phone while trying to merge.
The difference between Audi and BMW is in the feel of driving (for BMW-heads at least ;) ). I feel the same with iPhone - it received immense attention by it's creators (just like Audi), but still, there is something missing. It has no "soul".
I love when you can view a product's change over the years and the first looks a lot like the latest, like the Porsche 911 http://i.wheelsage.org/pictures/p/porsche/911/porsche_911_52... , the iPhone, and the 3 series
I forgot to change the timing belt and blew the engine. I "upgraded" to an E36 cab. It's nice, but feels too soft and comfortable. The body shape is all bloated -- when you sit in an E30 there's your shoulder, the door and 1.5 inches later the outside. In an E36 it feels like there's a foot between you and the outside of the car.
While the technical level and overall comfort was very nice, they were terrible rust buckets.
Their current models can be fun though. Eg., try to change headlight on E70 (yes, you're going to need a hoist and rivet gun).
BMW is just not what it used to be.
The medium sporting saloon was fairly well established in Europe by the time the E21 arrived. Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Triumph were well established in the mainstream and there were plenty of smaller specialists too.
BMW came along with a well-screwed-together package and struck marketing gold with that famous tag-line even though other cars may have been technically superior. That iPhone analogy is looking pretty accurate.
Anyway the 3-series today has little heritage with That original vision. The E36 Compact ( which actually used parts of the E30 chassis ) was probably the last of that lineage until the recent 1-series.
You mention "well-screwed-together package". To my mind, if they defined the "well-put-together mass-produced sporting sedan" segment by showing you could have a entry-level luxury sedan that wasn't perpetually in the shop, then yes, they did define a segment.